What is website accessibility?
Web accessibility is getting a lot of attention these days, but it can be intimidating. Here’s a simple introduction to web accessibility: what it is, why it’s important, and the benefits that come along with accessibility.
At the most basic level, web accessibility means building websites that are usable by as many people as possible.
In the US alone, 57 million people report having a disability. That’s one in every five people — equivalent to the entire populations of New York and California combined. And around 30 million of those people report having a severe disability.
How can web developers make sure their sites are accessible to as many users as possible?
What makes a site inaccessible?
There are many ways that users might find a website to be inaccessible.
Some people may not be able to use a mouse. They may need to be able to scroll, click, navigate and interact with all parts of a website using only a keyboard or other device.
Others may have some form of color-blindness, so may have difficulty discerning links and buttons from other text content.
Dyslexia can cause some people to struggle to understand the content of a site.
