Perhaps you're not legally required to make your site friendly to disabled users, but it's still good business.

November 12, 2002
URL:http://www.drdobbs.com/building-a-barrier-free-web/184411742

When Wayne MacPhail took on the job of revamping the Centennial College Web site, he knew that making it accessible to people with disabilities was the right thing to do. It's also, he believes, simply a matter of good communication. Centennial, a community college with several campuses in Ontario, Canada, includes the Web site in its marketing and communications department, and sees one of its primary goals as promoting its services to students and the public.

After joining Centennial's staff as Web coordinator in March 2002, the first thing MacPhail did was to try to understand the college's culture and its vision for the future. "One of the things that came through strong and clear," MacPhail says, "was the focus on access—access for people for whom English was a second language, access for the disabled, access to the kinds of programs you need to get the jobs you want. Having a Web site that was accessible [to people with disabilities] was in tune with those values." MacPhail hopes to expand the site's role by making it a forum for community discussion.

As he read through the guidelines of the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative, MacPhail realized that by designing with the needs of the disabled in mind, he'd end up with a site that worked better for all users. For example, providing alternative text tags to describe graphics for the visually impaired using screen reading software can improve Web searching.

And while everyone benefits from accessibility accommodations, such as colors chosen for maximum legibility, and for clear, consistent navigation, a surprising number of people not only appreciate them but really need them. According to research firm Forrester, one in five Americans has some form of legal disability. Forrester points out that besides those with impaired hearing or vision, many more have reduced capabilities; for example, older people may have difficulty using a mouse due to arthritis.

Architects call the concept of making choices that work best for the greatest number of people "barrier-free design." While no Web site—or building, for that matter—can be equally accessible to everyone, the intellectual shift from thinking of accessibility as an add-on can be liberating. There are plenty of good reasons for constructing your sites with as few barriers as possible:

Legal responsibility. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires equal access for all in the physical world, but it's only a matter of time before the law gets extended to the virtual one.

Compliance with regulations for government contractors. In the U.S., Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (see www.section508.gov for more information) requires that all technology purchased by the government and all information provided electronically be accessible, according to a strict set of standards. Canada has also set technology standards for government sites called the Common Look and Feel guidelines.

Susan Seitel, president of Work and Family Connection, a Minneapolis-based creator of Web-based training programs, was thrilled when she got strong interest from a major U.S. agency. "Then they said, Are you Section 508 compliant? If not, we can't buy it,'" Seitel says. To become so, she spent "thousands of dollars" and five weeks working with Criterion 508 Solutions, a Washington, D.C. firm that does consulting and development. "We love the idea that we're accessible now," Seitel says. And it paid off. She recently made her first sale, which more than covered the cost of Criterion's work.

Forrester predicts that within three to five years, the government will extend the Section 508 accessibility requirement to companies in the private sector.

Extending your audience and your company's market share. "Many folks with disabilities are very likely to use the Web as way of reaching stores," says Dr. Carol Kaufman-Scarborough, an associate professor of marketing at the Rutgers University School of Business who researches the effect of color blindness on Web use. Last December, online bookseller Amazon.com launched Amazon Access, a version of its site tailored to work with screen-reading software commonly used by blind people. Amazon.com won't disclose the number of users of the accessible version, but a company spokesperson says that any way the bookselling site can make it easier for customers is a good thing.

Avoiding bad PR. "Many corporationssee the intrinsic value of positioning their products with accessibility as a key feature," says Mike Paciello, a consultant and author of Web Accessibility for People with Disabilities (CMP Books). "Several of our clients are building marketing messages and public relations programs highlighting accessibility."

Reaching other platforms. The same strategies that make Web sites accessible for people using assistive technology can open sites to alternative devices, including cell phones and wireless PDAs. For example, the Amazon Access site is powered by the same servers used to provide mobile commerce to users of Internet-enabled phones.