Accessible is not so dull…

I have always found the subject of accessibility an important one, but not an exciting one. Never have I considered it unimportant, but it was something you just “had to do” for an all-round standards-compliant site. However, this week I was roped in to doing a presentation on the very subject to one of our clients.

Having to use just a keyboard for a couple of days and try to use JAWS to navigate my way around such terrible sites as www.target.com and the Almighty Pope’s site, I had something of an epiphany, or at least some level of empathy for the millions of users that must get so frustrated day in, day out. The web for all? My arse.

I am relieved at how lucky to be able to access anything I want at the touch of a button; but imagine Googling for something, getting 50 results you want to read but not being able to access any of it? Anybody who works in the industry should be more than just profit/PR driven on this one, just spend an hour in someone elses shoes.

I have always found the subject of accessibility an important one, but not an exciting one. Never have I considered it unimportant, but it was something you just “had to do” for an all-round standards-compliant site. However, this week I was roped in to doing a presentation on the very subject to one of our clients.

Having to use just a keyboard for a couple of days and try to use JAWS to navigate my way around such terrible sites as www.target.com and the Almighty Pope’s site, I had something of an epiphany, or at least some level of empathy for the millions of users that must get so frustrated day in, day out. The web for all? My arse.

I am relieved at how lucky to be able to access anything I want at the touch of a button; but imagine Googling for something, getting 50 results you want to read but not being able to access any of it? Anybody who works in the industry should be more than just profit/PR driven on this one, just spend an hour in someone elses shoes.