Accessibility 1

[audiopro]

I am designing a web site which requires accessibility for partially sighted visitors. I have combined two versions, standard and accessible and they both work well. I have been researching the subject and while I have found some of the information useful, there is a lot of report reading out there but not much practical advice as to what the end user requires. Most of the stuff I have read seems to dwell on what is wrong with various websites rather than practical suggestions as to how they could be improved. Can anyone reccommend any good reading on the subject?

My main concern at the moment, as it affects the design of the layout is the provision of a menu.

I need to put a menu on the page but where?

I don't want the screen reader to read out every item in the menu, each time a new page is loaded.
Would a screen reader ignore a menu in a certain position on the page? I have contacted the local RNIB (Institute for the Blind in the UK) for assistance but have yet to receive a reply from them and the site goes live in a couple of weeks time. The main site is written, I am just styling it, which usually takes me longer than writing the code for the site.
I am sticking to white backgrounds with black and dark red text and blue underlined text links. Any useful info woud be appreciated as some of you folks must have had dealings with Bobby before.

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[harrymossman]

There is lots of practical information in the Accessify.com forums -

http://www.accessifyforum.com/

I recently asked about skipping navigation links in the Beginner section:

http://www.accessifyforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=7258

The final answer, from Redux, seems like a good way for you to go. If not, you can find other options.

Harry

 

[audiopro]

Thanks Harry, thats's a very useful bit of info.

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[ChrisHunt]

I'd suggest looking at

http://diveintoaccessibility.org/

if you haven't done so already. It's quite old now, but still gives pretty good advice for the most part.

Be aware that if you're specifically targeting partially sighted visitors, as opposed to fully blind ones, they probably won't be using screen readers. They'll probably be using some kind of magnifier - be it special software or just setting the text size really big. Drop-down menus might be a problem for them if not all options can fit on the screen in big sizes.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[harrymossman]

I'd suggest looking at

http://diveintoaccessibility.org/

if you haven't done so already.

Yes, that's a great intro to accessibility.

Harry