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Large Print Graphics for Older Eyes?

Posted by Cliff on from the if-you-can't-read-this-you-are-too-close dept.

random_nickname asks: "My lovely wife is a Graphic Designer with a small company which specializes in custom-made wine labels. She is re-designing the current site, to bring the code up-to-date and a little more shnazzy. Her boss is insisting that, due to their primary market - the elderly - she needs to create overly 'large-print' graphics, to make the site easier to browse for that demographic. My wife feels that this is unnecessary due to resolution control and monitor sizes, etc.. Are there sites out there that currently employ over-sized graphics for the elderly and has it made a difference in business? Is there a real need for this kind of solution?"

3 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. Use CSS fonts, but don't specify points/pixels by BladeMelbourne · · Score: 4, Informative

    Instead of using
    p { font-size:11px; }

    Use
    p { font-size:size; }

    Where size takes any of the following values:
    xx-small, x-small, small, medium, large, x-large or xx-large

    That way visually impaired users can alter their browser's text setting to enlarge the fonts. This does not work with fonts set to pixel heights.

    Try it out on this site:
    http://www.georgiancourt.com.au/

    Mike

  2. just follow accessibility guidelines by jilles · · Score: 4, Informative

    First look at this stuff:
    http://diveintoaccessibility.org/
    http:// www.w3.org/WAI/

    People already gave some advice on fonts. Here's some additional advice:

    - provide an alternate stylesheet with increased font-sizes (specified in em), high contrast colors and if needed increased graphics sizes.
    - specify sizes of other stuff in em as well (e.g. margins and paddings). This will make sure that the content will still look good if the fonts are resized.
    - do not 'optimize' your site for a particular resolution.

    --

    Jilles
  3. Make it ACCESSIBLE by ManxStef · · Score: 4, Informative

    Hehe, Slashdot's not really a shining example of web accessibility, but it's a good place to ask for help none-the-less.

    The first stops for help (as someone's no doubt pointed out already) should be:

    Section 508

    Mark Pilgrim's excellent "Dive Into Accessibility"

    The W3C's web accessibility guide

    The UK Disabled Rights Commission website, paying particular attention to the superb Interactive Demos (e.g. Inaccessible Website Demo).

    Buy these books:

    Constructing Accessible Websites

    Building Accessible Websites

    Oh, and a copy of Zeldman's Designing With Web Standards for good measure.

    Write your pages using validating HTML or XHTML, and style the pages using CSS.

    Validate your webpages using the W3C Validator and your CSS using the W3C CSS Validator. Use Watchfire's Bobby to validate your pages, and aim for AAA rating (also note that Bobby has some helpful hints when it does find errors).

    Other excellent resources (in no particular order):

    http://www.webstandards.org/
    http://www.w3.org/WAI/References/QuickTips/
    http://www.mezzoblue.com/
    http://www.meyerweb.com/
    http://www.simplebits.com/
    http://www.whatdoiknow.org/
    http://www.stopdesign.com/