Making Web Content Accessible to Everyone

[by Jonathan O'Donnell. Original version is available online at: http://purl.nla.gov.au/net/jod/disability.html]

Everybody uses the Web differently. Some people turn images off. Others can't use sound. Some don’t read so well. Others get confused. People access the Web using very different equipment. More and more people are using different devices.

• Jason White reads the Web through a braille computer.
• Chris Edwards has the computer read the Web out to him.
• Glenn Morrow looks at parts of the screen at a time.
• Personally, I like to review Web sites on my Palm Pilot.

People have more and more choice about how to use the Web. Palm pilots, mobile phones, computers in cars, who knows what. Screens are getting much, much bigger and much, much smaller. In some situations, they are disappearing altogether.

We can’t predict what will happen. So if you are trying to design for a ‘typical’ user, you are shooting yourself in the foot.

How can Web accessibility help?

While there is a growing body of information about how to build accessible Web sites, it is still difficult to convince organisations that it is a good idea. The battle is to get organisations to understand why accessibility matters to their customers; and to their bottom line. I want to outline some arguments that you can use to help win the case for accessibility.

The key ideas behind Web accessibility are:

• Equal access for all people.
• No matter what device they are using.

You want as many people as possible to access your Web site. You don't want to turn every tenth person away at the door. Generally, you are aiming for:

• Decreased costs.
• Increased effectiveness.
• Greater audience satisfaction.

Incorporating principles of Web accessibility can:

• Decrease your Web site maintenance costs
• Improve the chances of being found in search engines
• Improved site portability across different devices
• Pick up niche markets that you didn't even know existed
• Make you feel good about doing the right thing
• Protect yourself against equal opportunity court cases.

These benefits are real possibilities for web sites. They are compelling arguments for adopting principals of Web accessibility.

Why is it a good idea?

• Decrease your Web site maintenance costs.
  • Don’t build two sites; just build one site properly. Often people build a ‘main’ site and a ‘text only’ site, or a ‘framed’ site and an ‘unframed’ site. The two sites will inevitably drift apart, until eventually content will be updated on one and not the other.
• Move to cascading style sheets:
  • Cascading style sheets move the layout of the page into one style sheet. When you want to change the look and feel, you just change the style sheet - immediately, the changes flow across all your pages.
• Improve the chances of being found.
  • Most search engine robots only index text. If you are providing lots of content as images, sound or video, then provide a text alternative.

In addition, think about what metadata you are providing for your site. Strictly speaking, this is not an accessibility issue. However, if people can’t find your content, then they can’t access it. Search engines love good metadata, so think about how you are going to catalogue your information.

Improve site portability.

If you develop your Web site according to international standards, then it will work with the new tools that are being developed. Tools that we can’t even imagine yet. Ten years ago, none of us could imagine the Web. We can’t imagine what it will be like in another ten.

• No matter how big your site is now, the site that you will build in the future will be bigger. So start now and the accessible stuff will eventually outweigh the inaccessible stuff.
• Pick up niche markets.
• People who need access are being ignored by your competitors. A little bit of effort might provide big rewards. This is particularly true for people whose English isn't strong.
• Feel good about doing the right thing.
• Protect yourself against court cases.

While these last two are very important, they won't sell the message by themselves. You can't win hearts and minds by concentrating on a negative ('you might get sued') or appealing to their altruistic nature. However, these two reasons do provide the icing on the cake, which may clinch the deal.

Last updated: 8 March 2002