I think as designers we get so caught up in the design and the client’s needs and wants that we forget about the end user and the fact that 1 in 10 web users has some form of disability.

I have designed a website with my target group in mind and have put it to the test with the colour blind web page filter.

You can view it here.

Why bother you might say? Well besides the fact that you are being professional and inclusive, you might be interested to know that an accessible website is more likely to rank higher with search engines than an inaccessible website.

Here is a basic summary of some key points to remember whilst designing an accessible website:

• use an adjustable font size
• use alt text for all images
• use international date formats (yyyy-mm-dd)
• use CSS rather than tables
• use the <title> element effectively: short and descriptive as possible
• use the <h1> element
• don’t use the <font> tag – use CSS to format text
• use relative size values not fixed size values (ie. medium/large – instead of 12 point)
• don’t use a small font size
• use a background colour
• use high contrast colours (ie. black text on white background is best for people with visual disabilities, avoid coloured text like red, blue, yellow and green)
• use plain fonts rather than fancy fonts
• avoid italics
• have adequate text/line spacing

For more information on general web accessibility standards, please visit these websites:

w3.org

w3schools.com

W3C Report: How people with disabilities use the web 

The most common type of color blindness is Anomalous Trichromat Vision.  When designing for this group, it is important to avoid red and green color combinations as this group will not be able to tell these colors apart.  The same things goes for combinations with variations of red and green – which includes purple and orange.

Other key recommendations are the use of high contrasting color combinations like black and white, and the use of large clear fonts.