What is web accessibility?

Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the web

W3C

"Disabilities" - visual , auditory , physical , speech, cognitive and neurological
"Use" - people can perceive, understand, navigate, interact, and contribute to the web

Why care?

11 million people in Great Britain have a limiting long term illness, impairment or disability - gov.uk
The Equality Act 2010 (formerly the Disability Discrimination Act 1995)
- Discrimination against people with disabilities is prohibited by law.
  This includes websites.

Over 2 million people in the UK live with some form of sight loss
Approximately 360,000 are registered as blind or partially sighted
93% of those can see something
1 in 5 aged 75 and over have sight loss, 1 in 2 aged 90 and over
Nearly two-thirds of people living with sight loss are women
People from black and ethnic minority groups are at greater risk of some of the leading causes of sight loss

Source: RNIB

General
- Responsive web design
- Make layout consistent and predictable
- Don't rely on colour alone to convey meaning
- Leave space between form fields, labels directly above the fields they relate to
Text
- Readable font size
- Ensure text flows when magnified
- Colour contrast, luminosity
- Avoid italic text
Images
- Describe them
- Diagrams and infographics - try not to have a fixed background colour. Use a .png with transparency.
- Carousels and moving images - must be able to pause and stop
- Try not to use text in graphics or images. May become pixilated when zoomed.