FAQ's  →  Accessibility

Some pages on my site include “affiliate links”. When you follow these and buy something on the other end, I get a small commission. This commission does not raise the price of your purchase. Ever. Not even a little bit.
CHICKLETS

How much will my website actually benefit from being accessible?

There are several benefits to building your web presence with accessibility in mind:

  1. Certain accessibility principles happen to dovetail nicely with search engine concerns (like "alt text", for example). This means that accessibility is good for your SEO. And anything that helps your SEO, is good for your web presence overall.
  2. Device manufacturers are constantly coming up with new and different user experience surfaces (screen sizes, controls, user locations/scenarios, etc). Accessibility principle aim to make your web presence work as flawlessly as possible on as wide an array of devices as possible, so compliance with these principle translates to a web presence that can be accessed on a wider array of devices, even without regard to the particular needs of various users.
  3. Senior users are a fast growing segment. Since accessibility principles positively impact the expected user experience demanded by older users, even if they do not have any particular physical challenge, accessibility compliance will assist you in growing your web audience here as well.

There are also benefits to your organization in running an accessible web presence:

  1. Anything you do in public that shows that you care about your community, starting with your users, is going to be immediately helpful to your online strategy. And it's also helpful to any other public aspect of your operation as well. Accessibility translates to good PR.
  2. A more accessible web presence, means more customers. Given that as many as 15 - 20% of US users report a usability-impacting physical challenge, any online destination that does a better job accommodating their needs is more likely to succeed.
  3. Avoid the legal risks of discrimination. Most sites and apps that are not accessible, are not lacking in this area for the purpose of hurting anyone. They simply haven't considered the issue yet. Or, perhaps, they are planning to address the issue in upcoming versions of their online footprint, but the realities of budget and other resources are preventing fast action in this area. Nevertheless, in failing to provide accessible services, you could be opening yourself to accusations of discrimination. If your organization receives public funding or you do business with key stakeholders who do, someone, somewhere, may come to view your inaccessible online resources as discriminatory.

The bottom line here is simple: Accessibility will benefit your websites and apps, as well as your organization, right now.