What are the benefits of making your HTML code accessible?

Of course accessibility improvements would make a positive effect on the interaction and audience numbers but as developers the reason of applying accessibility to our code shouldn't be benefiting from it, it should be the urge of responsibility to our community as people. You may not be seeing so often someone using a screen reader or other accessibility devices but there are someone who actually needs you to spare little time to implement the standards like WAI-ARIA. I believe this is a perspective that many people in the field of web development and design should adopt.

Creating accessible HTML code offers multiple advantages beyond compliance. It extends your audience to include people with disabilities, improves SEO, and enhances user experience for all. Legal compliance safeguards your reputation and financial stability. Accessible code is a valuable long-term investment, reducing the need for costly retrofits. Demonstrating commitment to inclusivity enhances your brand's reputation and fosters user loyalty. In short, accessible HTML code is a win-win that benefits both your organization and users.

Crafting accessible HTML is like opening a door to your online space for everyone, ensuring that people of all abilities can explore and engage seamlessly. By weaving accessibility into your code, you're not just creating a visually appealing site, you're also harmonizing with legal standards, turning compliance into a melody rather than a challenge.

Making your HTML code accessible not only fulfills legal requirements but also broadens your audience, improves user experience, and can have a positive impact on your brand's reputation and SEO. It's a win-win for both your users and your business.

Accessibility is not just about reaching a wider audience. It is about enabling your users to do more!!!! Providing them options to use the product in the way they want. Imagine the Dark mode feature. I am a regular user and can use both light and dark mode. But i use one at night and another in day time. Similarly, imagine having best in the class narration capabilites, without any lag, or skipping important content in the text document. What you have with this capability is an excellent hands-free narration tool. For, example, in case of audio books a wonderful in-built audio-book (for free hopefully!).

Making HTML code accessible can significantly help improve your website's SEO -Better User Experience: Accessibility features, such as semantic HTML elements and proper structure, enhance the user experience for all visitors, including those with disabilities. Search engines value user satisfaction and are more likely to rank websites that provide a positive experience. -Descriptive Alt Text: Providing descriptive alt text for images ensures that search engines can understand the content and context of images. It also makes your site more accessible to visually impaired users who rely on screen readers. Alt text can improve your image search rankings.

While SEO is a bit of an intentional black box so that web developers don't maliciously exploit it, making your website user friendly, quick to load and accessible to all (through screen readers, image alt titles and other recommended practices) could significantly boost your website for certain search terms!

Search engines like to show what users like to see. So, the search engine will love your content when your user loves it. And SEO is a way for you to tell search engines why your users will love your content. Accessibility features improve your user experience, and search engines can determine whether you have a good support for accessibility features and assistive technologies.

Search engines like Google favor accessible websites. This is because they want to provide the best possible experience for all users.

Making your HTML code accessible improves SEO and boosts search engine rankings because: - Clear Navigation: Accessible websites tend to have clear and organized navigation, improving user experience, which search engines consider when ranking sites. - Mobile-Friendly: Accessible code often translates to better mobile responsiveness, which is a key factor in modern SEO algorithms. - Reduced Bounce Rate: Improved usability from accessibility features can lead to lower bounce rates, signalling to search engines that your site provides valuable content. Ultimately improving your site's visibility and rankings in search engine results.

When laying out your HTML, take a moment to test keyboard navigation and the user experience. - Make sure TAB navigation works as expected - Inputs are labeled (good for autofill) - Links and buttons behave as expected - Text is readable in both light and dark mode Users who need to use any accessibility tools (screen readers, keyboard navigation, etc) will notice your efforts immediately. Accessibility is about making things accessible! Chrome conveniently has Lighthouse, a developer tool that can measure accessibility and give suggestions on easy fixes. Getting a score of 100 for Accessibility in Lighthouse is enough for people who want to meet the bare minimum; if you aren't interested in learning EVERYTHING about ARIA roles.

Making your website accessible makes it easier for everyone to use, regardless of their abilities. This is because accessible websites use standard HTML and CSS code, which is supported by all major browsers and assistive technologies.

Another merit of creating accessible HTML is the elevation in usability. Usability gauges the ease and delight users experience when navigating your web content. Accessible HTML enhances usability, offering a uniform, intuitive interface, streamlined navigation, and a flexible layout. It also preempts typical usability pitfalls, such as malfunctioning links, protracted load durations, or ambiguous error notifications. By bolstering usability, you enrich the user experience and satisfaction, fostering sustained engagement and fostering user loyalty.

