Quick Tips to Make Accessible Web Sites

Sidebar Introduction
The following ten "Quick Tips" summarize key concepts of accessible Web design. These tips are not complete guidelines; they are only excerpts of concepts from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0).

WCAG 1.0 includes information critical to understanding and implementing the Quick Tips. See the WCAG Overview for descriptions of WCAG documents, such as the Checklist for WCAG 1.0 that lists the WCAG 1.0 checkpoints in tables grouped by priorities.

Quick Tips are available as a free business-card-size reference card in 11 languages, through the order form below. The previous online version is available in over 40 languages.

10 Quick Tips
The links in the Quick Tips below mostly go to the techniques documents that provide implementation guidance - including explanations, strategies, and detailed markup examples.

Images & animations: Use the alt attribute to describe the function of each visual.
Image maps. Use the client-side map and text for hotspots.
Multimedia. Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, and descriptions of video.
Hypertext links. Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid "click here."
Page organization. Use headings, lists, and consistent structure. Use CSS for layout and style where possible.
Graphs & charts. Summarize or use the longdesc attribute.
Scripts, applets, & plug-ins. Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.
Frames. Use the noframes element and meaningful titles.
Tables. Make line-by-line reading sensible. Summarize.
Check your work. Validate. Use tools, checklist, and guidelines at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG © W3C (MIT, INRIA, Keio) 2001/01