Applying The Lessons

These are a few of the specifics I found to have the most impact on my visitors' ability to find and view the information I was trying to make available to them:

Correct Tag Syntax

This a necessity, not an option; in some browsers, a missing quote mark or closing tag can prevent the entire page's contents from appearing. This is easily done by opening the files in Arachnophilia or a similar HTML editing utility.

I like Arachnophilia for two reasons: ethically, because it's careware, not shareware; and practically, because it will highlight markup tags and tag errors, making it simple, easy, and quick to spot and fix mistakes.

Clear Alt Tags

A descriptive alt tag must be present for all images that have anything to do with your content (though you don't need to label transparent image spacers and such). Filling in the alt tags may sound like picking nits to you, but it can make a huge difference to a lot of people and depending on who your target audience is, that could be more people than you might guess.

In my case, I knew roughly half my target audience (people who keep pet birds) were middle-aged or more, and that many others were likely to have slow dial-up connections. This meant a significant percentage of my Web traffic could be using text or other alternative browsers, or might have images turned off to speed download times.

I knew from hands-on experience that another group of visitors would include handicapped people. Canaries are fairly easy to care for, and their song is wonderfully lifting to the spirits, making them a favourite pet of people who can't care for a cat or dog for whatever reason.

Proper Use of Colour

Using colours that work well together is not only a good idea, but should be considered essential. We've all seen them those Web pages that feature colour combinations that send chills up your spine. If you're like me, you can't get away from such a site fast enough! Remember, too, that up to 10% of the general population has red-green colour blindness. These people have trouble differentiating between these colours, so don't try to contrast red and green it might not be noticed.

In my opinion the Web-safe color charts are indispensable for correctly formatting pages to display similarly on different systems. Of course, you could just stick to black and white but that's incredibly unattractive, and sets people's teeth on edge too; so in a way, not using colour can be as detrimental to your end results as the incorrect use of colour.

Test and test and test again, until you find colour combinations that work well together, and are easy to view for everybody.

Optimize Images

If there's one rule on Web page accessibility that webmasters seem to love to break, it's image size. If you can't get the detail you like in a file size that will download in 15 seconds or less for a person using a 28.8 k modem, then either use a smaller image, or find something with a smaller file size to use instead. A resolution higher than 96 d.p.i. (dots per inch) is wasted on the Web, and usually images can be 'optimized' (that is, their file size reduced) without affecting their appearance much when viewed by a normal Web browser.

Many graphics programs have built-in optimizer utilities, or you can use one of the many free services such as the one at www.spinwave.com.

Save the high-resolution stuff for your local machine be kind to your visitors, and always optimize the pictures you post on your Website.

Building a Usable Site/Getting Online/User Research/Compatibility and Display/Applying the Lessons/Readable Fonts/Live Testing/My Usability Checklist/Looking Ahead