The power of the Web is in its universality.
...to all people, whatever their hardware, software, network infrastructure, native language, culture, geographical location, or physical or mental ability.
—Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web

Web accessibility is about developing the Web to be universally available so that people can use whatever browser, device, tool, technology, or technique they want, or need, to use.

Accessibility is about not disabling people from using your website because they don't have a certain browser, device, or technology, or because they can't hear, move, see, or understand well. Accessibility is enabling your website to be used effectively by more people and in more situations.

Accessibility is about ensuring that the founding vision of the Web - to be fundamentally universal - really happens.

That's why the W3C develops standards and resources for web accessibility through the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). See below for:

• examples of web accessibility
• make your website accessible
• learn more
• Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) at W3C
• current status of specifications and groups

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Examples of Web Accessibility

Well designed websites are available to search engines, data aggregators (Semantic Web), [list others here], and diverse people in diverse situations. However, currently most websites and web software have accessibility barriers that make it difficult or impossible for some people, devices, and technologies to use the Web. Here are just a few examples.

Alternative Text for Images

Example 1: Alt text for image

The classic example of web accessibility is images in web pages. Images should include equivalent alternative text in the markup/code, as shown in Example 1. (Some visual browsers display this text in a little popup when you hover over the image.) If there isn't text for important images, the web page is inaccessible.

Images	inaccessible (no alt text)	accessible (equivalent alt text)
available to search engines	no	yes
available to people who can't see images, for example, because they use a mobile phone and turn off images to speed download &/or lower bandwidth charges; are in a rural area with low bandwidth and turn off images to speed download &/or lower bandwidth charges; are blind	no	yes
available for content repurposing	no	yes
...

Device Independence

[image of mouse Xed out, and a keyboard
&/or a device without a mouse]

Websites should be usable with a variety of input and output devices. They should be device independent, so the website can be operated without a mouse, with a keyboard alternative, with speech, etc.

Websites	inaccessible	accessible
can be used with only a keyboard, without a mouse	no	yes
can be used with a keyboard emulator	no	yes
can be used with speech input	no	yes
...

Transcripts for Podcasts

Just as images aren't available to people and technologies that can't see, audio files aren't available to people and technologies that can't hear. Proving a text transcript makes the audio information accessible.

Podcasts and audio files	inaccessible (no transcript)	accessible (equivalent transcript)
available to search engines	no	yes
available to people who can't listen to the audio, for example, because they use a mobile phone or are in a rural area with low bandwidth and don't want to pay for the download; are deaf or hard of hearing.	no	yes
available for content repurposing	no	yes
...

Make Your Website Accessible

Providing transcripts for podcasts and audio files is easy and inexpensive. There are services where you can e-mail the audio file or point to it online, and they send you back a transcript in HTML for a nominal fee. Then a quick read-through for quality assurance, put it in your website template, point to it from where the audio file is linked, and it's done.

The basics of accessibility are equally easy and inexpensive. However, they are currently not well integrated into our education, examples, and practice. For those new to accessibility, it takes some time and effort to learn the issues and solutions. A starting place is the Introduction to Web Accessibility.

Some of advanced accessibility issues are more complicated and take more development time and effort. W3C provides extensive resources to help make your website accessible, including Understanding WCAG 2.0: A guide to understanding and implementing Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0.

Organizations can realize substantial return on investment (ROI) that offset any costs of implementing Web accessibility. Developing a Web Accessibility Business Case for Your Organization describes social, technical, financial, and legal benefits of Web accessibility.

Using authoring tools that support accessibility ... browsers... See Essential Components of Web Accessibility.

Learn More

WAI provides a wide range of resources on web accessibility, including:

• Introduction to Web Accessibility
• Essential Components of Web Accessibility
• How People with Disabilities Use the Web
• Improving the Accessibility of Your Web Site
• Evaluating Web Accessibility
• Standards for making accessible
  • websites: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
  • authoring tools: Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG)
  • browsers: User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG)
• Developing a Web Accessibility Business Case for Your Organization
• WAI home page highlights
• and more WAI Resources

Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) at W3C

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is a W3C Activity that works with organizations around the world to develop strategies, guidelines, and resources to help make the Web accessible to people with disabilities.

Current Status of Specifications

Learn more about the current status of specifications related to:

These W3C Groups are working on the related specifications:

This document is an unapproved concept draft that does not represent the W3C WAI perspective on accessibility. (It was drafted as an experiment to discuss accessibility as equals universality.) It should not be referenced or quoted under any circumstances.