ptg16476052Writing Accessible HTML 61322
Alternative Browsers
Just as there are a number of disabilities that can make it more challenging for people to
use the Web, there are a number of browsers and assistive technologies that are designed
to level the playing field to a certain degree. I discuss some common types of assistive
technologies here so that when you design your web pages you can consider how they’ll
be used by people with disabilities.
Disabled users access the Web in a variety of ways, depending on their degree and type
of disability. For example, some users just need to use extra large fonts on their com-
puter, whereas others require a completely different interface from the standard used by
most people.
Let’s look at some of the kinds of browsers specifically designed for disabled users. For
users who read Braille, a number of browsers provide Braille output. Screen readers are
also common. Instead of displaying the page on the screen (or in addition to displaying
it), screen readers attempt to organize the contents of a page in a linear fashion and use a
voice synthesizer to speak the page’s contents. Some browsers also accept audio input—
users who are uncomfortable using a mouse and keyboard can use speech recognition to
navigate the Web.
Another common type of assistive technology (AT) is a screen magnifier. Screen mag-
nifiers enlarge the section of the screen where the user is working to make it easier for
users with vision problems to use the computer. More and more touch screen devices
make it trivial to pinch to zoom in on a web page and make the text and images larger.
Most standard web browsers support zooming with a keyboard shortcut like Ctrl-+ to
zoom in and Ctrl-- to zoom out (use the Cmd key on a Mac).
One type of AT that almost everyone has experienced is closed-captioning for the hear-
ing impaired. You see this at loud restaurants and airports when it’s impossible to hear
the overhead TVs. And although most web pages rely on text and images, which don’t
impact the hearing impaired, if you use video or audio your site will become inaccessible
to them unless you include captioning.
Writing Accessible HTML
When it comes to writing accessible HTML, there are two steps to follow. The first step
is to use the same tags you normally use as they were intended. The second step is to take
advantage of HTML features specifically designed to improve accessibility. I’ve already
mentioned a number of times that tags should be used based on their semantic meaning
rather than how they’re rendered in browsers. For example, if you want to print some
bold text in a standard size font,