Accessible website design...

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We take very seriously our responsibility to keep the web as available as possible to all-comers, irrespective of what software they wish to use or any disabilities they have. As such, whilst we recognise that "you're the boss", we try to encourage our clients to adopt website designs that are as inclusive as possible.

Note that, under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), if someone could not access a particular feature of your site because that feature was "inaccessible" and they chose to take the matter to the courts, you could be liable to prosecution. Choosing to have an accessible website developed isn't just the decent thing to do - it makes your services available to a greater number of customers, and it's the law!

As well as limiting use of inaccessible content in our sites (Flash, overuse of images etc) and meeting WAI guidelines wherever possible, we also encourage use of access keys (to navigate the main sections of this site, try holding the alt key and tapping any number from 1-8, followed by enter if you're using Internet Explorer. Use ctrl rather than alt if you're a mac user) to make navigation easier for those who find mouse navigation difficult. We have also developed a few neat tricks to make sites easier to read for those who encounter accessibility issues:

Note, the following example accessibility features require cookies to be enabled in your web browser.

Colour changer

Those with visual impairments often favour particular colour schemes, rather than force people to read the colours you have chosen, give them the option:

Font size changer

Many users don't know that font sizes can be changed from their browser's "view" menu. By giving them a button or text link to click, font sizes can easily be changed to make the site easier to read:

These are just 2 examples of how users can customise their experience of your site. Obviously the sky is the limit in terms of what control you decide to give your users...