Content For All

Which brings us to the thorny question of accessibility. Let me say here that I’m NOT an expert: I keep learning new things about it every day, sometimes even twice in a day, but I am an enthusiast, albeit a reformed one. (To read an expert’s blog on the subject go to 456 Berea Street.)

What is accessibility? Simply put, it is the concept that the interweb should be available to ALL people, regardless of their capabilities. (Some might say there are a few web designers out there whose work proves that point, and not in a good way.)

Immediately you say the word accessibility to most people, they will think “A-ha! Web pages for blind people!”

And they’d be wrong. One of the biggest “minorities” trying to use the web — and often failing — are dyslexics (I’d been a journalist for a decade when it was pointed out to by someone I was researching a story with that I’m mildly dyslexic. And why is the word so hard to spell?). Add to that people with movement difficulties and many other conditions associated with advancing years and you’ve got not a minority, but a majority that most of us will join in the years ahead.

I’ll be returning to the subject of accessibility soon.