One tool is very useful is fangs which is a Mozilla Firefox extension creates a textual representation of a web page similar to how the page would be read by a modern screen reader.

You can find out more here

Start with the task and then create the user interface on top of that. Use progressive enhancement all the way. I've put some examples in my talks on the matter, but the best might be this one: http://www.wait-till-i.com/2009/06/05/accessibility-and-you-my-brownbag-presentation-at-ebaygumtreepaypal/

Progressive enhancement is a good technique for a number of reasons - besides helping implement an accessible website; it means you have minimal markup, it's logical/semantic, readily adaptable to other stylesheets like iPhone, print etc, maintainable ... but yes, it will mean that your site is readable without stylesheets and javascript enabled. Good for SEO, good for people who don't use JavaScript (a surprising number) although not so important for modern screen readers which work with CSS and JS.

Cheers,

Nat

My top tip would be "Ask a disabled user to play with it for half an hour."

Then listen :-)

Test the site with users that have visual, aural, motor or cognitive disabilities.

Always check that your site works for colour-blind users.

There are some great free tools out there for doing this, such as:

• Colorblind Web Page Filter
• Vischeck

You can also check your site's colour contrast at:

• Check My Colours

Use toolbars such as the AIS one to test your pages.

Great tool James! Thanks!

To make an accessible there are several instrument (like James's one) but after a discussion with a my colleague we agreed that if you can validate the site following the WAI rules of W3C you've done 70% of the work (a double A level is enough). The 30% left is due to the necessary user testing and to project design (like color contrast and other relevant issue that you can find on WAI sites).

Apply caution with regards to choice of colour, and always ensure there is a suitable contrast between colours (e.g. text on a background, etc.)

Jonathan Snook has a great contrast checking tool - I use it a lot.

My tips for creating an accessible website are:

• Sort the document outline first
  • Make sure the page reads well (prioritise the page structure so the most useful information is up to)
  • Use appropriate headings and nest well (imagine a word document)
• Create valid HTML and test often, in fact test every time you write a new line of code
• Apply the CSS to create the visual look and feel
• if a image isn't informative consider using a backgroung-image in css instead
• validate for accessibility as often as you valid the HTML (always aim for AA)

Always consider the usability of the site, use tools like Fang and Adesigner (thanks James) to see how the page responds for Fred in his screen reader and for sue and bob down the road with low vision and colour blindness.

Matt