How to Design Websites for Universal Access

Chad Argo - Phoenix, AZ
123Triad: Web Design & SEO Company

How to Design Websites for Universal Access

Websites for universal access address accommodation of web users with physical disabilities. As the internet is growing very rapidly as time passes by, the range of the users grows too.

Out of 5 Americans between 15-64 years old, 1 person has a physical disability. That will translate to about 30% of American families who will be affected by having a member with such physical disability.

There is therefore a strong call for web designers to design websites for universal access. This means that any website that’s live should be easy and pleasant to use by any user regardless of age, gender, and physical condition. This actually makes the work of a designer much simpler and cleaner.

People with physical disability who need to be considered by a web designer who wants to design websites for universal access is not limited to, but includes, visually impaired such as blind or color blind, deaf, motion impaired due to missing limbs, and those with cognitive impairments.

An excellent designer can design websites for universal access which can accommodate many special needs of the physically impaired, and at the same time still stay pleasant to use by other users without disabilities. To do this, you need to clearly specify the purpose of a website’s page and lay out the navigation without relying too much on Java script. You can also help your users by using alt tags for the images used in the website.

People with physical disabilities will have different needs in envisioning the website and you need to understand that so you can effectively design websites for universal access. For blind users for example, a screen reader software will be used which reads every word on the page one at a time on every row from top to bottom. If you put on too many stuff at the headers, subheaders, tons of advertisements, side topics, and a lot more elements which are not related to the content, then that can cause confusion since the screen reader software will read everything, including alt tag information.

To effectively design websites for universal access will mean broad understanding of physical disabilities and the circumstances of those who have such.

123Triad webdesign offers affordable custom website design. Our full service website design company only hires certified website designers. Please contact us today on 1-800-720-0816 for your next web site design project.

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