Don't leave anyone out...

Besides older, non-compliant browsers, and users who surf without graphics by choice, there are sight-impaired folks who surf the Web to consider. Adaptive technology computers have screen-readers to read aloud each line of the computer screen. When these readers run into graphics that announce the title of a page, or divulge other crucial details, but there is no text equivalent or "alt" text, the document is confusing, or even meaningless.

There are some simple things you can do to make your pages accessible to all browsers:

• Always use alternate text tags for inline images.
  Example: <img src="title.jpg" alt="Joe's bookstore home page">
  This is especially important when the image is a link to another page or object.
• Use descriptive text for anchors (links) so that it makes sense out of context. (Don't use simply "click here".)
• When using an imagemap (clickable map/graphic), always provide additional/alternate text links.
• Separate lists of links with a non-clickable character so screen readers don't read it all as one link. The | ("pipe" or vertical bar) character is often used for this purpose.

  At this time there is no legally binding legislation pertaining to Web page accessibility for the visually impaired, but as a public institution and service organization, University Outreach and Extension has made it a policy to provide text-only access to all content. You can find more detailed recommendations and browser information at these Web sites:

  Designing Universal/Accessible Web pages

  W3C -- World Wide Web Consortium -- Disabilities Developments

  Web page accessibility analyzer -- checks your URLs online!

  WebABLE -- lots more related sites and info.