:: Volume 6, Issue 9 - October, 2006 ::
Thank You for Your Interest in Empowering Your Business on the Web
And thank you for your interest in receiving this newsletter.
Disability Designing
Just last week we got an email from a client who was
forwarding a letter from their own client:
"Since I am blue/green
color blind, I did not see the blue text 'Best Internet Rate Guarantee Claim
Form' was any different than the grey text, and did not realize it was a link
in step 1 of 'You must do the following
to claim our Best Internet Rate Guarantee'... My wife was able to point out to me that was
a hyper-link to this form, and I am now able to complete and submit this form."
The client’s wife did not point this out until AFTER he had
come back from his business trip and had difficulties at check-in. He was
writing in to request that the hotel honor their "Best Internet Rate Guarantee;"
and suggested they change their website. No kidding! When we heard this, we were absolutely
grateful to receive this feedback and particularly that their own customer
would make the effort to write in to get satisfaction.
So, while we’ve talked in the past through our Newsletter
and other media about knowing the visitors you are targeting, perhaps now would
be a great time to touch on some of these staggering statistics again.
Did you know that 1 in 20 people (or 5%) are Red-Green Color
Blind? In the USA alone, that represents about 14.6 million people and another 1.6 million in Canada.
Once again it comes back to this:
If you try to do things differently, you may lose sales.
It never ceases to amaze me that all the big players on the
web are showing the rest of us how to do it, and yet there are still folks out
there who choose to structure their websites differently. Think about this;
does your potential demographics also include the visually or hearing impaired?
Think about it. Even Ferrari has to consider
that their buyers are 50+ in age and we all know it’s not just their hair lines
that are going. Even Hugo Boss needs to
help their shoppers differentiate between that grey suit they are about to
purchase and the blue one their wife told them to come home with. If you want to be different,
make sure you think of the consequences.
Audio or Video Clips
If you have an audio clip, do you also have a transcript of
that audio for deaf visitors to read? Do you have a Text Equivalent for
non-text elements which can be picked up by Assistive Technology Devices? In
this case, these are devices or software used by the visually impaired to
‘read’ the text on a website and convert it to audio.
Use of Images
Do your images or graphics or other features that convey
meaning through a picture or sound have a text
equivalent? Ensure that these images have the text equivalent for everyone
to appreciate. This especially includes
the graphics used within Navigation Buttons, Check Boxes, Logos, etc.
Database Navigation
If you have tables of data on your website, are the row and
column headers identified so the Assistive Technology Devices can read
them? How will the visually impaired know what the data is that they’re
hearing if you don’t have headers within the tables?
Links
And finally to the subject that started this whole thread –
Links. Blue
Underlined Text is the universal language for "Click here!". On websites we’ve come to understand that
underlined words are more often than not hyper-links to something important.
Even if a visitor can’t see the colour of the link, they’ll see the underline
and take it from there. All the biggies do it; Google,
Amazon, eBay;
they’re all speaking that language and for that, the world loves them! It's important to
understand that there is a reason for "standards", and that there can be unintended results
for not following standards. Most web users have had a hard enough time learning
how to use normal, standardized websites. What makes you think they are prepared to
spend any amount of time learning how to navigate your site if it’s different?
Perhaps you are one of the fortunate to not have a
visual or reading impairment. For that reason, you might not have thought about
it until now as to how your website might function to those who do live with
these challenges. On a human level,
wouldn’t you rather have a people-friendly website? On a business level, can you afford to ignore
the estimated 300 MILLION Color Blind potential customers that you might have
looking for you in the world wide web right now?
Did you know...
Globi Web Solutions is proud to announce we have been
selected to receive the World Wide Web Awards "Gold" Award in their
Development of www.PayHalf.com.
Says Donna Snyder - Chief Executive Officer of the World
Wide Web Awards, "As one of the
World's peak internet bodies, the Awards of The World Wide Web Awards are
amongst the most prestigious available and hence, amongst some of the more
difficult to win on the
web."
Hey - share the Wealth!
People you care about could be benefiting from the wealth of
information on new and solutions on the Web. So help them by
forwarding this issue of Globi Web Solutions Newsletter!
Privacy
As our subscribers, we
respect your privacy and will never make our mailing list publicly accessible.
Until next month, we remain your humble messenger to the internet.
Globi Web Solutions
1023 - 12th Ave SW
Calgary, Alberta, T2R 0J5
Phone: (403) 229-3800
E-mail: admin@globi.ca
Web Site: http://www.globi.ca
Copyright © 2010 Globi Web Solutions. All Rights Reserved. No part of this
newsletter may be reproduced in whole or in part without the
inclusion of Globi Web Solutions' Reprint Permission
below.
Reprint Permission
Although this material is subject to copyright, please feel free
to reprint this publication, in whole or in part, in your company
publication, in training, presentations, or wherever you feel this
would be of benefit. This also holds true for members of the media.
All we ask (actually, we insist) is that you use the following credit line:
Reprinted with permission from Globi Web Solutions, a leading
Website Design and Development Company based in Calgary.
For further resources and
information, go to globi.ca.
Copyright © 2010 Globi Web Solutions.
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