As the popularity of the World Wide Web grows, so does the number of disabled people using it. Other media have taken steps to make their content accessible to people with disabilities. Films on DVD and television shows, for example, are closed captioned. Books come in large print and Braille editions. It follows that the content on the web should be accessible too. And yet, few web sites can claim that they are truly accessible.

Most sites are not designed from ground-up with accessibility in mind. One reason is that making a site accessible is deemed to be some mysterious black art and therefore, complex. Like any complex endeavor, people perceive it to be an expensive proposition. Another reason is that most site owners underestimate the number of users with disabilities who are likely to visit their sites. Finally, many site designers themselves are ignorant about what it takes to make sites accessible. As a result, scant attention is paid to accessibility in designing web sites.

The fact, though, is that making sites accessible is no black art; it only amounts to following a set of rules, guidelines, and best practices while writing HTML. It is not expensive to do if done right the first time. (Of course, if you try to retrofit a site the size of PCMech with code to make it accessible, it can certainly end up costing you a bundle, which is all the more reason to do it right the first time.)

An accessible site is simply a site which people with disabilities can navigate around easily and access all its content. For example, people with low vision should be able to make the font size bigger; blind people who use screen readers should be able to navigate the site easily and get to the desired content quickly; people who have trouble using a mouse should be able to use the keyboard instead; and people who are deaf should not miss out on the content just because it is in an audio format. This is not an exhaustive list, but you get the idea.

Some reasons a site can be difficult to access are:

1. Complex, convoluted HTML
   Common browsers can interpret it just fine, but devices like screen readers can find it difficult to handle. For example, a page with multiple tables, each with nested rows, columns, and even tables, can confuse the screen readers that may end up reading contents of different columns as a single line of text
2. Malformed HTML
   Modern browsers are quite forgiving. They can read atrocious HTML and still present a semblance of a decently formatted page. Other devices can’t. Most browsers will ignore missing end tags; other devices may not.
3. Use of images as text
   If the images are turned off, the "text" vanishes. It is common to find pages that have absolutely no navigation if you turn images off.
4. Dynamically generated navigation or text using JavaScript
   If a device, such as a screen reader or a text-only browser tries to load a page with such scripted content, the dynamic content may not load.
5. Device dependent objects and code
   If an action is scripted to take place on the click event of an image, for example, it may be inaccessible to people not using a mouse.
6. Images, sound, or video clips with no alternate text
   People who can’t see or hear, can’t access such content. Sometimes they may not even realize that it exists.
7. Bad contrast or too much of flashing, scrolling, or moving content
   Injudicious use of backgrounds, colors, contrast, and other visual attributes can make it difficult for people with low vision or conditions like epilepsy to read the offending web pages.

What can you do to avoid these problems? Simple.  While writing HTML, follow a few simple rules such as these:

1. Validate your HTML. Make sure each opening tag has a corresponding closing tag
2. Use text, not images, as links when you can.
3. When you must use images, whether as links or otherwise, always code the alt attribute
4. Code a label attribute for every input field on a form, which will describe what the field is
5. Don’t use fixed font sizes; use relative fonts instead.
6. Don’t design the site for a specific screen resolution.
7. Use cascading style sheets whenever possible
8. Use <TH> element for column headers and <TD> element for column data.
9. Don’t generate dynamic content using JavaScript. In general, don’t overuse JavaScript
10. If your page has sound or video content, provide transcripts for those who can’t access it.

Again, this is not an exhaustive list. You can find the complete guidelines at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/.  But as you can see, if you plan your site with accessibility in mind and if you write HTML carefully, you can eliminate all these problems completely. Yes, it does mean that you will have to sacrifice some "cool", cute, and must-have features but it is, perhaps, a small price to pay. After all, most cute features are just that — cute. They add little value to the content or its comprehension.

There are a couple of hidden benefits in taking the trouble to make your site accessible. First, if a screen reader can read and interpret the content of your site correctly, it is quite likely that search engines crawlers, which are more like screen readers than like browsers, will index your site correctly and better. Second, your site will likely render better and be easy to use for the increasing number of people who access the web with their PDAs and cell phones.

And if you are still not convinced, here is one final reason you should make your web site accessible. It’s the law.