Usability and Accessibility

Accessibility isn't just a good idea, it's becoming the law. Section 508 of the U.S. Disability Act, Canada's CLF, and Europe's eEuope Plan are just the tip of the iceberg. Businesses have already discovered that people with disabilities have money and that websites that don't put up stupid barriers that keep them from spending it there will get that money.

But accessibility is just a part of a greater measure of website quality: usability. Often solving a problem that makes it easier for people with disabilities (or people using cell phones, PDAs, and other equipment that hasn't been invented yet) to use your site makes it easier for everybody else to use it too.

At the risk of monotony, we'll say once more that the easiest way to make your website accessible is to stop deliberately making it inaccessible with tables and font tags and all the other cruft that steam age web editors stuff in there.

Here's some more sites that will help move your web pages to the top of people's lists because they're the easiest to use.

Smack the Mouse
Very sharp opinions on usability and design by Jesper Tverskov, worth reading even if you disagree with it.
Unusable Web
Keith Robinson's observations on things too many people do to make their web sites and pages unusable. Basic, basic stuff that nobody should have to be told, but chances are your website has got at least one of those usability-killers on it.
Accessibility Wizards and Tools
At Accessify: to make your website more accessible more easily. Don't miss their favelets.
Fahrner Image Replacement
A lot of the information on the web is encapsulated in graphics images. FIR is a technique to help make your web page not only accessible but structurally sound. This article by Dave Shea on Digital Web Magazine introduces the concepts and links to Fahrner's article.
Accessibility: Enabling Access To Your Business
A paper from Watchfire, who also have a very popular web-based accessibility checker for websites, Bobby
W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
The World Wide Web Consortium has a prioritized list with three levels of compliance, which is great for measuring progress and a recognition that big sites can't do it all at once. Our site passed the tests for the highest level (AAA), and it wasn't much work at all once we gave our old web tools a nice swim in the harbor with cement overshoes.
Jacob Nielsen's useit.com
Jacob Nielsen is both loved and hated, and frequently criticized for being spectacularly wrong. But it's kind of stupid not to see what he has to say before you make up your own mind.
Usable Web
Keith Instone's magnum opus, more than 1,000 links about web usability. Next update (he says): never. But still a great resource.
300 Images from 1800 Sites
Ro London's collection of little bitty "iconesque" items and what they're used for on the web. We'll respect his description: they're not to be stolen but to study so you can create your own icons.
Web Pages That Suck
Vincent Flanders' website which became a book. Your goal, in case you haven't figured it out, is to keep your website from ever appearing here. The easiest way to get mentioned is to have "mystery meat navigation" (which he explains on the site), but there are some other reliable ways to get mentioned, too. Rather than try to maintain a list of sucky websites, check them to see whether they've improved, and keep this up endlessly, he wisely keeps them around for about a week and then bye-bye. Fortunately he's got an RSS feed.
The Ideal Line Length For Content
By Max Design. A tutorial on maximizing readability.
Writing Better Web Page Titles
One of D. Keith Robinson's "Gorilla Web Tips"
Accessible Web Typography
Jim Byrne's book. PDF version for US$5 or free HTML version.
Seven Tricks That Web Users Don't Know
Carolyn Snyder of Snyder Consulting reports on her research on non-technical users. Tricks and gadgets we take for granted (e.g., clicking on the logo to get to the home page) don't occur to non-propellerheads. Now for the bad news: how much of your design depends on users doing one or more of these things?
How People With Disabilities Use The Web
By the W3C. This is a good introduction to the scope of the problem.
Techniques And Concepts
From WebAIM. An introduction to the problem and some of the methods.
Dive Into Accessibility
Free downloadable book by Mark Pilgrim subtitled 30 days to a more accessible web site.
Dan Tobias's Hall of Shame
If you use one of the standards-conformant web browsers, some websites have told you way too many times: "You're using the wrong browser". For the record, we think scripts that check which browser you're using are the royal road to unmaintainability. Don't use them. In case you aren't convinced, fire up Opera or Mozilla and then go look at how some websites are telling would-be customers clutching fistfuls of money to go away. Here's a hint: if you want to complain, don't write to "webmaster@example.com", write to "sales@example.com". Mail to the webmaster often gets sent straight to the people who made the stupid decision in the first place. The sales department probably doesn't even know that the website is turning customers away, and you can bet they won't like it.
How Recognized Link Colors Help
Tempted to make your links a different color? Before you do it, read this. Yes, we know we did it. What can we say? We're sluts.
Disability Discrimination Act Advisory Notes
An advisory from the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission about website accessibility. Bottom line: all websites created, owned or hosted in Australia must comply with the DDA.
DDA and Web Accessibility
Trenton Moss's article at WebCredible interpreting the UK Disability Discrimination Act's requirements for websites.
GAWDS
Guild of Accessible Web DesignerS. Not only an organization worth trying for (they evaluate your work and your contributions to the community, but they let us in, so they're not all that choosy) but a site full of articles and resources for the standards-based, accessible web.
Useful "Page Not Found" Error Pages
Madhu Menon's article at Evolt about making 404 pages useful for your visitors.
W3C Policies Related To Web Accessibility
A list compiled by the World Wide Web Consortium of national and international policies that relate to web accessibility.
Building Accessible Websites
A free serialization on the web of Joe Clark's book.
Section 508
U.S. Disability Act Section 508 training, materials, compliance.
Ask Edward Tufte
You remember the graphic of Napoleon's march, and although Tufte didn't invent that graphic (Charles Joseph Minard did), he's a gargantuan influence on information presentation and usability. While a computer is not our first choice for curling up with on a rainy evening, you could spend your time a lot worse than by reading over these discussions.
Web Style Guide
The Yale University Center for Advanced Instructional Media's online site design guide, second edition. This started out as a document, then it appeared online, then it became a book, and now it's become an online HTML version of the book.
Some Thoughts on Mobile Web Development
Accessible web pages can be viewed on any device. Here's an article at web-graphics.com on developing web pages that can be viewed on cell phones and PDAs. (Try http://wap.google.com/ and search for your page if you want to see it rendered the way a text-only cell phone browser would render it).
Quality Tips for Webmasters
From the W3C's Quality Assurance group. Good nuts and bolts, practical quality checks. Everybody ought to do all of them.
Colour Contrast Analyser
From Australia's National Information Library Service. We know it's chic to make your background color #000000 and your text color #000001, but -- and this will be a shock to some people -- your text should contrast with your background. Does it contrast enough so it doesn't constitute an unneccessary barrier to your guests? Find out with this free tool. Remember, accessibility and usability aren't so much about smart things you do as about stupid things you don't do.
Colour Contrast Analyser
This one, from Juicy Studio, is online and doesn't have color sampling or the color blindness equations, but you can access it from anywhere.
Effective Color Contrast
By Lighthouse International, a website discussing how to design for people with partial sight and color deficiencies.