Accessibility

Illustrative banner image

We believe that correct accessibility is as much a matter of design and common sense, as well as checklists devised by official bodies. ALT and TITLE tags all make great sense, as long as they are sensibly used. We take great care to ensure that, for instance, ALT tags for images do not just say “image”, as, although this would comply with WAI guidelines, it is not much use for a visually impaired person.

One of the aims of any web project is to avoid discriminating users, by offering everyone the same, highly accessible website, that complies to the strict WAI ‘AA’ guidelines. If something is thoroughly designed and developed for people with disabilities, it will also be accessible for the rest of the audience.

Techniques

Museums Sites uses all of the following techniques to enhance the accessibility of its content:

  • Access Keys - to provide non-mouse visitors with shortcut key access to content
  • ALT text - Meaningful alternative text for images for non-visual browsers
  • CSS - complete separation of style from content
  • Device independent design providing open access to content on all platforms and devices
  • Meaningful page title tags to provide search engines and visitors with a cue to where they are within the site
  • Print style sheet to provide print-friendly version of pages, without duplicating site content
  • Semantic XHTML – correctly structured HTML documents, with meaningful content hierarchy
  • Skip navigation link to allow non-visual browsers to skip navigation links
  • Tab indexes to provide non-mouse visitors with access to content
  • Title attributes to provide helpful hints/tool tips