For the past few months I have been working exclusively with ASP.Net creating internal applications for the Disabilities Services Commission here in Perth.

I asked around the development team, and it appeared that whilst everybody was aware of accessibility most had never seen any of the accessible tools in play like Screen readers and simple input devices.So I had somebody organise a developer briefing where we got a couple of users to show how they actually use assistive technologies.

We got to see 2 technologies used - on screen keyboard accessed by index finger movement on a single switch and a screen reader (JAWS).

Some big points came across that we can all benefit from

TAB order - Learn it – Use it
Put Alt text in your images where appropriate
For data tables – Identify row and column headers
Title frames (if you must use them)
Try to keep menus in the top left
Never have the title of you page “…..My Page.….!” Screen readers actually say” dot dot dot dot dot dot dot  My Page dot dot dot dot dot dot dot  exclamation mark”
There are many more, but I just want to point our some that will benefit ALL users.

4 million Australians have some form of disability and 39% have and use the internet. And for some that is their gateway to interaction, online shopping, bill paying etc.

So by making your site better and more accessible, you may have just increased your traffic.

Some tools that I have discovered that help are the

Developer toolbar (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e59c3964-672d-4511-bb3e-2d5e1db91038&DisplayLang=en)

Web Accessibility Toolbar (http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/ais/toolbar/) very usefull for color contrasts.

And I have just seen this article on MSDN  Enforce Web Standards For Better Accessibility (http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/07/04/ASPNET20/)

Alastair