About Web Accessibility

What is web accessibility? This is a difficult question to answer in brief, but my short answer is:

An accessible web page makes all pertinent content available to any person who wants it regardless of their abilities or browsing technology.

Web accessibility benefits more than people with a disability; keep in mind that a user may be situationally disabled, temporarily disabled or using less performant technology. In addition, web accessibility generally increases usability and SEO.

Keep in mind a few important things:

• The web is accessible by default.
• Management of digital accessibility is a program, not a feature (it’s an ongoing continual effort).
• Quote from Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web:
  

  “The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.

The W3C’s description of web accessibility includes the following:

Web accessibility means that websites, tools, and technologies are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them.

Here is some terrific further reading:

• Introduction to Web Accessibility by WebAIM
• What is Web Accessibility? by Joe Dolson
• Web accessibility on Wikipedia
• Introduction to disability and accessibility by Microsoft