Why Web Accessibility is a Good Idea For Everyone
Web accessibility is about ensuring access to web content to people with varying abilities, using varied technology. Many people think of web accessibility as making their web pages able to be read by screen readers for the blind, but it’s so much more than that.
Assitive technology does include screen readers, but also screen magnifiers, and methods for people with motor-related disabilities. Accessibility guidelines also cover people with colorblindness.
Making sure your web site is accessible is not just a nice thing to do - it happens to make great business sense.
It’s estimated that 16% of the world population is identified as disabled. Many of these people will require assistive technologies to access the web. Many western countries, including the US have rapidly aging populations. Age related vision impairment is becoming more and more common.
Microsoft’s research into accessibility shows that 57% of Windows users could make use of accessibility features even though they may not identify themselves as disabled. So, we know that making your web site accessible means potentially doubling your users.
The regulations regarding accessibility (Section 508 and the Americans with Disabilities Act) may require certain businesses with web applications to make them accessible. Any company that wants to do business with the government, or with large commercial organizations had better make accessibility a priority.
Making your web site accessible isn’t very difficult, and it’s not usually about adding technology. It begins with implementation of good coding standards and semantic markup. I suggest that designers and coders familiarize themselves with the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Implementing accessibility standards may also help your web traffic in other ways. Many companies find that their natural search results improve because search engine spiders look at your web site in ways similar to screen readers. Mobile browsers may also present your site in a better way.
From a strategic business perspective, accessibility is about taking your web content investment and opening to the widest possible audience. What business wouldn’t want that?
July 5th, 2007 at 9:18 am
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