Engaging images 'can improve audio accessibility for deaf web users'

Category: Accessibility

November 7th 08, 13:46

Making good use of descriptive, compelling images can help website development teams to make their audio content more accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing web users.

This is according to Joseph Dolson of Practical eCommerce, who noted that many websites tend to offer a thorough but dull text transcript of audio elements that fail to convey the full impact of this rich media.

He advised webmasters to instead use graphics that are visually interesting, such as a transcript in the form of a comic strip. Such images are more likely to attract and retain deaf and hard-of-hearing site visitors, he explained.

"The key is differentiating between simply transcribing the information and reproducing the impact of the message," Mr Dolson commented.

"If you want to create an alternative to your audio message which is appealing, you need to transform the excitement of the audio into visual interest."

The World Wide Web Consortium's accessibility guidelines clearly state that it is vital websites offer equivalent alternatives to all auditory and visual site content for disabled web users.

This news story was brought to you by Bluhalo, a leading UK digital agency.

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