What is accessibility?
For web sites, ‘accessibility’ means ‘making the content accessible’ – that is, making sure that everyone can navigate and read what is on the site, regardless of their location, their experience, or the type of computer technology they use.
Accessibility usually relates to people with disabilities, because this is the group that is most likely to be disadvantaged by an inaccessible web design. Failure to follow the principles of accessibility can make it difficult or impossible for people with disabilities to read the site’s content.
Creating accessible content should be part of the web design philosophy. Accessibility features should be included in every aspect of the design process. Testing for accessibility should be part of user testing, too.
Designing for accessibility is as much a strategic issue as a purely technical one.
Why make web sites accessible ?
According to the web’s governing body, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), up to 20% of people are affected by some form of disability.
A significant number of people with disabilities can benefit from web sites specifically designed to be more accessible.
In the US alone, an estimated 52 million Americans have learning, visual, hearing or physical disabilities which affect their ability to use computers, and the Internet and the number is growing as people live longer. Even something as simple as the ageing process, which affects us all, can make it significantly harder to use a web site.
