Review of “Universal Design of Web Pages in Class Projects”

This article was written to inform web designer of the need to make websites accessible to everyone. Some people who use the web have visual impairments, hearing impairments, cannot operate a mouse, have slow internet connections, have difficulty navigating the web due to a learning disability, speak English as a second language, are younger than the average user, or are senior citizens. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires that web pages produced by federal agencies adhere to accessibility standards.
Some tips that were given to help make websites accessible to everyone were to maintain a simple and consistent layout of the webpage, keep the background of the webpage simple and make sure there is enough contrast in coloring. Make link text descriptive so that it can be understood out of context, and include a note about accessibility.
This article was helpful to me. I had never thought too much about the need for making webpage accessible to people with disabilities.
References:
Burgstahler, S. (2005). Universal Design of Web Pages in Class Projects. Retrieved from http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxjd3UzMTZlZHRlY2h8Z3g6NzJjZjE1YTNlN2QyODI5NA