Common Challenges with Electronic Information

Below is a list of common challenges in accessing web pages and email, compiled by our Web Testers:

Barriers to Accessing Web Pages

Forms that don’t use proper tags for fields
Having to type in stylized characters that appear in an image to verify a form
In-line frames that keep one part of the web page separate from the rest in a box
Poorly labeled links
Incorrectly labeled form fields
Use of Flash without thought to making it accessible
Links that don’t indicate what they reference, i.e. ‘click here’ or ‘image1’
Using only a single heading on a page when two or more would make the page easier to understand
Online ads
Pop-ups
Sites that have to refresh a frame or a page to show information can cause JAWS users to lose their place
A lack of Alt tags
Sites that are all in Flash
Linked areas that produce drop menus when you don’t want them
Pages that don’t support full keyboard access
Forms that automatically jump to the next field when one is completed

Emails that only contain images
Too many forwarded messages before the actual email
Having to scroll past a long list of other addresses the email was sent to
Using fonts that are difficult to read (i.e. skinny, cursive, or narrow fonts)
Using colors that don’t contrast well, making it hard to distinguish text
Putting important text in an image that is hard to read or has no Alt text
Emails that are not formatted with HTML
Emails that use uncommon layouts
Emails that are PDFs
Overuse of images
Emails that have a website address but require it to be copy and pasted into the browser rather than linked from the email
Emails with a link to download the images in the message
Scanned documents