If you are running a UK website that provides information or marketing material to the general public you must make that service available to disabled users or you will be breaking the law. This is a requirement of the Disabilities Discrimination Act (DDA) and recommended by the W3C/WAI guidelines.
The following three tests do not need any special equipment or knowledge. They are easy to carry out and will give you a quick idea of how accessible (or not) your site is.
Test 1 - Navigating with the Tab key
Try to explore your website without using your mouse. Put
your mouse well out of reach so that you are not tempted to
cheat!
To navigate without a mouse you press the Tab key on the
left of your keyboard. Each time you press the Tab key you
select the next navigation button or hyperlink on the page.
(Use the Shift key + the Tab key to go back to a previous
link).
If you find that your site is impossible to navigate without using a mouse then your site is not accessible to disabled people and you may be breaking the law.
Test 2 - Alternative text for images.
The images and pictures on your website are stored separately to the text. Visually impaired users may not be able to see the images - but they still need to know what the picture was about.
This is done by including an alternative piece of text that shows up if the image does not arrive, or if the user holds the mouse cursor over the image for a moment. This is called the "alternative text tag" or the "Alt Tag".
The picture on the left shows how the alternative text tag is displayed
as you rest your cursor for a second over the image.
Use your mouse to rest the cursor on the images on your website. If the alternative text is not available you will probably be breaking the law as you are not providing a similar quality of service to all your users.
Test 3 - Large text option
People with poor eyesight may need to adjust the size of the text on your websites.
To check if people can change your text size, select the View menu in your browser toolbar, from the pull-down list select Text Size and click on the Largest option.
If your pages have been written using the proper html codes you should see the text and links on your page written in a larger font size. This means that you have used proportional font sizes - well done.
If the text size remains the same then you have used fixed, or absolute, font sizes and people with weak vision may not be able to read your content. This includes most older people !
Conclusion
If your site failed any of the above tests your site is not accessible and will definitely need repairing. These are only a few of the tests you need to do, but they are simple and provide a good indication of your site's general accessibility.
If your website passed the above tests then you should consider having a full test done. You can order a basic WAI compliance test using our on-line order form by clicking here