No one wants to be dinged for having a website with poor accessibility. Thankfully, this problem is mostly solved unless you're building your frontend from scratch. As of the time of this post, there are many WCAG-compliant and ARIA-compliant frameworks for web development. The larger, and more opinionated the framework (like Bootstrap and Material UI), the more likely that it will be more compliant. There is no "right" framework for this. As the standards evolve, the frameworks evolve. In the end, this should be another (very important) factor when deciding on which framework to use. Meeting the standards without some sort of framework is difficult, but it steadily gets easier as HTML evolves.

Accessibility is crucial not only from an ethical standpoint but also as a practical strategy to avoid legal repercussions. By ensuring that digital content and services are accessible to individuals with disabilities, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of costly lawsuits. Failure to comply with accessibility standards, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the United States, can result in legal action, including fines and legal fees. By proactively implementing accessibility measures, businesses and institutions demonstrate their commitment to inclusivity, making it less likely for individuals with disabilities to pursue legal action.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has developed a set of standards for web accessibility. Making your website accessible means following these standards, which helps to ensure that your website is accessible to everyone.

A fourth advantage of accessible HTML is adherence to web development standards and regulations. Several benchmarks, like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA), and HTML5 specification, lay out accessibility prerequisites and best practices. By conforming to these, you ensure that your HTML is valid and harmonizes with varied browsers, devices, and platforms. This alignment also satisfies legal and moral obligations, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the European Accessibility Act. Observing these standards averts possible legal repercussions and embodies your commitment to professionalism and credibility.

Learning how to make HTML code accessible can help you to improve your web development skills. It can also make you more marketable to potential employers.

We were trying to follow WCAG standards for the one of the products that I worked on. This was a learning in itself and opened a plethora of knowledge in terms of the requirements that we needed to consider, small tweaks in the way we implemented the UI taking care of certain attributes, design elements like color contrast, font etc. and also various tools that can be leveraged for testing out for accessibility.

A fifth boon of crafting accessible HTML is the enrichment of your web development skills, propelling your career forward. Accessible coding broadens your grasp of web design, development, and the diverse user requirements. It acquaints you with tools like the Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool (WAVE), ChromeVox screen reader, and the WebAIM checklist, enhancing your ability to gauge and augment accessibility. This newfound expertise not only amplifies your portfolio and CV but also elevates your marketability and edge in the competitive web development landscape.

Making your website accessible can make a real difference in the lives of people with disabilities. It can help them to access information and services that they would otherwise be unable to access.

A sixth upside of accessible HTML is its profound impact on countless web users' lives. Through accessibility, you champion digital and social inclusion for those who encounter hurdles accessing online content, including the disabled, seniors, or those in areas with limited connectivity or resources. This not only upholds values like diversity, equality, and human rights but also echoes the web's core ethos as a global, public utility. Such contributions foster a sense of pride and fulfillment, serving as a beacon for others to emulate in championing a more inclusive digital world.

Improving HTML accessibility positively impacts SEO by providing a better user experience, clearer content structure for search engines, and potential for increased traffic, while also aligning with ethical and legal standards. However, a comprehensive SEO strategy should also address technical aspects, content quality, page speed, mobile optimization, structured data, URL structure, local SEO, user engagement, competitor analysis, algorithm updates, and ongoing monitoring for optimal results

Building accessible sites can help your SEO, make life easier for all of your users, and help you reach new audiences that rely on accessibility technology. However, having expertise in building accessible sites can also help expand your business. Government agencies and contracted projects, as well as projects in the non-profit space, have strict ADA requirements that necessitate having accessible sites. By having expertise in accessibility, your business will have the skills necessary to address these market segments.

HTML has always been accessible, because it is a descriptive format of information that is rendered by engines like those one embedded into browsers, bots. We have 2 types of websites: - pure HTML sites - Web Apps For WebApps created using modern frameworks / libs (ex.: Angular, Vue, React) there is no sense to do this practice - because WebApp programmers uses components rather then pure HTML (they use HTML to create components, or uses external component libraries) But for pure HTML sites HTML is always publicly visible.

Legal Compliance Apart from inclusiveness as a moral responsibility, many countries also have laws and regulations, like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the United States, that require websites and digital content to be accessible.

Accessible HTML can enhance the quality of user-generated data. Forms that everyone can use result in richer and more diverse datasets, crucial for analytics and business decisions. Simple and accessible design can speed up decision-making and potentially increase conversion rates. Accessible HTML is not just an ethical or legal requirement but a strategy with far-reaching benefits.