Optimize for search engines
Google has been often referred to as ???the blind billionaire.??? When search engines crawl a
website, they consume content like a blind person using a screen reader at warp 9. Only
actual text is read. The meaning of images and certain types of multimedia files can only
be disseminated if appropriate alternate content is provided, meaning alt and title
attributes. (Search engines are getting better at indexing Flash and PDF files, but screen
reading technology continues to lag in these areas, and HTML remains the best way of
publishing content that can be read by all users.) So if you optimize your site for the visually
impaired, you optimize for search engines. Sweet deal, huh?
Karma
Of course, making your business website accessible is just good karma. Even if today??™s disabled
visitor doesn??™t buy from you, they might recommend you to five of their nondisabled
friends.
Consider accessibility from the beginning
Building accessible websites is a habit. It??™s a mindset that should be adopted from the first
day of planning to the last hour of quality assurance. An architect plans the wheelchair
ramps from the first building blueprints; a developer should always reference a mental
checklist of accessibility considerations from the first wireframes and comps in Photoshop.
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