Universal Design for Web Applications

Professionalism

When making the case for a company to implement accessible design practices, it is possible that one approach may be more compatible than the others we discussed here. Businesspeople may not, for example, believe that there is a market to be gained by increasing accessibility. They may not (yet) care about mobile devices, or situational disabilities, or even the threat of legal action.

Fear not, good reader. There is another arrow in your quiver.

Corporations, with limited exceptions, exist to make a profit. And so, it would follow, doing more work on a fixed resource such as a website without a nexus to the profit motive is usually a nonstarter. What it takes in situations like these is an approach that solves an existing problem limiting efficiency in the organization. Today, one such problem is a lack of standards and best practices among professional web teams.

That’s great, but where does universal design come in?

The ability to write valid code, separate structure and presentation, design for progressive enhancement, use technologies appropriately—these are the hallmarks of universal design.

As people develop their skills in standards-based design, they learn most of these practices, hone them on site after site, talk about their experiences, and keep learning. To practice universal design is to know not just one way to put something together but to know which of a number of possible solutions is the best.

If holes in a designer’s skill set make him inflexible ...