Disability Issues

When designing a web site it's important to remember that in the UK you have a legal (as well as a moral) obligation to ensure that your site can be navigated by the blind who can use "reader" software to read the web page out to them. If your text is presented as images only, a common failing on poorly designed sites, then the reader software can not read the text and the user can not access the site.

Similar problems can arise when the site make heavy use of Flash.

It is our view that failure to ensure that the site is navigable in this way puts the web site owner in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Part III, section 19).

We ensure that any site we design supports reader software and that the design uses colours which work well for people with limited vision.

Other Disability Issues

When designing a web site one also needs to bear in mind the problems of users with poor co-ordination. For example a pull down menu may look very fine, but if you need to be able to move your mouse in a prescribed path to access it it will be of little use to someone who has a tremor in their hand. Again we are aware of these issues and consider them in our site designs.