Web accessibility is a buzz word many developers bandy around without much in the way of explanation. It seems obvious that accessibility is important - after all, the more people who can access your website the better - but what other advantages does accessibility offer, and is it really as important as we techies seem to make out?

What is web accessibility?

Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can access the web. They should be able to perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the web, and they should also be able to contribute. This may seem simply like common sense, but you would be shocked how many top developers disregard the basic principals of web accessibility.

But how do you ensure your web site is accessible?

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) was founded by the World Wide Web Consortium
in order to create a series of guidelines that ensure that the web remains accessible to people of all abilities and disabilities. Even so, the ins and outs of these accessibility guidelines are complicated and continually evolving, and they have engendered  no small amount of debate as to what is, and isn’t, good accessibility.

Detailing the specifics of web accessibility is beyond the scope of this blog post, but here are the some key considerations you should take into account when designing and developing a website:

• Content should be readable and approachable - too much text and too much jargon are accessibility no-nos;
• Hyperlinks should contain appropriate text indicating where the link will take you - the classic “click here” link is often cited as the biggest accessibility faux pas;
• Images should have appropriate alternative text attached to them so browsers that can’t display them still allow the user to know what they contain;
• Navigation should be consistently places on the page and there should be obvious visual indicators to show what page the user is currently viewing;
• Background and foreground colours should contrast significantly to increase readability, especially for readers whose colour perception is impaired;
• Most importantly, if the styles on your page are removed, the content should still make sense and the context should still be obvious.

If you take these basic guidelines into account, you won’t be too far off the mark when it comes to making your website accessible.

Why should my site be accessible?

You may be wondering what the big deal is with web accessibility. If your website can be viewed quite happily by the majority, why worry about a minority user group?

Well firstly, there are the legal implications. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 doesn’t specifically refer to website accessibility, but it does make it illegal to discriminate against people with disabilities. This applies to anyone providing a public service, which definitely includes websites.

But aside from the scary legal stuff, good accessibility tends to mean better code, which has a direct effect on how well your page ranks of certain search engines. This is always a good thing.

In the end, making your website accessible is a must, and just how accessible you want to make your website is up to you.