XHTML 1.1 - Served as application/xhtml+xml
Accessibility Defined
website accessibility, what is it?
Accessible web design is universal web design. The concept of universal design means designing for the widest range of people's abilities. Adopting a universal design ensures information will be accessible not only to people with disabilities but to those using old, alternate, or emerging technologies. In keeping with this definition, it is important when developing web content to consider who will be accessing the information, and how they will be accessing it. For example, how does your page look:
- on different browsers? (e.g., Internet Explorer, Netscape, Opera, text browser)
- to users with different screen resolutions (e.g., 640 x 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x 768)
- with images and/or JavaScript turned off?
- to individuals who are using portable computing devices?
- to individuals who are accessing the web via telephone?
- to blind individuals who are accessing the web using a screen reader?
- to individuals who are deaf? Is my audio content closed captioned or transcribed?
Federal Agencies in the USA, as well as other countries, have strict legalities regarding accessibilities:
Section 508
W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web
section508.gov
"Section 508 requires that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. The Center for Information Technology Accommodation (CITA), in the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of Governmentwide Policy, has been charged with the task of educating Federal employees and building the infrastructure necessary to support Section 508 implementation. Using this web site, Federal employees and the public can access resources for understanding and implementing the requirements of Section 508."
So you see, web accessibility is something every web designer is responsible for.
