My latest article is aimed at small business owners who question the
necessity of web site accessibility. Granted, it’s just another thing to
think about, along with design, branding, functionality and
“attractibility.” You want everyone to love your web site, right? You want
everyone to buy lots of your goods or services, right?
Well, does everyone really mean everyone?
Sometimes, attitudinal barriers can be more formidable than
architectural barriers. Making your web site accessible to people who have
low or no vision really isn’t that difficult and can be extremely rewarding.
Read “Why You Should Care About Web Site Accessibility” at Eloquent
Insights. Go to: www.eloquentinsights.com/articles
LL
Great article, Laura (though you should update the link — it leaves off the “.html” from the end of it. It should be www.eloquentinsights.com/articles).
I think too many people forget that keyboard shortcuts aren’t just for people with screen readers. Pressing [tab] is so much faster than clicking the next box with the mouse…that’s one of my biggest frustrations, is “mouse only” interfaces that force you to keep moving your hands from the keyboard to mouse and back again. I get carpal tunnel just thinking about it!
Similarly, having a layout that’s clean and well structured isn’t just helpful for accessibility, it’s just good design. Good design is appreciated by people that can see the screen just as much as by those that need assistive technologies, since you *want* your customers to quickly and easily find things without digging through nested Flash menus.
In a way, it’s kind of the technology corollary to your observation in your article, “It’s On Aisle 5” (eloquentinsights.com/aisle5.html) – “Good customer service is an equal opportunity . . . opportunity”. In this case, accessibility is an equally beneficial. . .benefit.
Or something like that.
Oh, drat. Here I try to help and only make it worse…
The correct link is: www.eloquentinsights.com/articles.html
Not only did I leave off the .html at the end too, but WordPress added an extra parenthesis. So ignore the link in the comment above (and the man behind the curtain, to follow on to the Wizard of Ozzian title of the last post) and use this link.
Bryan