6 ACCESSIBLE CONTENT

by Jim Thatcher

The subject of accessibility on the Web can be divided into three main categories: accessible web content, accessible navigation, and accessible interaction. This chapter addresses the first of these: creating accessible content, including the text, images, and audio files that might be available on a web page. Accessible navigation is covered in Chapter 7, and accessible interaction is the subject of Chapter 8. In addition to these basic treatments of accessibility for the Web, see also the coverage of advanced topics, especially Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in Chapter 9 and JavaScript in Chapter 10.

Content is accessible only if it can be "viewed" or accessed by people with disabilities. Besides getting the information from the page, people with disabilities must be able to use all the functions available to nondisabled users: links, buttons, form controls, and so on. Accessible content must be compatible with assistive technologies, particularly screen readers. There must be alternatives to pure visual content for people who can't see and alternatives to pure auditory content for people who can't hear.