Why aren't all websites accessible?

For anyone who creates a website, they want as many people as possible to look at what they have produced. By making your website accessible you are increasing the potential number of users for your site. As well as benefiting people with disabilities, accessible websites are also better for people who use non-standard equipment, such as a 15" screen and people who use browsers other than Internet Explorer.

Some web designers are reluctant to create accessible websites either because they think they cost too much, they think the finished sites will look boring or are reluctant to produce an extra site for disabled people. However none of these have to be the case.

The Cost

When it is considered at the beginning of a design, producing an accessible site may take a little extra time build but wont necessarily cost anything extra. The benefits are that your website will be viewed by a wider audience and if you are in the business of sales and marketing you may benefit from the estimated £50 billion per annum spending power of disabled people.

Boring design

There are no reasons why accessible websites can't use images or colour. Indeed for some impairments using colour and images is helpful. For users who can't view images simply make sure that any pictures used have text equivalent that describes not only what the image is, but also describes its function on the page. Selecting font and background colours that offer a good contrast will also make your text more readable.

For help on choosing colours for your website see our mini site on Safe web colours for colour-deficient vision, which offers more in depth information.

Producing an extra site for disabled people

In most cases there is no reason why a separate site is required and producing a second site creates the problem of having to maintain two sites instead of just one. At the same time having a second, less appealing site may give the impression of offering a secondary service for disabled customers.

For more ideas on creating accessible websites see our advice for web developers.