Accessibility
11 November 2021
It was also challenging to access for visually impaired people. The USA market began the development of assistive technology (screen readers) in the 1990s to keep people from being left out. As a result, accessibility guidelines followed suit, making it easier for all people to get online. If you disregard these rules, you negatively impact your user's experience and potentially disadvantage your audience.
Generally, the guidelines provide a range of recommendations from word capitalisation on-screen to coherent behind-the-scenes document management structures which screen readers can access.
The New Zealand Government was the first in the world to adopt WCAG 2.0 in 2010. From July 2019, all NZ Government Agencies must meet the Web Accessibility Standard 1.1 and Web Usability Standard 1.3. That information hub is here.
As of February 2021, at least 19 countries and the European Union mandate the WCAG for government agencies. Australia and Norway have mandatory compliance for commercial sites as well.
The SSC intended its strategy to encompass all New Zealand sites. But private-sector adherence is hit and miss. These rules aren't required legally for business sites yet in New Zealand. Still, they have become an integral part of Google's SEO requirements.
In the USA, lawsuits have increased as some organisations do not meet the criteria.
You can use the Web Accessibility Evaluation (WAVE) to check your site's compliance with WCAG rules. But it should never be an afterthought. Ideally, a decent developer should do accessibility at the start of website construction. The standards are there to get developers thinking about whether their websites work for all audiences.
Accessibility is one of many things to consider when checking under the hood. Data use is something pre-paid customers may watch closely, for example. In New Zealand, a monthly pre-paid mobile data plan costs 40% more per gigabyte than the OECD average. Almost 50% of Kiwis use that type of plan.
Trikeweb delivers accessibility and manages the guidelines as a standard part of cost-effective website development.
