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D  Accessibility law

Laws relating to discriminating against disabled users who may find it more difficult to use 

websites because of audio, visual or motor impairment are known as 

accessibility legislation

.  

This is often contained within disability and discrimination Acts. In the UK, the relevant Act 

is the Disability and Discrimination Act 1995.

Web accessibility refers to enabling all users of a website to interact with it regardless of dis-

abilities they may have or the web browser or platform they are using. The visually impaired 

or blind are the main audience that designing an accessible website can help. (Coverage of 

the requirements that accessibility places on web design are covered in Chapter 7.)

Internet standards organisations such as the World Wide Web Consortium have been 

active in promoting guidelines for web accessibility (

www.w3.org/WAI

). This site describes 

such common accessibility problems as:

images without alternative text; lack of alternative text for imagemap  hot-  spots; mislead-

ing use of structural elements on pages; uncaptioned audio or undescribed video; lack of