1. Information underload Julie Howell Campaigns Officer (Digital Access) RNIB Julie Howell Campaigns Officer (Digital Access) RNIB

2. Yes, blind people use the Internet!!  good Web design  browser flexibility  ‘access technology’  magnification software  synthetic speech  braille display

3. Why good Web design matters  1.7m have sight problems in the UK (1 in 35)  inaccessible design censors blind people’s access to information, participation, choice, democracy and consumer rights  Disability Discrimination Act 1995  Government Web Guidelines 1999  don’t let blind people be paupers the of the information society

4. Guidance  http://www.rnib.org.uk/digital  http://www.w3.org/WAI  http://www.cast.org/bobby  http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/betsie  http://www.iagchampions.gov.uk/Guidelines/websites/

5. Julie’s 10 top tips  Is the text legible?  Is the design flexible?  Do all images have ‘alt-text’?  Is there a site map?  Do links make sense out of context?  Are imagemaps accompanied by text links?  Do frames have titles, is ‘noframes’ used?  Are alternatives offered for Javascript, applets, flash plug-ins?  Is Access Adobe available for PDF files?  Do all pages pass the ‘Bobby test’? http://www.cast.org/bobby

7. Tip #11  User testing - ask disabled Net users for feedback!

11. “...the more barriers you put in the way, the less likely people with sight problems are to reach the information to which they are entitled...” Julie Howell, 22 March 2000

12. Julie Howell Campaigns Officer (Digital Access)  JHowell@rnib.org.uk  www.rnib.org.uk/digital  0171-391 2191  RNIB, 224 Great Portland Street, London W1N 6AA