[thelist] Site Check: Is it accessible?

tim tim at hyperlinkage.com
Thu Nov 30 18:09:13 CST 2006


Stephen Rider wrote:
 > Quick check of an existing site.  Simply put, is this site something
 > I can legitimately describe as "handicapped accessible"?  Fully so?
 > Partially?
 > <http://www.realtymort.com/>


I've just browsed a couple of pages on the site with my screen switched 
off, using JAWS for navigation.  There are a couple of things you should 
think about changing:

   * As mentioned by Julian, you should remove the square brackets from 
the alt text in the main menu.  JAWS is currently reading these as "link 
graphic left bracket home right bracket link graphic left bracket 
today's listings right bracket".  This makes the menu fairly difficult 
to understand.

   * Add a "skip to content" link at the top of every page so that the 
header and menu can be avoided.  It takes a couple of minutes for these 
to be read out on every page unless the user skips forward with the 
keyboard.

   * I also think you should reconsider the abbreviations that are used 
in addresses - e.g. "W. Diversey Pkwy."  The screen reader does not 
recognise the last word as "parkway" and the meaning is lost.

Hope this helps,
Tim




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