Building Web Sites All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies®

Chapter 9. Web Site Usability and Accessibility

In This Chapter

• Avoiding common mistakes that make a site less friendly

• Understanding usability

• Addressing accessibility concerns

• Using Dreamweaver to make your pages more accessible

Designers, developers, and professionals involved in Web site design and implementation work to improve user experience on their sites. Web standards have been developed to help Web professionals create sites that work well for users and producers themselves. If you're in the Web development industry or you're in the midst of developing your own Web site, chances are you have heard the terms usability, accessibility, and standards and wondered what the buzz is all about.

Ensuring Your Site Is Easy to Use

If you browse the Web regularly, chances are good that you've visited a site that is confusing, difficult to navigate, or hard to use. That experience can be frustrating and often prevents full use of the site. If you've experienced this, you've experienced poor Web site usability. And so have many customers. You might be wondering how these sites are being built. Didn't the designers and developers think of their users? They probably thought they did, but in reality, did not. Web teams often make a couple big mistakes, including

• Assuming users will understand what they're building without asking any of them if they do. Always make testing a part of your plan up front; that way, you won't be rushed when it's time for testing.

• Viewing negative feedback from users ...