Previous | Back to First Page

Achieve Accessibility with Dreamweaver

By Virginia DeBolt

Summary of Key Concepts for Accessibility

Knowbility, Inc offers this check list of key features to include in an accessible website. Some are not part of the work you do in Dreamweaver (captioning, for example), but most are part of the Dreamweaver work flow.

Images, Color, and Animation

1. Use the ALT attribute to describe the function of all visual images.
2. If image maps are present, use client-side MAP and text for hotspots.
3. Provide captioning and transcripts of multimedia elements including audio, descriptions of video, and/or alternate versions.
4. Use text, image, and background colors that contrast well. Don't use color as the sole means of conveying important information.
5. Avoid ASCII art. Replace it with an image and alternative text.

Structure and Navigation

1. Design so that information and structure are separate from presentation. Strive for universal design that transforms gracefully when used by a variety of browsing tools.
2. Design for ease of navigation. Be consistent and consider adding keyboard shortcuts to important links.
3. Provide a means to skip advertising or navigation bars and go directly to main page content.
4. Use headings, lists, and consistent structure. Encode list structures and use structural elements properly.
5. Use cascading style sheets for layout and style whenever possible and ensure that the page transforms gracefully if style sheets are not supported.
6. Avoid using "Link" or "Click here" to denote a link to new information. Instead, create text that makes sense when read out of context.

Advanced Design Elements

1. Summarize graphs and charts or use the longdesc attribute.
2. Provide alternatives for scripts, applets, & plug-ins in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.
3. Label frames with the title or name attribute.
4. Use the header attribute when presenting tabular data. Summarize table content.

And finally, check your work. Validate the HTML. Use evaluation tools and text-only browsers to verify accessibility.

For complete details, see the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). Also valuable is the W3C's article How People with Disabilities Use the Web.

Copyright 2005, Virginia DeBolt, All Rights Reserved

Previous | Back to First Page

Virginia DeBolt is owner of the Web Teacher blog and author of the book Integrated HTML and CSS: A Smarter, Faster Way to Learn.

Learning Podcasting by Carolyn Wood.

Complete list of past tutorials.