• information for educational programs;
• employment-related information or workplace intranets;
• information on civic activities or programs;
• e-Commerce; and
• volunteer opportunities.

Common barriers on webpages
People with physical, visual, hearing, and cognitive/neurological disabilities may encounter common accessibility problems. These problems include; images without alternative text; lack of alternative text for imagemap hot-spots; misleading use of structural elements on pages; uncaptioned audio or undescribed video; lack of alternative information for users who cannot access frames or scripts; deciphering tables that are linearized; or sites with poor color contrast.

Does it cost more to make a site accessible?
Designing a new site to be accessible should not add significantly to development cost. Some aspects such as use of style sheets, can actually reduce the costs of maintaining or updating sites.

For existing sites, the ease or difficulty of making sites accessible depends on a variety of factors, including the size, complexity, and the authoring tool that was used to make a site. Periodic upgrades or reviews of sites can be good opportunities. When compared with the broader audience that a site is available to, and the greater usability for other users as well, accessible sites can be cost-effective.

Are there tools that can help me? Can I test the accessibility of my site?
There are an increasing number of tools that can help in designing or evaluating accessibility. "Bobby," is an accessibility checker developed by the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) at http://www.CAST.org which performs an automated on-line test. These checkers can help identify barriers on a site. Because no tool can perform a complete automated test, false positives and negatives are possible, and claims of a particular conformance level must rely on manual checking.

For more detailed and technical information on guidelines and checklists, visit the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) home page, at http://www.w3.org/WAI. It has the most recent information on all the Web Accessible Resources.

Tips on how to make websites accessible
Remember that people use the web differently. Information should be presented so that it is easily accessible, regardless of the type of hardware or software being used. Web designers cannot assume that everyone uses the same kinds of devices the same way.

• Style. Organize documents so they may be read easily without style sheets.
• Language. Use the clearest and simplest language for content.
• Hypertext links. Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid "click here."
• Page organization. Use headings, lists, and consistent structure. Use CSS for layout and style where possible.
• Color. Ensure that all information conveyed with color is also available without color.
• Scripts, applets, & plug-ins. Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.
• Frames. Use the no frames element and meaningful titles.
• Tables. Make line-by-line reading sensible. Summarize.
• Check your work. Validate. Use tools, checklist, and guidelines whenever possible.

Adapted from W3C’s “Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0” Recommendations.

For Complete Guidelines & Checklist visit www.w3.org/WAI