The Benefits of Accessible Design
From: SD Times - 02/15/2003 - page 28
By: Mary Elges, a Web designer at Pinnacle Decision Systems Inc.

As a Web designer, Ive seen a lot of changes in the past few years on the
Internet. A standardization has developed for what a Web site is expected to
have and what it shouldnt have. However, part of my job is not only to
design pages that meet the current standard, but to look ahead and try to see
what standards may be developing. I think the next big change well see in
Web design will center around building sites for accessibility. 

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has put forth a list of suggestions for
Web designers to follow to fully optimize sites for accessibility: 

Guideline  1: Provide Equivalent Alternative to Auditory and Visual Content
Guideline  2: Don't Rely on Color Alone
Guideline  3: Use Markup and Stylesheets and Do It Properly
Guideline  4: Clarify Natural Language Usage
Guideline  5: Create Tables That Transform Gracefully
Guideline  6: Ensure That Pages Featuring New Technologies Transform
              Gracefully 
Guideline  7: Ensure User Control of Time-Sensitive Content
Guideline  8: Ensure Direct Accessibility of Embedded User Interfaces
Guideline  9: Design for Device Independence
Guideline 10: Use Interim Solutions
Guideline 11: Use W3C Technologies and Guidelines
Guideline 12: Provide Context and Orientation Information
Guideline 13: Provide Clear Navigation Mechanisms
Guideline 14: Ensure That Documents Are Clear and Simple

Read the full story at:
http://www.sdtimes.com/opinions/guestview.htm

Links:
HTML Writers Guild's AWARE Center:
http://aware.hwg.org
