The Internet is rapidly becoming a major force in communication, commerce, research, and finance, to the point where some functions are being limited to the Internet. People with disabilities can access a computer with the aid of adaptive equipment and software, but some web sites introduce impediments to these methods of access. The goal of web site accessibility is to create guidelines for site developers, so that these impediments might be lessened and in some cases, eliminated. There are many creative means to achieve accessibility on a web site. Blind and visually impaired individuals read the text on a computer screen through the medium of enlargement software, or screen reader software in conjunction with a speech synthesizer which generates audible output.
Screen readers get their information from text and html tags on a web page.
Unfortunately, many sites use graphic buttons, photographed text or graphic navigation tools that are indiscernible to screen reader software, thereby rendering the page seemingly blank. The text is invisible to the average user, but indicates to a screen reader that the highlighted link is able to be clicked at that position. Cells in a multi-column text table with word wrap can pose a problem to a screen reader. A screen reader parses text from left to right as it scans down line by line. Experimenting with text alignment and column size can produce a table which is parsed logically by a screen reader.