Understanding Accessibility
by Vivienne Trulock
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Guideline 11. Use W3C technologies and guidelines.
Checkpoint 11.3 - Provide information so that users may receive documents according to their preferences
This guideline advocates allowing the user to retrieve information in another format, for example, different languages, voice emphasis using style sheets with the rel="alternate” attribute and device specific style sheets using @media.
How do I do it?
Allow your users to choose a style sheet which suits them. See the body switchers tutorial for instructions on how to do this.
You can also have long and short versions of your content so that people who find it hard to read or who have cognitive impairments can have a short version of the content while other users can read the regular content. A good example of this is available at the Guardianship Tribunal website.
It is also a good idea to allow your users to choose an alternative language. Both Google and Altavista offer a text translation service.
How do I check that it meets the WCAG criteria?
Pages will be checked for the use of @media and rel=alternate elements and other user-preference features. Any pages which facilitate either alternative languages or alternative styling through the page interface will be deemed to have passed. Pages will be deemed to have failed this check where no evidence of customisation is available.
