Why is accessibility so important?

Here at Kino Creative we take the issue of web accessibility very seriously. Accessibility is all about ensuring your website can be used by everyone, not just the average person. For example a blind user will browse the web using a screen reader that reads the content of a site out loud.

Here at Kino Creative we take the issue of web accessibility very seriously. Accessibility is all about ensuring your website can be used by everyone, not just the average person. For example a blind user will browse the web using a screen reader that reads the content of a site out loud. If a site uses images for navigation without a text alternative then the reader will fail as a computer doesn’t understand the content of an image.

Making a accessible websites takes additional time and effort to build so why should anyone bother?

It’s the law!

Since 1999 the Disability Discrimination Act made it a legal requirement for any website offering “goods, facilities, or services” to be accessible to disabled users. Failing to comply with these regulations could potentially leave you open to the threat of legal action.

More site visitors.

If your website is not accessible to people with disabilities then you are effectively blocking their access to your site and therefore your business. Over 11% of the UK population have a disability that could affect their use of the internet, do you really want to close the door on around 6,700,000 potential visitors/customers?

Better browsing experience.

A well designed and accessible website not only lets more people visit your site, but can help to keep them coming back by making their visit more enjoyable. Accessible websites should be faster and easier to use and get visitors to the information they want with as little effort as possible.

Google likes it.

If a website is accessible to humans then there is a good chance that it is accessible to Google too. Just as a screen reader can’t interpret the contents of an image, neither can the Google bots that crawl the web searching websites. A well designed accessible website will result in better Google rankings.

Improves your image.

No doubt it is important to you that your company projects the right image. An inaccessible website will give the impression that you don’t care about your visitors. Put your customers first and make your services available to everyone.

It’s not just a “disabled issue”.

In a society where the internet permeates all aspects of our lives, we are accessing it on a much wider variety of devices such as mobile phones and web TV. These alternative browsers can suffer from many of the same problems as screen readers and text only browsers intended for disabled users. A fully accessible website should work across all devices.

Taking in the list above which doesn’t even begin to touch on the moral issue, perhaps the question shouldn’t be “why make your site accessible” but rather “why would you not make your site accessible”.