Making your website accessible.
It is not uncommon in these days to be overwhelmed by the many options for creating and maintaining your website. You will very likely want to invest in the best design and marketing strategy for your business. However, you might often find yourself not addressing the needs of those individuals with disabilities in your market or even the needs of anyone using a different browser. This is why Web Accessible Sites can be of service to you. We deliver you the highest quality in both web accessibility and web standards working alongside your own team of web designers and developers to help build and maintain your site with accessibility in mind.
Web accessibility - What exactly is it?
Web accessibility refers to making your web site user-friendly to everyone . This means ensuring it works well for individuals using any of the modern browsers (IE, Firefox, Safari, Netscape, Opera or Mozilla), individuals using personal digital assistants (PDAs), smart phones or any other emerging technological devices. However, most often we refer to web accessibility as making a website easier to navigate for those with disabilities using screen readers or other assistive technologies.
Are you doing everything you can to help make your website "web accessible"?
Web developers can generally make a website accessible with little extra effort when planned right at the start. This includes, among other things, adding descriptions to images on your site. Screen readers and text-only browsers use these descriptions to provide meaningful information to visually impaired users and search engines. Unfortunately, many web designers and developers will overlook these steps unless specifically asked to by the client. Make sure to request this as part of your website design or redesign project. You are the only one who can help make your site accessible.
Will this cost you extra?
No, this will generally not cost extra. Developers with some knowledge of building to the W3C standards can do this with little effort and can actually reduce the typical time to develop and maintain websites. If fact, building with standards and accessibility in mind will help reduce your costs now and again later when changes are often necessary.
Are there benefits for me, the client?
There are many benefits to building a W3C standards compliant and accessible website. These include better search engine ranking, faster page-loading, an increased target market and reduced costs in development and maintenance.
Where can you learn more about "web accessibility"?
You can find many links to excellent web accessibility information on our resources page. If you're interested in hearing more about this topic, you can also sign-up for our accessibility seminar. We do not SPAM nor sell your e-mail to anyone. We'll only contact you about dates and times for upcoming Toledo area seminars on "Web Accessibility, what exactly is it?"
Need help working out technical specifications for a website redesign project?
With all the constant changes in technology, it's difficult to keep up to date with what needs to get done, what costs money and what doesn't. We can reduce the frustration often encountered with larger web design projects. With a little planning and some assistance, we can help you determine more accurately your needs and provide you with different options to meet your budget. Consider giving us a call if you need some assistance writing up details for your RFP or Grant Proposal Project.
Our commitment to providing accessibility extends from our approach to building your site to all our other Web services. Contact us to set up a free consultation.