Cornell Engineering Web Accessibility Handbook

What is Accessibility?

When we say accessibility, most people immediately think of making sure websites/apps are usable by people with disabilities:

Visually impaired people using screen readers or magnification/zoom to access text
People with motor function impairments using the keyboard (or other non-mouse features) to activate website functionality.
People with hearing impairments relying on captions/subtitles or other text alternatives for audio/video content.

Really, the aim of accessibility is to make your websites/apps usable by as many people in as many contexts as possible.

Users on mobile devices.
Users on alternative browsing devices such as TVs, watches, etc.
Users of older devices that might not have the latest browsers.
We experience changing abilities as we age.

Even natural conditions related to aging will decrease your capacity to read, hear, or use an electronic device. Do we want to consider aging a disability? This matters to everyone.

It’s important to design our web content for everyone, regardless of their specific abilities. Include candidates with speech, auditory, physical, visual, cognitive and neurological disabilities. Examples: optimized websites and forms