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How can we reach a broader audience?
This is a question asked at every web team meeting,
Whether the context is marketing, outreach,
or education, every group that posts content to the web
wants to have it seen by a wider audience. So we launch strategic plans to
get more traffic to our site,
but is it possible that we're unknowingly limiting those
who encounter our site by its design? Do we forget that not everyone who uses our
website sits at a desktop computer
on a high-speed corporate network?
So we ask at the outset, is our site perceivable by all?
Is our site operable by all? Is our site
understandable by all? Is our site
robust? Answering yes to all of these questions
means that we have truly accessible site.
Accessibility isn't just about doing good works or being socially conscious.
At the heart of it lies the need to build standards-compliant, well-designed
webapps.
Accessible webapps work everywhere. They are truly
accessible. Poorly designed products are by their nature
inaccessible regardless of the user's physical capabilities.
Long gone are the days where the Internet is only available through a
workstation locked down to a desk.
Mobile devices of every kind access content on the internet.
Accessible to all also means accessible everywhere.
Sites that resize with the ease and are structured logically
make your web app infinitely more usable and at the same time
accessible.
Restrictions on webapps come in many forms. The device that a person uses to
interact with the web
is the key to accessibility. Screen readers are when technology that has
received much attention when it comes to accessibility
but there are many more to be considered.
Accessible web design benefits developers and content creators in many
ways.
One benefit can be financial growth because of the expanded
audience that can now take advantage of your site. Accessible sites are also
standards-compliant sites.
For many sites, the law requires accessibility compliance.
But, most of all, by building accessible web sites and web-based
apps, you make your site open to
all.