Accessibility

Access Keys

For users with no access to a mouse, the site can be navigated with the links first on the page. These can be skipped using access key K

The only other quick access key is N to take you to the next page. This can be done using either ALT + ACCESSKEY or CTRL + ACCESSKEY. You may also need to press enter.

Statement

I aim to make my web sites as accessible as possible, without compromising on design.

This is for several reasons, not least to allow accessibility for disabled users, but to guarantee to the best of my abilities a meaningful experience in many situations.

Access in Less Than Perfect Situations

You can't assume every user has a high resolution screen and a broadband connection. There's a chance that users might be receiving content:

on a slow connection (dial-up)
with a lower quality or non-colour screen
without the use of a mouse (especially on portable devices)
not necessarily in an office environment
and using older browsers.

I achieve this using a separation of the content on the page and the styling (see Accessiblity and Search Engine Optimisation). I also use semantic markup – this means, for example, that headings are labelled as such in the code. All pages are written to W3C strict standards, so the page the viewer sees is XHTML 1.0 strict and with valid CSS to style it.

I try to avoid using pop-up windows, not least because many users find them annoying, but in several cases, such as those mentioned above, they can be difficult to navigate.