Barrierefreies Webdesign
| Author | Chea, S. |
|---|---|
Publication type | Bachelor Thesis |
| Place Published | St. Pölten |
| Publication date | 03.06.2012 |
| Supervising Tutor | Peter Judmaier |
Abstract
The Internet is one of the most important media in our society. Despite our technological knowledge and progress it still consists of a lot of barriers for elderly and disabled people. This is probably due to the unfortunate fact that developing and designing for these target groups is still far from being a reality. Because developers are barely learning anything about accessibility during their education.
This thesis deals with the topic Accessible Webdesign. It aims to show how web designers can create accessible page areas, what kind of assistant technologies can be and are used by disabled people and how one will be able to optimize page areas for those software solutions. Furthermore, it deals with the standard of accessible websites, which should be considered while developing and how designers can test their own products to see if they are accessible. It also provides code examples, which show how page areas can be arranged after one another and how they can be optimized for assistant technologies. All these topics should clarify the question how a web devel- oper or a web designer can create accessible page areas.
Additionally, this thesis aims to gain interest and understanding for the topic of creating websites for people with special needs. The reason for this is on the one hand that there are plenty of disa- bled or elderly people who would gain information in an easier way, or even better, to give them the opportunity to take part in everyday life (again) without having to face the barriers outside.
On the other hand, equality has become a very important topic in our society. Therefore, disabled or elderly people must not be discriminated because of their special situation.
Although the web design trends are going towards Responsive Design, it does not mean that ac- cessible web design is less important. In fact, accessible web design definitely has potential to be the next trend as governments are focusing on making all services they offer accessible. As the well-known scout motto says: “Always be prepared!” designers need to be prepared for that.