Accessibility

Web accessibility can be referred to as “design for all” or “inclusive design”. The terms mean the same thing – nobody will be excluded from accessing information on a website regardless of physical or intellectual abilities. Enhance.ie have extensive experience in this area.

Making your website accessible is achieved by following the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) guidelines as laid down by W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). These guidelines help developers integrate best practice accessibility features into the website in development.

A well designed website will take the guidelines into consideration so your site still looks great and also performs well for everyone in a clear and consistent manner. There are different international and local standards or even laws concerning accessibility.

In Ireland the NDA (National Disability Authority) issued specific guidelines: NDA IT Accessibility Guidelines v1.1.

Benefits of an accessible website:

• Having an accessible website means reaching a larger audience.
• People with visual impairments and those with intellectual/physical disabilities are not excluded from using an accessible website.
• The code used to develop an accessible website needs to conform to accessibility and mark up standards, a good by-product of this is that the website is automatically future proofed.
  Clean, well marked up XHTML and CSS code results in quicker download times, which subsequently results in happier users.
  Another by-product of this is improved Search Engine Optimisation – your site will be more visible and attractive to search engines such as Google and Yahoo!
• Not only are the legal requirements met, but accessible websites also show a good moral with no one being discriminated against.
• Colours are chosen thoughtfully and a certain contrast balance needs to be maintained so text is legible for those with colour vision impairments.
• Minimised technical constraints are achieved. For instance, not having a specific plug-in such as a flash player will not affect the use of the website.
• The website’s layout can adapt to a variety of browsers, PDA’s and mobile phones.
• Generally, a well-built accessible site is easier to use for everyone.

Our accessibility service

We audit your existing or new site and report to you about our findings. This is an easy way of finding out, if your site needs improvement or changes. We consult with you about existing legal requirements and which standards need to be met.

The following services are offered to create or retrofit your website to accessibility standards:

• Analysis
  We analyse all influencing factors on your site including the target group.
• Design
  We design accessible sites. But accessible doesn’t mean simple or boring. We always aim to make our accessible website as attractive and well designed as possible.
• Build Site
  We develop/retrofit sites according to required accessibility standards.

  Once your site is accessible, we will check if it is compliant to the WCAG 2.0 accessibility guidelines, an internationally accepted standard. If you like we can then add their badge to your site to indicate your site is a well developed, standards compliant accessible website.

• Post-Launch
  After the site is launched, you’re not left alone. To ensure your site stays accessible, we will aid you with a guide on how to edit accessible content.

  In addition, we will audit your site frequently so your accessibility standard is always up to date and reliable.