I think web standards are essential because the internet is evolving continuously. There are different browsers and different ways of accessing the internet rather than just using a computer or laptop. Internet on the go is very popular now with the release of smart phones and iphones. So I think its important that the W3C have made standards so that internet is still easy to use and access from mobile devices. I have a Blackberry phone and I use it all the time to access my emails and surf the internet and I think it is so easy to use and really handy when I do not have access to the internet on my laptop or in college etc. Everything is really easy to read and they have made things like Facebook easy to use as well, although it is not like the traditional layout on a computer. I have even cut down on using the internet on my laptop because I can use it so easily on my phone.
More importantly is web accessibility. After our talk with the blind lecturer Roisin I really could see how important it is that all websites are accessible to everyone. When the program JAWS came on it was really fast and I could not understand most of it, but she was so used to it she could. But I really saw the problem and felt sorry for her when we were on a page with many pictures and she knew by the accessibility of the the page that it was full of images and she found it hard to navigate around. I closed my eyes for a minute and imagined only being able to hear the mans voice explaining what she was doing on the computer and it would really annoy me to have to rely on this. I am lucky as I found it very irritating to listen to that voice speaking.
I agree 100% with making websites accessible to people with a disability and I think more web pages need to be changed to facilitate for this. The internet is such a huge phenomenon and I believe the W3C are right to make it a law to have accessibility standards. With regards to the argument we had in class that if there was a disabled person in the class who needed to go a little slower than the rest of the class well I do not think the rest of the class should be going as slow as the person. I would suggest that the lecturer gave some extra classes to that person instead of the whole class waiting. I am not being discriminative I hope but if the disabled student was getting a few extra classes he/she would be on the same level as the rest of the class anyway.
So when I make my website I will be ensuring the following:
- I will provide text alternatives for my visual information
- Keep my pages clear and concise
- I will ensure movements on the screen can be turned off
- Provide text capturing for any audio or video
- Use colour carefully
- I will stick to web standards
- Well navigated and well structured pages
- Alternative content for script, plug ins and applets
No comments:
Post a Comment