Web Usability & Accessability

Accessibility

Web accessibility is a feature which is massively underrated by the majority of websites on the internet.
Since 1st October 1999 it has been law that providers must ensure that any service available to the public must be useable by disabled customers. 
Web accessibility focuses on allowing users with disabilities the right to the same services as non disabled users and also covers the need to make content available on your site easy to locate and use correctly, not using jargon in a context which could overly confuse the user and many other aspects of the sites design and layout.

Useability

Web usability is focused more on how to design your site so as to make it as simple and easy to use as possible.
Web usability can be defined as designing for your sites target audience, site mapping, testing via users and testing on a range of differently priced computer systems and browsers, maintaining the same layout, or style of layout consistently throughout your site, ensuring links between various pages on your site are established for convenience of the user, ensuring all content of a similar nature is collected in the same location.

Feedback

Acting on feedback from different people who have tested my site I made the font size larger on the shortcuts on the front page (where they are placed over an image) as they could be hard to read for people with vision disabilities, and broke the info in the About the Author page into paragraphs more manageable on the eye.
I ensured that the same icon was used (and was in the same place on all pages) to return the user to the main page as well as telling them of the icons purpose on the main page. Also I regularly spell checked my site to ensure there were no spelling mistakes which could cause the user confusion.

I have tested my website on a number of people, some who have no prior knowledge of the sites subject, others who have some knowledge of other books by the same author and some people who are also fans of the books and the stories as a whole.
This gives me a good cross section of users and helps make the site more accessible/useable for all types of user.

I have included the feedback I received from people who tested my site with the disc handed in for my assignment.

Checkpoints

In the future I would like to look at the priority 3 checkpoints and alter my site to comply with any relevant ones as well as ensuring I respond to any queries sent to me by any users who are having difficulty using the site.

The priority 1 checkpoints that are relevant to my site are as follows:
1.1 I have provided an alt text equivalent for every image on my site.
6.1 I have ensured the site may be read without style sheets.
14.1 I have used clear and easy to understand language on the site.
5.1 I have identified row and column headers for my visible tables.

The priority 2 checkpoints that are relevant to my site are:
2.2 I have ensured that the colour combinations on my site provide sufficient contrast to allow people with vision disabilities to view my site.
3.1 Not overly used images in place of textual information.
12.3 I have divided large blocks of text into more manageable groups where natural and appropriate.
13.1 Clearly identified the target of each link on my site.
5.3 Ensured that the content of any tables used make sense when linearized.