One wonderful quality about the Internet is that it allows people to shed their concerns about themselves. That means people of all types can occupy the same space online without worrying about the stares and comments they may face in real life. That does not mean these people are without challenges, however. People with major disabilities are online in large numbers, and when website building, it is important to consider the needs of these people.
Catering to Deaf or Hard of Hearing Visitors
Embedding a You Tube video sounds like a quick and easy process when you are in the planning stages of your website building plans, but doing so can be off-putting to deaf or hard of hearing visitors. These people will not be able to comment on the video because they cannot hear it, and then you are alienating potentially loyal visitors to your site. The easiest way to solve this dilemma is to put transcripts or links to transcripts on your site for all video feeds. That allows everyone to read what happens in the video in order to participate.
Also, remember to let people know if you are playing automatic background noise. Build a banner noting that into your website building plans for people who cannot hear the music playing. Don’t embarrass them by having them let the music go on because they cannot hear it.
Helping Vision-Impaired Visitors
Helping people who are vision-impaired includes three groups: those who are color-blind; those who are blind; and those who simply cannot see well. The needs of each group are different, and you can work on website building to meet each of their needs. For colorblind visitors, try to avoid potentially conflicting colors. A blue and green design, for instance, is difficult for people who are colorblind to see. Try to use contrasting colors and be mindful of colored text over a colored background. Also, consider underlining all links to make them easier to see for people who cannot distinguish the colors.
Several Braille-type programs exist. The user will have a software program that will scroll the site and read the text. Do not include headers or important information in images when you are website building because these programs cannot “read” images. The visitor will miss out on what is on the page. Also, keep a clean layout to avoid confusion over frames and line breaks.
Finally, some people can see, just not really well. For these people, simple fonts are best. Use the basic fonts, such as Times New Roman, Arial, and Helvetica. Avoid curly fonts that may be difficult to decipher. Be sure to use fonts that are large enough for readers to see with a normal resolution. A 12-point font is a typical size, and going below an 8-point font will make it tough to see for some visitors.
Keeping these visitors in mind when designing your website will help you develop a trusting relationship with people who will be appreciative of your efforts to include them in your planning.
