Accessibility & why it matters Aug 24th '10

When creating websites, one of the most often overlooked functions is how accessible your website is to people with disabilities. This may be weird for a few people to understand but people with disabilities (including visually impaired!) access the web and may come across your website. If your website isn’t built with accessibility in mind it can be unusable. So why does accessibility matter and how hard is it to accomplish?

What is ‘Accessibility’?

Accessibility is the term given to the way people access the web who have some sort of physical disability. It also includes people who find it difficult to browse the web as usual and includes, but isn’t limited to:

• Visually impaired (blind or colour blind)
• Unable to use a mouse or keyboard
• May not be able to read the words on the website or have problems understanding the text
• Older people who find it difficult to use a computer

How do people with these difficulties access websites?

People with visual disabilities will usually use a screen reader of some sort that often reads aloud what the mouse cursor is currently hovering over or gives feedback using a Refreshable Braille Display. As you can imagine this can be difficult to use especially if the website isn’t created with accessibility in mind!

Why create accessible websites?

Apart from the moral and ethical issues around having a website that all users can interact with, creating websites that adhere to accessibility standards is good practice and doesn’t discriminate between your users. In some cases it is a legal requirement for the website to cater to people with disabilities, such as government or certain public sector industries.

So how hard is it to create accessible websites?

Any web designer should be able to create accessible websites, there are a few tips and tricks the designer and developer must to do ensure that people accessing the website with a screen reader can navigate through the website. If you feel having an accessible website is important your current web designer can assist, if not please get in touch.

If you think that accessibility is important and want us to have a look to see how accessible your website really is, please get in touch

Written by Oliver Culverhouse

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