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Accessibility and your web pages
In designing web sites accessibility issues have to be considered in order to get as many people as possible from your target audience to view your offerings. Web site design must allow for users having different browser displays. Microsoft Internet Explorer is overwhelmingly the most popular browser used. However Mozilla Firefox has gained around 20% share followed by Netscape Navigator, Opera and Safari. Even though statistics show Internet Explorer and Firefox to be the most popular browsers all the different browsers subtly changes the way a web page is shown. There are now so many versions of Internet Explorer used and each one differs in display capabilities.
Some users may also 'switch off' graphics within their browser and/or show pages as text only. If the page is not set to display text as an alternative to a graphic image the user has no idea what they have missed.
Java and JavaScript may or may not be available on a users computer, they may also not have the latest Active-X installed, and their browser may not allow them to run, or at best, throw up an error message as it will if you use pop-ups.
Consideration also has to be given to the platform used i.e. Windows, Unix, Linux, Mac and OS/2 which also affects colour rendering and default sizing.
Plug-ins are designed as add on routines to help browsers with applications the browser cannot carry out alone. In 2006 the most popular plug-ins were Quicktime playing animations, audio and video, Real Player for audio and video, Adobe Shockwave and Flash for animations, Acrobat Reader for reading text format (.pdf) files and WinZip a file compression tool. These are all available to users but some older versions and PCs may not have the capabilities to run them as intended. Your website could have what you consider to be the finest graphics but many of your visitors either will not be able to see it as you intended.
Monitor size, video cards and audio cards vary from user to user and across platforms. Mac screens render a 'brighter' image than a PC. Sound is not available on all PCs and workstations. In an office environment theremay be no audio output.
People of all levels use the web, some are expert, some are novices but your site has to appeal and be useable to all groups. The sight impaired will have difficulty with graphics; those with dyslexia may have difficulty with text, and those with other disabilities should be able to view your site, and don't forget that there is now a legal requirement for your website to be accessible.