It\’s great news for web developers and people with an interest in web accessibility design in Melbourne. A new group has been created, via the meetup website, dedicated to the goal of connecting people who work or are interested in this field in the Melbourne area.

The group has previously had meetings in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth and now Melbourne is set to follow their success.

The Melbourne Web Accessibility & Inclusive Design group is open to people who are individuals, part of larger organisations, small or large businesses, conasultants and accessibility advocates. The aim of the group is to regularly consulte with members of Melbourne\’s accessability community to gain knowledge which hopefully will lead to the new desingn of accessibility focused web applications and websites.

Website accessibility is a contantly growing area as more devlopers and designers become aware of the needs of people with disabilities. But many people are still very unaware of the need for such design principles. For any of you that may be new to the concept of accessibilty web design here\’s a bit of an overview:

Why accessibility should be important to you

Why aren\’t all web sites accessible by all people? You may be asking yourself why the issue of \’accessibility\’ even exists, and why all web sites aren\’t already accessible to all users. There are a number of reasons why this is the case. Many web designers never even think about the number of people out there that want to use websites but cannot because of design issues.

Users with visual disabilities

People with visual impairment can range from mild colour blindness to total loss of vision. Web designers need to make sure that colour schemes are not overly confusing to people with colour blindness. Also they need to make sure they make optimum use of title tags on images so that screen readers can read the site properly.

Hearing disabilities

Also designers need to keep in mind that any use of audio should have a visual alternative so that people with hearing disabilities can still use the website. This isn\’t usually the most problematic area however as most websites are visual in nature.

Physical Disabilities

People with physical disabilities are often not thought about when it comes to web design. Things to consider include – how would someone be able to input information if say, they could not type, or they could not use a mouse. Many such situations can very easily be overlooked by web designers, not realising that this is a very real concern for many users.

The Melbourne Web Accessibilty & Inclusive Design group will have regular meetings each month and looks to be a very exciting new venture for Melbourne\’s web developer community. Web developers in the Melbourne will also be happy to know that Melbourne now has it\’s very own local business search engine provided by The Melbourne Web Guide.

You can find The Melbourne Web Accessibilty & Inclusive Design group\’s meetup page here: http://www.meetup.com/Melbourne-Web-Accessibility-Inclusive-Design/

This Article was written by James T Banks, a senior developer and writer for The Melbourne Web Guide, Australia.

This Article was written by James T Banks, a senior developer and writer for The Melbourne Web Guide, Australia. http://www.melbournewebguide.com.au

Author Bio: This Article was written by James T Banks, a senior developer and writer for The Melbourne Web Guide, Australia.

Category: Computers and Technology
Keywords: accessibility melbourne,web accessibility melbourne,accessibility internet melbourne