Accessibility
Many Australian websites fall under the Disability Discrimination Act (1992). In practice, this requires that websites meet the accessibility standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
Whilst there are many impairments that may affect users' ability to access a particular website, it is worthwhile to point out two particular types of impairment:
- Up to 480 000 Australians have a form of vision impairment; and
- 12% of the Australian population have forms of colourblindness.
Aside from any legal issue with inhibiting visitors' ability to view a website, it is simply a matter of commonsense to ensure that a website is accessible to as many people as possible.
Through the use of well-designed navigation, clear website structure and alternative forms of displaying content, the majority of accessibility issues are
automatically addressed. However, to ensure that websites are accessible to all visitors regardless of physical impairment, Tapir Design takes additional steps to
ensure that its websites are accessible, including:
- Testing of websites for text-only browsing (for instance, for the use of text-to-speech browsers);
- Ensuring that font sizes are easily adjustable, yet keeping the website appearance and structure intact;
- Providing alternate forms of information; and
- Designing visuals that are not only visually pleasing, but also enhance the accessibility of all site visitors.
