Accessibility Basics

What is web accessibility?
Why should I adopt accessibility?
Which disabilities are we talking about?
How do people with these disabilities access the web?
Won't I lose control of how my site looks?
Can't I leave it to the developers to sort out?

What is web accessibility?

The practice of giving people with disabilities equal access to web sites and online content.

Why should I adopt accessibility?

More sales - disabled web users have millions of pounds of disposable income.

PR and public affairs advantage - win endorsement from influential public and charitable bodies.

Avoid litigation - without accessibility in place there is no reason why your company won't be a target of legal action under the UK Disability Discrimination Act. Remember, you also have a responsibility to your employees to make sure that internal systems (especially intranet's) are accessible to all.

Profitable side-effects - improved usability for all means higher sales conversion; better ranking on search engines

Which disabilities are we talking about?

Blindness (user has no sight) Low vision (user with restricted or impaired sight) Color-blindness (user has inability to distinguish certain colors - often red and green) Motor disability (user has physical difficulty using a computer - often the mouse in particular) Cognitive or intellectual disability (the user experiences unusual difficulty in learning and is relatively ineffective in applying whatever he/she has learned to the problems of ordinary living)

How do people with these disabilities currently access the web?

There are specialist web browsers and assisting technologies available, for example:

JAWS translates written words into synthesized speech;

LYNX renders text line-by-line in Braille;

LINKS is a text-only browser - dropping graphics and typefaces.

SPECIAL KEYBOARDS adapted for use without a mouse (a mouse is useless for people who can't see the cursor or those who can't physically use it).

And of course many disabled people also struggle on with INTERNET EXPLORER and a standard keyboard and mouse set-up.

Won't I lose control of how my site looks and works by trying to support all these users?

No, the building blocks of accessibility are in the way pages are built - there is no need to fundamentally re-design the user interface. Generally speaking, the site only has to look different to users who actively express a preference to view it in a different way.

So is accessibility mainly a technical issue? Can I leave it to the developers to sort out?

It's true that accessibility has important technical aspects: common-sense design alone won't bring you in line with accepted standards. But beware of throwing this all over to IT: they may not thoroughly consider wider commercial issues when they plan implementation.

We've seen examples where over-zealous development teams have tried to implement every possible accessibility guideline in one fell swoop. This can mean incurring excessive cost with no discernable benefit to the user.

At the other extreme, it is possible to only partially implement accessibility if a thorough process is not followed. A high-street shop with an 80% finished wheelchair access ramp would not consider itself compliant with UK law - neither should partially accessible web sites!

Make sure different voices from around the business are heard before you plan and execute an accessibility program.