Through the Ixxus integrated creative, design and technology approach, accessibility and usability concerns are built into the very process of creating information management solutions. Ixxus uses both considerate design and validation tools through the various stages of the development lifecycle to ensure accessibility requirements are met.

What is accessibility?

Web accessibility is the ability for any user to access and use information on a website, regardless of physical disabilities or technical limitations. The introduction of proprietary technologies and plug-ins (e.g. Flash, Shockwave, RealPlayer etc.) and advances in HTML have allowed web pages to become substantially influenced by elaborate graphics and other multimedia applications.

Making accessibility work

Technologies have evolved and, whilst this presents designers and developers with huge freedoms to make their sites ever more attractive, innovative and exciting, there are potential drawbacks. Full access can become limited to, and developed for, those with particular physical abilities and technology, thereby denying access to a smaller, but nonetheless significant, community. Our task is to create something accessible and engaging to everyone.

Accessibility and creativity

The promise of the Internet has always been ‘universality’. Ixxus ensure that this promise is maintained through all of its creative work. Our experience is that ‘accessible’ does not mean mundane. We understand the demand for creativity as a prerequisite for today’s competitive market. For Ixxus, these guidelines do not inhibit our creative approach, but enhance it. If function of information becomes benign, then what is the point of producing something aesthetically pleasing?

Accessibility guidelines

We account for accessibility from the word ‘go’, this is our philosophy and as a result we are able to present a variety of answers to deliver a creative solution to all users. Adhering to guidelines from the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) guidelines (WCAG), RNIB and e-Government, Ixxus can produce sites and portals that are both visually dynamic, accessible and methodically tailored to fit an audience drawn form across the spectrum.