I had an interesting moment at christmas. We have been working like crazy on our new web project (touchlocal.com) to get it live, as part of this I had been covering some basics of accessibility but it had not really been an area we had touched on properly because of the time restraints. So in a moment of madness (or greatness I guess) I fired up my Nan’s old school PC with an even older version if IE6 and all the accessibility settings pretty high as they could go so she could view it. I held my breath, worried…

To be honest it wasn’t terrible, but it failed on quite a few levels. So the Mac got instantly fired up and I worked through quite a few of these issues. It really made me realise just how important they are in the development of a website, especially one we want going to a huge audience. Every person has to be accounted for so they have a pleasant time viewing our site. As developers and designers we have a responsibilty for this, this really resonated true this morning when I read this 456 Berea Street which followed on from this article by James Edwards Why Accessibility? Because It’s Our Job!. I think this quote really sums it up…

“If we call ourselves professionals, we owe it to our clients, their clients, and ourselves, to do our job properly. A chef must care about health, a builder must care about safety, and we must care about accessibility.”