About 6 months ago I was running a workshop in the north of England and wanted to buy a return train ticket. I tried to book tickets using thetrainline.com but it was such a nightmare I swore never to use them again. Sadly I didn't learn from my mistakes and 6 months later I'm back at their site desperate to part with my money and being thwarted at every turn.
I was recently interviewed for an article on accessibility in this month’s ".Net magazine":http://www.netmag.co.uk/. Here is what I had to say: 1: Why are so many sites still inaccessible? There is still a large amount of ambivalence regarding web accessibility, from both developers and clients. Many clients are either unaware that the disability discrimination act covers them, or simply don’t care. However, it is not really the clients fault. It is the responsibility of the web development profession to educate clients about their legal responsibilities and build accessibility into their projects, whether specified or not. Unfortunately, due to the increased commoditization of web design, budgets continue to fall and accessibility is often one of the first areas to be affected.
Most mature industries have pretty fixed job titles and roles. Take the construction industry for instance. You've got Architects, Engineers and Draftsmen. You've got Electricians and Carpenters, Bricklayers and Plumbers, Foremen and Site Inspectors. Each one has a defined role and if you met one down the pub, you'd have a pretty good idea what their job entailed. The movie industry is the same. Every film will have a Director and a Cinematographer. There will be Producers, Actors, Special Effects people and Stuntmen. Each person knows roughly what the other does and how all the roles fit together to produce a great – or not so great – movie.
Until recently, few businesses had given much thought to the topic of Web Accessibility. However thanks to the tireless work of organisations like the RNIB, this is starting to change. In this article I hope to give a brief outline about exactly what web accessibility is, and then explain how building an accessible website can have a positive impact on your business, both in terms of PR and ROI.
In my experience most people view design as a superficial thing. It's about making something look nice, be that a business card, a brochure or a website. This is why many web designers jump straight into Photoshop when they get a new commission, and why clients expect to see designs before any requirements have been set. People just don't get what design is really about.