 Accessibility Options in MS Internet Explorer:
These are a few of the accessibility options that you can change in Internet Explorer.
Text size - from the top toolbar select "View", then "Text Size" then try looking at a page with either "Largest" or "Smallest" selected. On some web pages the font sizes have been specified exactly by the designer, giving the user no option to make the text larger or smaller to suit their own particular viewing needs.
Images - many people turn off the graphics to get better page loading performance. Even people with an ISDN connection. So all graphics on a page that convey meaning, should have "alt text". So when graphics are switched off, the user gets a meaningful experience of the page. We have seen so many sites that use image maps but with no alternative text. So if images are switched off, the user is left with a blank screen.
To switch off images, just select "Tools", "Internet Options", Advanced". Then scroll down through the items until you get to Multimedia and then uncheck the box that says "Show Pictures".
Text and Background Colours - on most web sites you can easily alter the text colours and the background colours. Just select "Tools", then "Internet Options", then "Colours" - sorry, that should be "Colors". You can then choose whatever colour you wish for both the background and the text.
So, if a site has a black background with white text, try reversing those colours completely and see what happens. We have to hold our hands up and here and confess that we fail this particular test. These pages were designed to have a white background with black text and using this accessibility option you cannot override those colours. Or can you?
Overriding Text and Background Colours - I mentioned above that this site has the background set to white and the text as black. So, can a user override those colours? Answer, yes. Select "Tools", "Internet Options", then select "Accessibility" in the bottom right corner of that dialog box. You will then see under the heading "Formatting", three option boxes. Put a tick in each one. Then press OK and OK again to get back to the screen.
Now, look back at the paragraph above about changing text and background colours and follow those instruction. You will now discover that you can indeed override document settings. So if you prefer yellow text on a dark blue background, you can have it.
As designers we spend hours getting a page to look how we want it, with the right colours, fonts, images, layout, text size, etc. So it is wonderfully refreshing to know that a user can simply override all of that hard work with a few simple mouse clicks. That is how it should be.
|
