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The current hot topic in web land is DDA compliance – ensuring your web site conforms to the guidelines laid out in the Disability Discrimination Act. Discriminating against the disabled is something that is to be avoided and many web sites have yet to catch up, unfortunately as many as 10% of web sites have a more fundamental problem – browser discrimination. If your web site doesn't function correctly across different browser platforms, it is even less likely to be DDA compliant.

It's important that your web site functions correctly under a variety of different scenarios, you cannot assume that everyone accessing your web site is a healthy 30's male using Internet Explorer (IE). With 14% of the adult population in the UK registered disabled and up to a third of surfers currently using a browser other than IE, it is a very unsound assumption.

Research undertaken by SciVisum examined 100 leading UK consumer web sites and found that 10% exhibited problems with non IE web browsers. 3% of the sites refused access, whilst a further 7% had non-standard code only recognised by IE. Non-IE use amongst the disabled is prevalent, for example, many blind people make use of web page readers that enable them to surf without the aid of sight. The likelihood that these 10% of sites would fall woefully short of DDA compliance levels is high.

Making it all work

If your web site has only ever been developed and tested on an IE platform, at best the results may look odd, at worst the content may be completely inaccessible. With the tools at the disposal of the modern web developer, this need not be the case. By following a few simple steps you should be able to ensure your web site functions well across different browser platforms, and is also is a step in the right direction towards DDA compliance.

1. Avoid using browser specific features in the HTML. By using one of the many HTML validators available you can ensure your code conforms to the standard HTML specification.
2. Make good use of cascading style sheets. Where possible layout and design is best controlled in the style sheets. This will make for simpler HTML which is more likely to work across browser platforms. Your cascading style sheets can be validated in very much the same way your HTML is validated.
3. Avoid using images to purvey necessary information. Some browsers will not display images, so any dependency should be avoided. If this cannot be avoided, make good use of alt tags to give adequate descriptions.
4. Ensure your site still works when additional technologies are disabled. Java and JavaScript are the two biggest suspects in this case. Such technologies should only be used to enhance a site, and never used to make a site functional.

I need help!

Help is always at hand. Powernet are skilled in web development and have experience in producing accessibility reports for web sites. Should you want your site investigated, or if you know remedial work needs doing, then consider using us to bring your web site up to date.

Sources: www.scivisum.co.uk www.w3schools.com