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Useability and Accessibility
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An increasingly important part of running a website is making sure that it can be accessed by the maximum number of users. For us at WebGuild, this means making sure that the systems and sites will work on the maximum number of computers, but will also address the needs of those users in the disabled community who have problems to overcome such as failing eyesight or dyslexia.
The design of the WebGuild systems and the themes implemented on our websites have taken these things into account.
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Usability
First, at the basic level of usability, the sites and systems are all tested on Windows, Linux and Apple systems to ensure that you really can access your site from any computer, anywhere in the world.
Secondly, website design takes into account the different screen sizes that you maybe using. Designs are either based in the most popular size - 1024 x 768 pixels - with the ability to scale up, or are built as a percentage of the screen so they will look good in any size of window.
Additionally, the size of images appearing on the site is limited by the system to ensure fast download time of your pages, keeping your visitors interested. All small images can easily be used as thumbnails to open larger versions of unrestricted size.
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Accessibility
WebGuild systems also work to address accessibility problems for disabled users:
All text is easily resizable using the web-browser's built-in resizing facility. This makes it much easier for those whose eyesight is failing, or for those with dyslexia, for whom larger text is easier to understand. All navigation buttons are generated as text rather than images of text so that audio or text-only browsers can interpret them more easily.
All image uploading screens come with the ability to add your own, useful, alternative text labels to images so that those who browse with images turned off, or using spoken-word browsers, can still understand what your pages consist of.
None of the sites use frames or rely on javascript, both of which are issues for those using speciality browsers.
None of the sites use 'Flash' movies, unreadable by speciality browsers, or other types of moving images which can cause problems either for the browser, or the user.
More information about the issues of disability and the internet can be found at:
AbilityNet
W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
We have made a commitment to accessibility with our systems which we wish to maintain to the best of our abilities. If you find any usability or accessability issues with a WebGuild system, please contact us at usability@webguild.co.uk.
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