Sites Open Web to Visually Impaired By The Prague Post © 2002
DiversityInc.com October 03, 2002

For most Internet users, viewing text and images on Web pages and using
them to navigate is a given. But imagine trying to surf the Web without
being able to easily perceive one or more of those elements.

It's a challenge visually impaired computer users face each time they log
on to the Internet. Web developers who want to design Internet sites that
are accessible to such computer users can learn more about the mechanics of
creating "blind-friendly" sites at an INVEX seminar scheduled for Oct. 10.
The seminar is the one of the many presentations on cutting-edge technology
that are being offered at the annual computing and telecommunications
conference in Brno Oct. 7-Oct. 11.

Organized by Czech United Blind, an advocacy group for the visually
disabled, the seminar will include a demonstration of how traditional Web
design creates barriers for Internet users who are disabled. Seminar
organizers also plan to make a presentation on the principles of creating
blind-friendly Web sites. They will offer practical tips on HTML
programming that can be used to build barrier-free pages.

"If programmers would do their jobs properly, then it would be possible for
a blind person to use all Web sites," said Hana Bubenkova¡, director of
Czech United BlindÂ's National IT Center for the Blind. The center has
created a set of guidelines for Web developers, including specific
instructions on how to create blind-friendly links, which HTML tags to
avoid and how to format tables and forms. The guidelines are designed to
meet the needs of the those who are blind or have tunnel vision, narrowed
visual angle sight, color blindness or difficulty reading low-contrast Web
pages or of those who are severely short-sighted or far-sighted.

One important way developers can make Web sites blind-friendly is to
include large text next to pictures that describe what the images depict,
Bubenkovai said.

"We do not have to fight graphics, but we need the graphic items to be
accompanied by text descriptions," she said.

Other recommendations from the center's report:

Avoid opening links in separate browser windows without an explanation of
what is happening. Doing so can be confusing for visually impaired people.

For large Web sites, create a site map that describes the structure and
content of a site and that offers one place to find links to every page on
the site.

Avoid using image maps, which are graphics that are imbedded with
hyperlinks, unless they are accompanied by simpler text-based links.

Use relative instead of absolute values when defining sizes in the layout
of a Web page. Doing so allows pages to display correctly for users who
have set their computers to display text in sizes larger than the default
setting.

Another way the visually impaired can overcome barriers is through
software. Screen readers convert text, information in dialogue boxes, error
messages and menu selections into audio, for example. Other programs can
magnify text up to 16 times. Although such computer software is helpful,
such technology is expensive, Bubenkovai said.

At last year's INVEX conference, the United Organization of the Blind and
the Purblind (SONS) recognized Web sites, including several run by
government ministries, as outstanding examples of sites that work well for
the visually impaired.

Copyright Prague Post. Distributed in partnership with the Globalvision
News Network (GVnews.net) and Diversityinc.com. All rights reserved.


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