Keep Web sites simple

Jon Titus, Editorial Director -- Test & Measurement World, 4/15/2001

One weekend, a friend brought his laptop to me to fix. When turned on, the computer would hunt for a nonexistent network connection and then stop. I removed some network commands from the PC's start-up files and got the computer to run Windows. Then, I cleaned old files off the hard drive. Unfortunately, I didn't have the PC's mouse, so I fumbled with the keyboard and used it as best I could to choose menus and select items. Now I remember how much we rely on hand motions to move through displayed items. In the end, I dug an old mouse out of my junk box and had an easier time.

Try to use most Web pages without a mouse, though, and you're in trouble. Many sites routinely include "cool" Java and ActiveX applets that open lists and display information as you move a cursor. Without a mouse, you'll never see these things. Now imagine you're disabled, can't use a mouse, have trouble typing, can't hear well, or have failing eyesight. How do you use the Web?

If you're a litigious sort, you use the Americans with Disabilities Act as the basis for lawsuits. Public buildings must accommodate people with disabilities, so why shouldn't Web sites be open to the public? People with handicaps shouldn't find themselves cut off from much of the information on the Internet.

Before you go to court, though, take a look at the accessibility options Microsoft built into Windows (they're in the control panel). You can adjust the characteristics of your system to display visual cues instead of playing sounds, adjust display colors, make numeric keys control the mouse cursor, and so on. Also, consider voice-recognition hardware and software and text-to-speech software such as LifeFX (www.lifefx.com) a text-to-voice add-on for e-mail software.

But even with these enhancements, most Web sites aren't easy for handicapped people to use. So if you control a Web site, kill those Java and ActiveX applets and simplify operations to make your Web site easier to use. Most Web sites I visit-ours included-aren't as accessible as they could be. Yet, it's in our power to make life simpler for people who already have more complicated lives than most of us can imagine. And in the process, we make the Web easier for everyone else to use, too. T&MW