Click here to see the Accessibility Wizard V1.0
The Accessibility Wizard V1.0 was designed by Binary Blue and programmed by Internet Guru (now Web Necessities) in 2004.
An archive copy of the wizard is available here (Note: Access Wizard is a Flash application) . It is important to note the age of this project. Its results may not fully comply with current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
What is accessibility?
Accessibility relates to designing products, services and environments so that they may be experienced by people with disabilities.
Web Accessibility involves designing websites and application in a way that makes them usable to the widest range of abilities and situations. This goes beyond just designing for people. It is also important that websites can be accessed and understood by a wide range of bots and intelligent devices.
As a project tool, the Accessibility Wizard guides members of a production team so their work will comply with the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). Team members use the wizard to break down the WAI Checkpoints into tasks for each job role.
The development of this tool ran in conjunction with research into the compliance of Australian educational web sites. At the time it found that many websites did not comply with the standards.
Why should you be accessible?
Accessible web design is an important aspect in remaining complaint with the Australian Disability Discrimination Act. Similar legislation also applies in other territories. For example in the year 2000, the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games was found to have discriminated against the visually impaired. This was because they had not included ALT text on images and maps on its websites.
Using ALT text and other accessible design elements also makes it easier for search engines such as Google to understand the content of a website. Making a site accessible will often fix issues the site has in being indexed and ranked by search engines.
If you have concerns about the accessibility of your website, feel free to contact us for a consultation.
