What then are some exemplary problems?

• a site with material which is not classified in a useful way
• an image with no description as an alternative
• a long navigation bar made of images, or worse, an image map for navigation
• inappropriate colours or fixed-size text.

Who can make a difference?

website commissioners

- by checking that those who make their sites know how to make universally accessible sites and by reading the guidelines so they themselves know what is possible

website authors

- by working from the guidelines and using not only correct document encoding, but also good, accessible design of the pages and of the site

website browsers or users

- by setting their computer's browser so that the overriding styles are suitable for their needs.

The important distinction for people to know about is that unless

• the structure of the site,
• the content of the pages and
• the layout of the pages

are treated as three distinct aspects of the process, it is unlikely that the site will be universally accessible.

What will happen if the problem is ignored?

For a start, not everyone for whom the website may be of interest will be able to get access to what is on it. There is evidence that in addition, many people are avoiding websites that they do not find convenient to work in.

Finally, there are legal obligations which may become relevant if no effort is made. See, for example, the Disabilities Discrimination Act.

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