Accessibility, in many people’s eyes, only matters to pernickety web designers/developers. I thought it would be interesting to give some reasons why it matters to many (if not all) people. The list isn’t exhaustive, but a good taster.

So, in no particular order, accessibility matters to…

The Client

Two sides to this story. Firstly, law. Accessibility guidelines are fast becoming (if not already) law in many countries. This is surely a good enough reason to make a site accessible?

Secondly, market share. Now this should appeal to the client. If the client’s website is accessible by a disabled user then they are ahead of their competition in most cases. In the UK alone, the disabled population counted for a share of over £50 million in 2005. If that’s not convincing to a client, what is?

I guess one could also state that an accessible website often provides a better user experience for all visitors (accessibility is for all, remember) across many platforms. This would tend to lead to more sales.

It may save money on hosting. (See ‘The Host’)

So, why does it matter?

It may be a legal requirement to have an accessible site. Ultimately though, it boils down to money and good customer experience.

The Graphic Designer

I believe that knowing the media (in this case the web) is the key to becoming a successful graphic designer. Without an idea of accessibility, the designer simply isn’t aware of some of the fundamentals and conventions of the web - basically, why the web is the way it is. If this knowledge isn’t present and understood, then how can one design for the user?

So, why does it matter?

Because knowing about accessibility gives the designer a better chance of producing something great.

The Search Engine

A search engine spider visiting a site can run into difficulties. An example would be the usage of obtrusive javascript - the kind of coding that leaves the site with its pants down when javascript is disabled in the browser. As far as I’m aware, no search engine ‘robots’ can run javascript, so anything of importance on your page (often the navigation) could be totally missed by the spider.

Another example is code bloat. Many inaccessible sites will have a higher ratio of code to content (tables/divitis/software-code). Presenting the search engine with more ‘indexable’ content will improve the chances of the page ranking high.

So, why does it matter?

The website may not get indexed correctly. The search engine may not even be aware of the navigation/links to other pages on the site.

If you have great content but a ridiculous amount of code surrounding that content then the content may not get the recognition it deserves from the search engine.

The Host

Hosting companies surely shouldn’t care about accessibility? Should they? Well, in an ideal world, mass adoption of accessible sites could bring benefits to the customers of the host. If many website owners used clean, accessible code then server loads overall could fall and less bandwidth could be consumed per site. This may lead to bigger, better, cheaper and more reliable hosting for all.

So, why does it matter?

Simple. Service and value.

And finally…

Some might say that accessibility matters to the user. Of course it does, but that subject is too vast to cover here. I really couldn’t say it any better than the access gurus that we know and love.

If you care to add to the above or have any opinions on the subject, let me know by responding below. Thanks for reading.

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The posts Accessible can be Beautiful, Accessibility - Let it be for all, You’re a standardista if… (Friday Fun), Don’t make me think - A common sense approach to Web Usability, RoboBraille.org converts text to Braille/Audio, are related to this post.

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