Web accessibility benefits
Web accessibility is about making your website accessible to all Internet users (both disabled and non-disabled), regardless of what browsing technology they're using.
Find out how we can help your website gain accessibility. You can also learn web accessibility here on this website.
The Act makes it unlawful for a service provider to discriminate against a disabled person by refusing to provide them any service which it provides to members of the public.
Code of Practice, DDA (Disability Discrimination Act)
Web accessibility is extremely important and has numerous benefits:
Fulfilling legal obligation
- In 1995 the Disability Discrimination Act was passed
- In 1999 part III of the Act, which refers to service providers, came into force
- In 2002 the Code of Practice for part III of the Act was published and specifically mentions that web accessibility is now a legal requirement
For more information about the web accessibility legal requirements read our article Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) & web accessibility
Increase in reach to special needs users
The statistics on the number of users who may face difficulties due to your website's accessibility are quite startling:
- There are 8.6 million registered disabled people in the UK - 14% of the population (source: DRC)
- One in 12 men and one in 200 women have some form of colour blindness - 9% of the UK population (source: Institution of Electrical Engineers)
- Two million UK residents have a sight problem - 4% of the population (source: RNIB)
- There are 12 million people aged 60 or over - 21% of the UK population (source: UK government)
Increase in reach for different technologies
Nowadays websites can be viewed in a variety of different formats, each one facing different accessibility issues:
- Handheld device - Very small screen with limited support for JavaScript and large images
- WebTV - 560px in width with horizontal scrolling not available
- Lynx browser - Text-only browser with no support for tables, CSS, images, JavaScript, Flash or audio and video content
- Screen reader - Reads the content of the page in the order it appears in the HTML document
The number of people accessing the Internet from handheld devices is increasing at a massive rate - in 2008 alone there'll be an estimated 58 million PDAs sold worldwide (source: eTForecast). Check your website's accessibility on a handheld device with the Opera mini simulator.
Less time-consuming to manage
An accessible website separates the content (the words and images that we see on the screen) and presentation (the way that these words and images are laid out) of each page. Each web page has an HTML document which contains the words and images for that page (the content), and calls up a CSS document containing the presentation information - this CSS document is shared by all the pages on the website. Therefore, to change the layout of an accessible website you only have to make changes in one file, saving considerable time (and therefore money).
To find out more about using CSS in place of tables and images (and its accessibility benefits) please read CSS design: The basics.
Ready for the future of the Internet
Websites that aren't accessible struggle to cope with the variety of methods being used to access the Internet, especially handheld devices. If your website isn't accessible within the next five years there'll be a large number of Internet users who can't access your website. By making the necessary accessibility adjustments now you'll be creating a long-term future for your website.
Higher search engine ranking
By improving your website's accessibility, you're also improving its accessibility to search engines. Search engines can't usually understand images, JavaScript, Flash, audio and video content. Search engines will be able to understand the purpose of your website more easily if you provide alternative, accessible content to each of these. The more confident a search engine is of what your website is about, all other things being equal, the higher in the search rankings it'll place your website.
What next?
Please contact us by phone on 0870 242 6095 or by e-mail at info at webcredible.co.uk. We'll discuss your website needs and requirements with no pushy sales pitch and no obligation to you.
See also
- Get a new website through our user-centered design and accessible web design expertise
- Get our accessible and usable CMS so your site offers outstanding accessibility
- Optimise your website with our usability consulting and accessibility consulting services
- Attend one of our 6 fantastic usability & accessibility training courses