When most people think about web accessibility they think about providing access to screen readers. While this is certainly an important part of accessibility is it not the whole story. Accessibility is also about providing access to devices or technologies or even search engines. As more people start to use mobile and other technologies to browse websites it is becoming ever more important and can be the difference between you and a competitor winning a new customer or client.

A lot of work has been done over the last few years to promote web standards as a good starting point for accessibility. This has provided much needed support for people using assistive technology, such as screen readers, to access the internet easier than ever before. Improvements in browser technologies that adhere to these web standards have allowed a richer user experience to be provided to end users and have spawned more sophisticated so called “web 2.0” websites.

Unfortunately, many of these websites fail when it comes to accessibility. They simply won’t work for those who are using a mobile phone or are accessing the internet with JavaScript disabled because of corporate policy; screen readers have immense problems relating the complexity of the website to a blind user; not enough attention has been paid to those with motor problems trying to click buttons that are too small and and have to close multitudes of pop-ups or dialog boxes with tiny ‘close’ buttons.

As development time has decreased and features available to a web developer increased, there is a danger that all the good work that has been done for accessibility is forgotten or ignored and we go back to the bad old days where websites would only work on certain browsers and specific devices. Those browsing your website using mobile phones or screen readers can forget about trying to provide custom to you. Not only does this give a poor impression of your website and company, it has the potential to lose valuable customers. There may also be legal implications if you are a government agency or providing an online service.

It doesn’t have to be like this.

Ixxus have a deep understanding of what accessibility means and how to provide a website that does not need to compromise of visual appeal or rich user experience at the expense of accessibility. We build websites that use the concept of ‘progressive enhancement’ at the core of everything we do when developing the user interface (UI) for websites.

So, what is ‘progressive enhancement’ and why should you care?

Progressive enhancement is an approach to building websites where we start by getting all the basics or foundations of a website right. We ensure the website will work with the core features that are available to all browsers on any device. On top of this we add the features that provide the richer user experience. If a browser has the capability to use these enhanced features then they get the full, feature rich, experience. If the browser cannot support a feature it will automatically fall back to the basic implementation without any additional development time or costs. The user experience is not quite the same but, this is the important part, they can still use your website features. This allows you to make that sale without losing anyone, while not having to compromise on usability or features. Even if less than 1 percent of your visitors cannot use your website this can be a significant number of lost customers or users over a month or year. There is a good chance you will never get these users back.

Try turning off JavaScript and using some of the richer websites. Many simply do not work. Without even telling the user what the problem is. Clicking on a link to add a comment just does nothing. The user assumes that your website just does not work and moves on to somewhere else. Most users have little time or patience to work out what the problem might be. This also applies to search engines. If a feature does not work without JavaScript, then it will not be available to a search engine and therefore your ranking will be affected.

Making your website accessible to all, regardless to technology or user, does not need to cost you more money if done right. Indeed, using the experience that Ixxus have with accessibility and UI design and development can save you money and reputation by ensuring you do not loose users coming to your site simply because they cannot get it to work.