Table 7 provides a list of accessibility barriers that were present in one or more of the websites surveyed and which user impairment type(s) they impact upon. Some of these barriers will affect other impairment types, but to a lesser extent.

Many of the suggested solutions are covered by the New Zealand Government Web Standards and Recommendations v1.0. Following those standards and recommendations will remove many accessibility barriers from your websites.

Table 7: Accessibility barriers by user impairment type

Accessibility barrier	Impact on user impairment types					Solution
	Deaf	Blind	Low vision	Mobility	Reading
Poor contrast between text and background. Makes reading difficult if not impossible.			Yes		Yes	Design for legibility ahead of design aesthetics - beautiful isn't much good if users can't read the text. Use a Colour Contrast Analyser tool to check that there is sufficient colour and brightness difference.
Interference between text and background. Can be very tiring on eyes and in worst cases makes text unreadable.			Yes		Yes	Do not use bright colours as backgrounds for text – even though they may provide sufficient contrast to text they can make reading very difficult.
Fixed font size. Prevents enlargement in some browsers.			Yes		Yes	Use relative sizes when defining font size in stylesheets. Do not specify font size within the HTML code.
Missing 'skip links'. Forces screen reader users to have to listen to all the navigation items on every page before getting to the main content.		Yes				Include a 'skip link' near the top of the page that provides a link to an anchor positioned at the beginning of the main content. Apply the standard access key '[' attribute to the link. The 'skip link' text should say 'Skip to main content' and this link can be styled to be hidden in visual browsers.
Skip links at bottom of page. Screen reader users may not be aware that the 'skip link' facility is there and so the impact is the same as having no 'skip links'.		Yes				Place the 'skip link' at the top of the page where a screen reader user will hear it before the navigation elements. Although a 'skip link' entry could be placed in the footer with an attached access key, a screen reader user may not know this facility exists.
Access keys – missing or not working. For screen reader users this means they must navigate to the link to use it. For mobility impaired users this means they must use the mouse or keyboard to go to the link to be able to activate it.		Yes		Yes		Build the full set of standard (Government Guidelines) access keys into the site templates so that they will exist and work on all pages. The 'skip links' access key and accessibility statement access key should be positioned at the top of the page preceding navigation, and the other access keys and their links can be placed in the footer and styled to be hidden in visual browsers if preferred.
Hard to find accessibility information. If the accessibility statement (information) is hard to find the impact is the same as if it doesn't exist.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Place the link to the accessibility statement at the top of the page where it can easily be found. This could be further highlighted on the home page where it is most likely to be accessed from.
Inadequate accessibility information. Users with impairments either have to assume that there are no accessibility features built into the site or have to spend time experimenting to find them.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Provide a clearly marked accessibility statement page that outlines the available access keys and any other accessibility features provided.
Literal search rules. Produces unwanted or "no" results because the search function processes the search request literally.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Users are typically unsophisticated in their use of search and often don't know exactly what they are looking for. Provide some level of fuzzy matching through use of extensive thesaurus facilities. Interpret multi-word search strings that are not in quotes as searches for exact phrases first, then as searches for all the words in any position, and place the exact phrase results first on the search results page.
Search results not indicative enough. Users are unable to confidently select the items from the search results list.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Under the search item heading, provide as relevant information as possible to uniquely identify the item and its content.
No heading elements <Hn>. Prevents screen reader users from being able to navigate within a page via the headings.		Yes				Use the HTML <Hn> headings markup to denote all headings rather than just visual style headings. This allows screen reader users to navigate within a page via the headings and sub-headings to quickly jump to the part of the page they are interested in without having to listen to the preceding text.
Poorly structured heading elements <Hn>. Screen reader users can't reliably navigate within the page via the headings and sub-headings.		Yes				Use the headings markup (<Hn> elements) in the proper hierarchy (i.e. start at H1, then H2, then H3, for sub-headings) to properly denote the logical structure of the page. This allows a screen reader user to confidently jump from an H1 heading to the next H1 heading knowing that any lower level headings are sub-headings of the H1 and their content is related to their H1 heading.
Tables missing links from cells to header cells in data tables. Screen reader users cannot understand what the contents of a cell relate to without this.		Yes				Mark up tables with <TH> elements and the attributes to allow each cell to be linked to row and column headers. For complex tables this can require multiple associations with different header levels.
Inconsistent feedback mechanisms. Users may not be able to contact/feedback from any computer anywhere – especially if only an email address is provided.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Provide a feedback form that can be completed through a browser and does not rely on availability of the user's email program or facility.
Labels not linked to input fields. Can make associating input field captions/labels with the relevant text difficult for screen reader users or for low vision users when screens are magnified highly. Can mean target areas for clicking by mouse are small and difficult (e.g. radio buttons and checkboxes).		Yes	Yes	Yes		Use the <LABEL for="xxx"> element with all input fields.
Text in images. Text in the image will not be magnified. For screen reader users or users with images turned off may make the text invisible – unless provided in the "alt" text.		Yes	Yes		Yes	Avoid putting text in images – especially for navigation elements. If unavoidable, ensure that the alt text provides the equivalent meaning.
Images missing alt text. For screen reader users or users with images turned off this hugely reduces the information provided and is frustrating as these users know that the image is there but its contents are unavailable to them.		Yes				Provide alt text on all informational images. End alt text with a full stop and a space to cause a pause and prevent screen readers from reading on into body text and creating ambiguous and confusing output. For non-informational images (design elements only) include alt text for all of these but present as a "null" entry i.e. "".
Complex home page. Makes navigation difficult and users do not know where to go next.	Yes	Yes			Yes	Simplify home pages into key audience areas or key subject or task areas to allow users to make relevant choices from terms, tasks or uses that they recognise easily.
Complex and difficult navigation. Creates difficulties for all types of user.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	As noted above, simplify and provide navigation by key audience areas or key subject or key task areas.
Large number of links on a page. For screen reader users it makes navigation difficult – they can hear the links on a page (excluding the content) but if the list is long it is unusable. For reading impaired users, it makes navigation difficult as there are too many choices.		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Simplify the structure as much as possible. Work from generic elements down to more detail.
Complicated language. Makes comprehension and navigation difficult.	Yes				Yes	Simplify language where possible. Check with a grammar checker or language complexity checking tool.
Inconsistent terminology. Makes it difficult to find items and navigate, especially if an unfamiliar or unexpected term is used.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Use standard terms on the website and follow convention. Use terminology that users understand – use their words.
Key information only in PDF document/s. For those unable to access PDF documents readily it makes that information unavailable. Low vision users can't read the documents without horizontal scrolling.		Yes	Yes		Yes	Provide an accessible alternative, that is a properly marked up HTML equivalent version of the document.
Poor or missing site map. Removes the facility for navigating directly to a page when other means of navigation (menus, links, search) are too slow or unsuccessful.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Provide a well structured sitemap page that can be accessed (navigated) easily, both visually and via screen reader at normal font size and under very high magnification.