As of January 1, 2006, a Baby Boomer will turn 60 every 8 seconds. The need for accessible websites as this generation ages will become critical. Simply put, website accessibility is about making a site accessible to the largest range of people possible. For the majority of website owners, this is simply good business sense. After all, the more people you have using your site the better.
While you might think that web accessibility only refers to the blind and hearing impaired, here are some additional groups of people that have problems accessing content on the web.
- People surfing the web using mobile phones and PDA's. These people are possibly the most affluent and technically advanced group of people suffering from web accessibility issues.
- People using old browsers or old computers. Many companies and organizations have standardized on older browser versions and don't use the latest computer equipment.
- People using slow internet connections.
- The Baby Boomer is one of the biggest growing markets on the web and has a large amount of disposable income. This sector has accessibility issues such as reduced mobility, reduced hand-eye co-ordination and poor vision and hearing.
- Young Internet users can also have poor hand-eye coordination, coupled with a low reading ability.
- People who don't speak or understand English fluently.
- Partially sighted and the color blind are probably the most obvious group of individuals affected by accessibility issues. This group also makes up a very large percentage of web surfers.
- People with physical disabilities, such as those with impaired mobility, who use alternative devices to access a web page.
The Web Professionals at Semio offer a full range of Accessibility Services. We can help improve your site for a specific target audience, or take you into complete Section 508 compliance.
Contact Semio for more information about web accessibility and how we can help.
