Accessibility

For those unfamiliar with accessibility issues pertaining to web-page design, consider that many users may be operating in contexts very different from your own :

 • They may not be able to see, hear, move or may not be able to process some types of information easily or at all.

 • They may have difficulty reading or comprehending text.

 • They may not have or be able to use a keyboard or mouse.

 • They may have a text-only screen, a small screen, or a slow internet connection.

 • They may not speak or understand fluently the language in which the document is written.

 • They may be in a situation where their eyes, ears or hands are busy or interfered with (e.g. working in a loud environment etc.).

 • They may have an earlier version of a browser, a different browser entirely, a voice browser, or a different operating system.

Web developers must consider these different situations during page design. While there are several situations to consider, each accessible design choice generally benefits several disability groups at once and the web community as a whole.
One typical scenario which may pose problems for users with certain disabilities is how to make images accessible. Some users may not be able to see images, others may use text-only browsers that do not support images, while others may have turned off support for images due to a slow internet connection.

Providing a "text-equivalent" of the image will make it accessible.
How does a text-equivalent make the image accessible ?

 • Text content can be presented to the user as synthesized speech, braille and visually-displayed text making the information accessible to groups representing a variety of sensory and other disabilities.

 • In addition to benefitting users with disabilities, text equivalents can help users find pages more quickly, since search robots can use the text when indexing pages.

Documents should be created that don't rely on one type of hardware. Pages should be usable by people without mice, with small screens including mobile phones, low resolution screens, monochrome screens, no screens, with only voice or text output etc.
Users should be able to resize text to make it easier to read.
Choice of colours should be made to give high contrast and readability for users with vision disabilities or monochrome screens.
(The above is an extract from the W3C-Web Content Accessibility Guideline 1.0)

Conformity

There are 3 levels of Accessibility for web pages as described by W3C.
They are :

A web developer must satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it impossible to access information in the web document. Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic requirement for some groups to be able to use the web pages.

A web developer should satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will remove significat barriers to accessing web pages.

A web developer may address this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it somewhat difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to web pages.

There are 3 levels of Accessibility Conformance :

 • Level "A" - all Priority 1 checkpoints are satisfied.

 This icon is used to show conformity


 • Level "AA" (or Double A) - all Priority 1 & 2 checkpoints are satisfied.

 This icon is used to show conformity


 • Level "AAA" (or Triple A) - all Priority 1, 2 & 3 checkpoints are satisfied.

 This icon is used to show conformity

Accessibility Policy Statement

Wyvern Web Designs takes the responsibility for making web content accessible very seriously. We are continually testing the Wyvern Web Designs web-site for compliance with the W3C WCAG1.0 guidelines and at present it has a Double A conformance, indicated by the AA logo on each page that conforms. We believe that all individuals have the right of accessibility and all services and products we supply will conform to the highest practical accessibilty standard possible.