Frequently Asked Questions

How difficult is it to make my site compliant?

It depends on how complicated your site is to begin with. But generally speaking, designing an accessible Web site is not as difficult as most people believe. Often it is a matter of identifying graphics, elements, frames, etc. For example, HTML code already provides the "Alt-Text" tag for graphics, which some designers simply forget or ignore.

How many people are affected by issues of Web accessibility?

The percentage of people with disabilities in many populations is between 10% and 20%. Not all disabilities affect access to information technologies such as the Web (for instance, difficulty walking, or a heart condition, would not affect Web access) but many do.

Just as with other parts of the population, not all people with disabilities have access to the Web. But the number of people using the Web is steadily increasing, and for people with disabilities access to this technology is sometimes even more critical than for the general population which may have an easier time accessing traditional sources of information such as print media.

What are examples of some common barriers on Web pages?

These guidelines address barriers in Web pages which people with physical, visual, hearing, and cognitive/neurological disabilities may encounter. Common accessibility problems on Web sites 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; tables that are difficult to decipher when linearized; or sites with poor color contrast.

How will these guidelines affect usability and appearance of sites for non-disabled users?

Accessible Web sites can be just as creatively designed as inaccessible sites. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines address how to make a large variety of Web features accessible, rather than recommending that sites be dull or boring. The goal is to ensure that all kinds of Web sites, including multimedia, work well for all users. In general, accessible Web sites don't need to be designed to be very different. They just need to be designed to be flexible; flexible so that users can operate them in different ways (with keyboard and mouse), and flexible so that they transform gracefully into intelligible and useful pages if particular technologies are not supported, or cannot be used by particular users or browsers.

Many features of the guidelines will actually improve usability of Web sites for non-disabled users, by ensuring that sites are more easily navigable, and that they can be accessed through a variety of different kinds of devices rather than only a traditional graphical desk-top browser.

Why don't the guidelines recommend using text-only pages?

Text-only pages should not be necessary to ensure accessibility of Web pages that follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, except in very rare cases. In fact, text-only pages are frequently counterproductive to accessibility since they tend to be kept less up-to-date than "primary pages," or in some cases leave out information that is on primary pages.

Many sites that have made a commitment to accessibility in the past have used text-only pages as a solution; however, by following these guidelines it should be unnecessary in almost all cases, or even inadvisable, to set up and maintain a separate set of text-only pages.

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 of accessibility, such as use of style sheets, can actually reduce the costs of maintaining or updating sites, and this benefit should increase over time as style sheets are more evenly implemented in browsers and available as an authoring strategy in authoring tools.

For existing sites, the ease or difficulty of making sites accessible depends on a variety of factors, including the size of a site, the complexity of a site, and the authoring tool that was used to make a site. Periodic upgrades or reviews of sites can be good opportunities to review the accessibility of sites. 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.

How can I assess the accessibility of my site?

There are several ways to do this:

See our guide to retrofitting your site for accessibility for more information.

Are PDFs accessible?

Acrobat 6.0 can make accessible PDFs; see: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/access_faq.html