How to program for a target audience of handicapped or older people?

Question

Does anybody know about guide lines, web sites, etc. that describe, what one should keep in mind, if one is programming for a target audience that includes handicapped or older people? Or should one make no difference?

Answer 1

The keyword you are looking for is Accessibility: From the website:

The first and perhaps the most important rule of web accessibility. Not everyone is using the latest version of Internet Explorer, with all the plug-ins and programs that you may require them to have for your website. Different browsing technologies, each with their own accessibility requirements, can include:

• Lynx browser - Text-only browser with no support for tables, CSS, images, JavaScript, Flash or audio and video content
• WebTV - 560px in width with horizontal scrolling not available
• Screen reader - Page content read aloud in the order it appears in the HTML document
• Handheld device - Very small screen with limited support for JavaScript and large images
• Screen magnifier - As few as three to four words may be able to appear on the screen at any one time
• Slow connection (below 56kb) - Users may turn off images to enable a faster download time
• 1600px screen width - Very wide screen

This basically means that to ensure your website is accessible to everyone you must provide alternatives to:

• Images - in the form of ALT text
• JavaScript - through the tag
• Flash - with HTML equivalents
• Audio & video - by using subtitles or written transcripts

Answer 2

Here's a place to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_accessibility

And if you're a .net or other MS developer, msdn has all sorts of links with guidelines:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Search/en-US?query=accessibility%20guidelines&ac=3

And here's my favorit place to start:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa350483.aspx

Answer 3

Ask some oldies to try out you application as you build it. Encourage them to talk about what they're doing as they use it, and describe any problems. By doing this you'll get a good insight into the types of issues that might crop up, and can address them early.

Answer 4

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is definitely something to look at if you are developing web sites.