Currently, most Web sites and Web software have accessibility barriers that make it difficult or impossible for many people to use, particularly, people with disabilities. For example, when web developers require mouse interaction to use a Web site, people who cannot use a mouse can have great difficulty; and when developers do not include alternative text for important images, people who are blind cannot get the information from the images.
Web Access Initiative (WAI), a special working group under the W3C, develops guidelines widely regarded as the international standard for web accessibility. For example, the guidelines recommend that:
- Provide text equivalents of non-text content (images, pre-recorded audio, video)
- Create sufficient color contrast between text and background
- Ensure that pages are accessible even when newer technologies are not supported or are turned off
- Ensure that moving, blinking, scrolling, or auto-updating objects or pages may be paused or stopped.
- Use clear and consistent design and navigation
- Use the features that enable interactions through preferred input devices – mouse, keyboard, voice, head wand, or others.
While WAI guidelines primarily concern people with disabilities, they provide benefits to a wider range of people. This universal web design is particularly beneficial to the internet users in low-income countries, where literacy rates are often low, and the internet environment is limited (Box 6).
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