User`s guide

Many accessibility guidelines result in improved usability. An accessible report must provide logical
and consistent navigation. Its content must be clearly written and easy to understand.
• Accessible reports are more compatible with a variety of technologies, new and old.
Accessible content is easier to export to simple formats that are more compatible with mobile phone
browsers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other devices with low-bandwidth connections.
Some people may not have a keyboard or a mouse. They may have a text-only screen, a small
screen, or a slow Internet connection. Accessible design makes it easier for people with limited
technology to access information.
• Accessible content is easier to reuse for other formats.
In the viewers, accessible reports are more accurately copied or exported to other formats.
• Accessible reports improve server efficiency.
You may reduce the number of HTTP requests on the server, by providing clear navigation so people
can find. what they need faster. Providing text-only alternatives can reduce the number of graphics,
which take up valuable bandwidth.
• Recent initiatives indicate a worldwide trend towards providing accessible web content.
More companies are making accessibility a requirement for their web content, especially in the
United States, where the government introduced section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Accessibility
is quickly becoming an essential part of web content delivery.
• You may be legally required to provide accessible content.
Each year, more countries introduce anti-discrimination laws that ensure equal opportunities for
people with disabilities. Even if you are not legally required to meet accessibility guidelines, you may
want to do business with an organization that is required to adhere to them.
• Creating accessible reports is easier than modifying existing reports to make them accessible.
If you build accessible features into your reports now, it will be significantly less expensive than to
redesign existing reports later.
D.1.2 About the accessibility guidelines
The most comprehensive accessibility guidelines are the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG),
developed by the international World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The WCAG is widely considered
the definitive set of recommendations for delivering web content to people with disabilities. The WCAG
has influenced the development of similar web content standards around the world.
Organizations and governments worldwide are adopting the accessibility recommendations of the W3C.
In Australia, the Disability Discrimination Act includes standards for web site accessibility. Similar
guidelines have been introduced in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe. In Canada, all
government web content is now developed according to the Common Look and Feel (CLF) initiative,
which is largely based on the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Taking web accessibility a
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Creating Accessible Reports