Is website accessibility important for your business?
Website accessibility is a simple concept with some fairly deep implications. Put simply, a website that is "accessible" is one that is structured in such a way as that people with disability are able to access the full functionality of your website, without any restriction.
Whether a website can be described as "accessible" or not is determined by a number of factors. There is no formal definition of "accessible", however there is a well-established standard for accessibility, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, which have just recently been updated to version 2.1.
These guidelines give developers a set of requirements that must be met in order to pass validation against WCAG standards. It is important to note, however, that simply passing validation does NOT mean your website is accessible! It's certainly a good start, but there are many challenges for which the standard validators are unable to effectively test.
So, the answer to the above question then, is website accessibility important to your business, is a pretty simple "yes", however the degree to which you wish to pursue this as a goal is not so clear cut for most small businesses. Achieving the highest possible rating according to the WCAG standards can be both a significant cost, and have a notable impact on the visual aspects of your website. However, a website that is accessible is also a website that Google can understand, so achieving WCAG compliance, to whatever level, is a positive outcome for SEO.
We would typically recommend our clients go for at least WCAG 2.1 A conformance, and we would also recommend that this is considered a requirement from the beginning of the project, not something that is bolted on at the end. A lot of the WCAG requirements are easier to develop as you are going, rather than having to fix everything and backport them in at the end.
Ultimately however, it's up to you how far you wish to go with regards to accessibility; there are no direct legal requirements placed on private businesses, however flagrant disregard of accessibility issues, particularly for large businesses, may find you in court. It's pretty tough to debate against the ethical and technical benefits of accessibility though, so my advice would be to make sure your website is accessible as soon as possible!
Assembler is a web design agency based in Perth, Western Australia. This blog is intended to be an informal, behind the scenes look into the web design and development industry. If you like our content, please follow us on LinkedIn or Facebook!