Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires federal agencies to ensure that all electronic and information technology used is accessible for people with disabilities. This includes Web sites. Though there is no such requirement of the average business owner, a site designed for accessibility will broaden your audience and improve your market share, because accessibility is not only beneficial to disabled users but also to the growing number of users with electronic devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell phones, and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) devices.(Do YOU have one yet?)

The more accessible your Web site, the wider your potential audience. ( What a no brainer!)Crunch on this: How happy would it make you to find 28.2 million potential prospects tomorrow? They who are color blind (predominantly men) because you haven't considered the effect of color on their ability to use your site? Would it make you feel good to know your site inconveniences people who access the Web from different browsers, diverse environments, various devices or platforms, or low connection speeds?

An accessible site is user friendly because of emphasis on content( how many time do you have to hear it?), structure, and ease of navigation -- a big plus for users. Few things annoy Internet users more than not being able to accomplish their objectives effortlessly when visiting Web sites -- be it the ability to find information or the ease of processing that information. Reaching a wider audience and accommodating customer needs are good reasons to consider accessibility.

Enhance Accessibility and Improve Usability

Search engine optimization (SEO) of your site for search engines enhances accessibility and improves usability, but benefits go further than that. It's smart to ensure that your site is viewable and navigable from a wide variety of Web clients and for people accessing the Web from a variety of different environments. Here's why:

• One out of every 12 men are color blind, thus your choice of colors affects their ability to use your site.

• Baby boomers surf the Web in large numbers. This demographic is the fastest growing group of new Internet users. These people find it hard to read the small fixed fonts frequently used by designers. They also are users of cell phones and PDAs.

• Not everyone has a mouse and keyboard -- or the ability to use these tools. Increasingly, more people are using speech browsers while accessing the Internet in their cars. Others have difficulty using a mouse due to carpal tunnel syndrome or because of visual impairment.

• Not everyone can view graphics. Beyond the needs of visually impaired users, many people access the Web with slow connections, disabling graphics and scripting capabilities. Some may use a text-only screen or a small PDA screen. Some people still use older browsers and computers.

• Environments can influence accessibility. Some people work where lighting makes it difficult to read the screen. Others may be in situations where eyes, ears, or hands are occupied, interfering with certain tasks (e.g., people driving or working in a loud environment).

• The popularity of mobile devices is an accessibility challenge as more and more people use wireless devices to access the Web.

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