Use of Screen Readers for Websites

A website should not only be attractive, it should also be easily accessible and navigable. This is especially true for persons who suffer from disabilities like blindness or hearing problems. It should be kept in mind that approximately ten percent of the internet savvy population suffers from disabilities. Your company website must cater to these individuals as well.

People with vision problems use screen readers to access a web page. These aids make on- screen information available as a refreshable Braille display or as a synthesized speech. This software can only translate text information. Images can be translated only if an alternative text is present to describe the image. To use the alternative text or ALT attribute in image tags, just include the ALT attribute in the image tag. A period can also be added to the end of the ALT attribute text- this is done so that the individual hearing the page can understand where one image ends and the other begins. According to website design Sydney professionals, the image should be numbered or the image map links should have a number at the start of the “ALT” attribute text. This assists in orientating the person hearing the page. If text links are present adjacently, you must separate the links with a space and a period. A vertical bar can also be used to separate the links. Standard images must contain alternative text attributes. In case an image is inconsequential, empty alternative text attributes should be set.

According to Sydney web design professionals, in case of animated images, alternative text should be employed to describe each frame. This is evident when you use the Internet Explorer browser. Hover the mouse pointer over the button, and a small text box should appear. The text box contains the alternative text message.

Common Mistakes done when Designing a Web Page

Web designing is a specialized profession. Web design Sydney professionals typically have certain number of years under their belt before they take on large and reputable client projects. This experience is necessary as a comparatively inexperienced person may make mistakes that are easily avoided by experienced professionals.

A prominent mistake in web designing is the presence of too much content in the home page. Excess content is put in so that every item in the home page is promoted. But, according to web design Sydney professionals, it is much more effective to promote the latest or the most popular six offers along with their features. Ideally, the home page should occupy a maximum of two to three visible pages.

There are a number of reasons why web design Sydney professionals forbid to cram excessive content in a web page. The foremost reason is that the web page takes longer to download. This may cross the critical eight seconds waiting time. Studies have revealed that users have a patience threshold of eight seconds before they move on to the next website.  Excess content also decreases the readability of a website. Visitors do not like to read copious amount of text. Lots of text also blurs the useful content from the merely inane. A visitor is inclined to read a maximum of two paragraphs rather than twenty of them.

Another mistake that web designing novices make is that they give too many options in the website. Too many options transform easy web surfing to hard work. An excess of options also results in too much scrolling. A typical user does not like to scroll excessively. As a majority of web users tend to select the first reasonable link or option, the content at the bottom of the page is hardly viewed. Thus, that part of the page being downloaded is a waste of time.