The importance of website accessibility is growing in 2024. It is crucial that websites are accessible to all users, including people with various disabilities. This ensures that everyone has access to the same information and services as others, such as insurance, online shopping, internet banking, government services and more. By making websites accessible, we guarantee that everyone has equal access to online content.
The growing importance of accessibility
One of the key reasons for the importance of website accessibility is the growing number of people with a disability. According to the World Health Organization and the CDC, 16% of the world's population has a disability, which amounts to more than 1 billion people worldwide who may be unable to access websites that were not designed with accessibility in mind. This can include physical, sensory, cognitive and intellectual disabilities. With such a large proportion of the population experiencing disabilities, it is essential that websites are inclusive and accessible to all.
Accessibility as a business case
Accessible websites can help businesses reach a wider audience. Accessibility should also be a key consideration for businesses, as it can help them reach a wider audience, including a large and often overlooked market. This can lead to increased revenue and growth through increased engagement, sales and customer satisfaction, due to the site being easier to navigate for all users.
In 2021, e-commerce retailers are estimated to have lost more than €800 million during the holiday season because their websites were not accessible. Furthermore, accessible websites can influence a company's reputation and brand image, alongside potentially improved SEO rankings.
Legal requirements
A focus on accessibility can also help ensure that a website complies with laws and regulations, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act and the European Accessibility Act (EAA). These laws prohibit discrimination against persons with disabilities and require businesses and organisations to make reasonable adjustments for them. Ignoring the guidelines can result in a company being sued by a user for inaccessibility.
WCAG guidelines: the standard
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has developed the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to make websites more accessible. These guidelines provide a set of standards for web developers and designers to follow when creating websites. The WCAG outlines four main principles of website accessibility:
- Perceivable: Information and user interface components must be presented to users in ways they can perceive
- Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable
- Understandable: Information and operation of the user interface must be understandable
- Robust: Content must be robust enough to be reliably interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies
Practical examples
Consider for example the use of alt text: provide all images with a descriptive alt text so that screen readers can interpret them. Ensure that the website is fully navigable with a keyboard for users who cannot operate a mouse, and ensure sufficient contrast between text and background and avoid colour-blindness issues.
Accessibility by design as a working method
My advice to every organisation: do not treat accessibility as an afterthought, but as a design principle. Alongside 'privacy by design' and 'mobile first design', 'accessibility by design' should be a standard part of your workflow. Train your developers on it, have them collaborate with experts such as 200ok.nl (opent in nieuw venster){target="blank" rel="noopener"} by Jules Ernst, and use tools that make accessibility issues visible, such as UserWay.org (opent in nieuw venster){target="blank" rel="noopener"} and Polypane (opent in nieuw venster){target="_blank" rel="noopener"} by Kilian Valkhof.
Start with one website, learn from it, and roll it out more broadly from there. Towards websites that are accessible to everyone.