Heather Smith does a consumer test to find out which websites are accessible to the two million people in the UK with sight problems
Jamie Oliver grates nutmeg on to a bowl of pasta and Sainsbury's report an increase in weekly sales of the spice from 1,400 to 6,000 jars. The stomach-churning sight of fat oozing from cigarettes in a British Heart Foundation TV ad sends addicts 'in droves' to smoking cessation clinics.
These facts reinforce what PR practitioners already know about the ability of the well-chosen image to sway hearts and minds.
Website designers also understand the power of the visual image. Buttons, banners, Flash animations, photographs, colour schemes and text are all used to create the right impression with visitors. But what happens when the target audience has difficulty seeing these images? How do companies communicate messages effectively to visually-impaired audiences on the web?
According to the RNIB, two million people in the UK have sight problems. Of these, approximately one million are classed as blind or partially sighted. The web is especially important for the visually-impaired who may find accessing services through 'traditional' routes difficult or impossible.
The needs of web users with sight problems are wide and varied. Some, including the colour blind, need to be able to change the colours used on websites or the size of text using their browser. Others, who depend on screen readers to convert pages into Braille or speech, need websites that are designed with this method of accessing content in mind.
I download a 30 day trial of a popular screen reader and discover first-hand how organisations communicate with the visually-impaired on the web.
With its animation and attractive product photographs the well-known supermarket site looks impressive. I soon encounter a problem, however, when the screen reader fails to tell me about the week's special offers that scroll quickly along the bottom of the page. Despite the statement declaring that the company is committed to providing access to the website to as many visitors as possible, it is obvious that the visually-impaired are one group who could miss out on this money-saving information.
I have further trouble accessing the home delivery page. Although I can see the image of the van used as a 'click-through' link, the screen reader does not - another disadvantage for the visitor with sight problems and a potential loss of custom and reputation for the supermarket.
I discover images on other websites that are ignored by the screen reader or are identified with names that make no sense: a photograph becomes IMG 41326.png.
I turn off the screen reader and alter my browser settings. Although I don't encounter a website where the colour can't be changed, I am unable to change the small text size on a catalogue shopping website - a major disadvantage for visually impaired users.
Sadly, my experience is common. Poor design means that blind and partially sighted users have the worst on-line experience with recent studies revealing that 71% fail to complete basic web-based tasks. Despite legislation passed in 1995 that created the legal requirement to make websites accessible to all, the Disability Rights Commission report that 81% of British websites fail to take into account the needs of disabled users.
Denying equal access to information on the web to all users is not only legally and morally wrong; it does not make business sense. Two million visually-impaired web users represent considerable buying power. And that figure does not take into account people, including dyslexics and those whose first language is not English, who use screen readers to access websites for reasons other than visual impairment.
Increasingly consumers want to do business with organisations who can demonstrate social responsibility - an accessible website is one way of helping to create a positive attitude towards a company.
So what needs to be done? Do organisations need separate websites for visually-impaired users without the eye-catching graphics so prevalent in other forms of PR?
The answer, according to the Web Accessibility Initiative, is 'no.' Well-chosen images, colour, text and animation can help organisations communicate messages to users with sight problems as well as adding interest for all visitors. Quality rather than quantity is the key to choosing graphics for accessible websites - and it is a philosophy that can benefit all audiences as well as businesses.
Despite the advent of Broadband, a third of UK users still use Dial-Up to connect to the web. Images take a long time to appear using this type of Internet access. Unfortunately the average surfer is impatient, waiting just 10 seconds for a page to appear before clicking through to another site, taking with them potential custom and a bad impression. In addition to this, many web users turn off image-download or use text-only browsers to speed up page downloading. Based on these facts, it makes sense for businesses to decide whether the information conveyed by images can be given using regular text which is also easier for the visually-impaired to access.
Web accessibility organisations also point out that fast moving animation may affect epileptics, so these types of graphics should be chosen with care. Black text on a white background is the easiest for sighted and visually-impaired visitors to read. Ensuring that other colours can be overridden by visiting browsers is simple and should be part of good website design.
Pages containing few images also make business sense with organisations paying less for web-hosting.
Where graphics are used they should be available to all web users. For example, a sensible text equivalent in the site code would have allowed my screen reader to access the supermarket special offer information. The same is true for the picture of the van so crucial to reaching the home delivery website.
There is good news, however. Over 50 websites have been awarded the RNIB 'See It Right' logo. In March 'A Guide to Good Practice in Commissioning Accessible Websites', (PAS 78), was launched and there are a number of companies and consultants who can advise on the accessibility of websites.
With the vast and ever-growing array of visual images available it is easy to forget the main purpose of a website: to communicate. And to do this effectively the message needs to be accessible to all.
So how about a simple test? Turn off the images on your site - just how good does your organisation look now?
For more information: Royal National Institute for the Blind: Web Accessibility Initiative
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