Benefits of Accessibility

Web accessibility has many benefits:

Accessible Websites are easier to manage.

An accessible Website separates the content (HTML) and presentation (CSS) of each page. To adjust the layout of the Website, developers only need to make changes to the CSS file, rather than amending each and every page of the site, saving considerable time (and, therefore, money).

Accessible Websites will be compatible with new browsing technologies.

In the near future, PDAs, mobile phones and in-car browsers will all regularly be used to access the Internet. Do you think you client knows that some 58 million PDAs will be sold in 2008 alone? (source: eTForecasts).

The people making use of these new technologies are generally high-income individuals. To reach this lucrative audience, your client will need a Website that functions effectively on these machines.

Accessible Websites will appear higher in search engine rankings.

By making a Website more accessible to Web users, you also make it more accessible to search engines. Search engines can’t typically understand images, JavaScript, Flash, audio, or video content. Provide alternative content to each of these programs, and search engines will have a better understanding of the purpose of the Website.

The more confident a search engine is of what a Website’s about, all other things being equal, the higher it will rank that Website in its listings.

Does your client know that 64% of Internet users employ search engines as their main tool for finding things on the Internet?

The download time of an Accessible Websites will be significantly improved.

Just 17% of Web users are connected to theInternet via broadband in the UK. You can be sure that if your Website takes much longer than ten seconds to download, site visitors will be leaving in droves.

The usability of the Website will be enhanced.

There is a certain degree of overlap between Web accessibility and Web usability. Usability guru Jakob Nielson has shown that a usability redesign increases the sales/conversion rate of a Website by 100%.

You are not breaking the law

The RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind) and the DRC (Disability Rights Commission) have been exerting pressure on both commercial and government entities to make their Websites accessible. The DRC is currently investigating 1000 Websites to ascertain their accessibility.

An Accessible Website has the potential to reach more users

Obviously the point of an accessible website is to make it accessible to disabled users.

• There are 8.6 million registered disabled people in the UK, totaling 14% of the population (source: DRC)
• One in 12 men, and one in 200 women, has some form of colour blindness, totaling 9% of the UK population (source: Institution of Electrical Engineers)
• Two million UK residents have a sight problem — that’s 4% of the population (source: RNIB)
• There are 12 million people aged 60 or over -- some 21% of the UK population (source: UK government)

Now, there’s bound to be some overlap between these groups, but if you add up the numbers, you get a total of 48% of the UK population.

Beyond Disabilities

Non-disabled people can also experience difficulties on Websites. Not everyone uses the latest version of Internet Explorer, with all the plug-ins and programs that are required for them to have optimal access to every site they come across.

If your clients’ Website relies on images, Flash or JavaScript, and fails to provide alternatives, then numerous Web users will be unable to access his site. Explain the following to your client:

• Users on slow connections regularly turn images off to enable a quicker download time. Some browsers, such as the text-only Lynx browser, do not display images at all.
• Not every user has downloaded the latest Flash plugin that is needed to view the site. Additionally, the download time on Flash Websites is often so long that low bandwidth users lose patience and don’t even wait to see the content. Remember, only 17% of Web users in the UK are connected to the Internet via broadband.
• JavaScript is unsupported by about 4% of Web users, either because they’ve turned it off to prevent pop-up ads, or because their browsers don’t support it.
• WebTV, mobile phones, and PDAs have limited support for large images, Flash and JavaScript.