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NEW YORK—The Americans with Disabilities Act covers Web site accessibility for blind and low vision users, and the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is helping online retailers comply with a three-level—silver, gold and platinum—Nonvisual Accessibility Web Certification program that companies including Amazon.com and Target.com are already embracing. Newegg.com and GE both have gold-level certification. (To learn more about the certification levels, click here.)

According to the NFB, a “nonvisually accessible” Web site means that screen access software— a screen reader—can obtain sufficient information from the Web application so that it will identify to a blind or low vision user images, charts, tables, links and

Universal Design

Web site accessibility is best rendered using universal design.
Here are a few universal design tips to an accessible site:

• Use alt-tags: Carefully name image files so that the subject
matter is clear. This is what screen readers will call the image.
Insert HTML code around that file name like this: “...”.

• According to an article on the International Center for
Disability Resources on the Internet (ICDRI) Web site, most
screen readers cannot read pdf documents. Any pdf docs
posted should also be posted in an HTML version.

• Accompany any informative animated presentations with a
text equivalent that can be accessed via a link.

For a full list of the NFB’s certification criteria, click here.
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“The underlying principle of the certification is usability. The NFB wanted to establish a standard which would take into account best practice—specifically the WAI WCAG guidelines,” said NFB access technology content specialist Clara Van Gerven, who emphasized the importance of testing participating sites manually, as well as with an automated testing tool, to detect all accessibility issues.

“We hope that programs such as NFB’s not only help those who have experienced significant vision loss, but also raise awareness of the need for [Web accessibility] tools,” said Prevent Blindness America director of media relations Sarah Hecker. “According to a study we did with the NEI, there are currently 3.6 million Americans over the age of 40 who are blind or visually impaired. And, that number is unfortunately growing rapidly as our nation’s Baby Boomers continue to age.”

The next iteration of PBA’s national Web site will include new accessibility features for low vision users, according to Hecker.