Most color blind people have red/green deficits. Some have the more rare form (tritanope) which is a blue/yellow deficit. This makes for an interesting challenge given that computer monitors are based on three colors – Red, Green, Blue (RGB).

It almost sounds as if it is impossible to design a website that is accessible for all. That really is not the case. Our graphics design side informs us that high contrast with the right color combinations is very important.

If you are interested in seeing how your website looks to the color blind, visit: www.vischeck.com.

YouTube is an excellent illustration of popular content that has low accessibility for the deaf. A new search engine www.harkle.com provides the deaf/hard of hearing closed captioned content.

Why is this important for websites? When you plan to embed video/audio on your website, also include all of the text or a synopsis that allows the deaf/hard of hearing to gain from the content as well. This practice will make your website more accessible and provide the following benefits:

• Content is “king” on search engines and your visitors. The more content you have, the more keywords/phrases you will rank well for on the search engines.
• Not everyone wants to listen to audio. If you provide content, that gives all of your visitors an option to glean from your website.

We have great appreciation for design and the way fonts match the graphical elements. Not everyone has the ability to appreciate design, namely the hard of seeing and the blind. We work behind the design to create websites that are friendly to our friends who have limited vision. We believe that every website company ought to put forth the same effort. Over time, I am sure they will.

What does this mean for you as one of our clients?

• Your website is easy to read with machines that the hard of seeing/blind use. In our opinion, this is not simply a preoccupation with technical details, it is the right thing to do.
• Your website will reach more people. The hard of seeing/blind are a significant part of our society.
• Search engine experts at Google have created a search page called “Google Accessible.” It gives priority to those sites which are accessible. That means your site will leap ahead of your competitors who have low-accessible sites.

This side of website development does not have wide acceptance. We think this it is primarily due to one of two things: 1) people simply do not know that websites need to be made accessible; 2) it takes extra discipline and knowledge to make websites accessible.

Not only will we continue to provide quality design/promotion for your website needs, we will stay on the “cutting edge” to keep your site visible to all!

Next article topic: Accessibility for the Deaf