An accessible site is one that a wider audience can use.
Web sites are accessed through an ever-growing assortment of technologies: web browsers, cell phones, palm-top computers, and more. Even computers themselves visit your site-search engines use programs that look through your site and remember what words it uses.
For your site to accommodate these technologies, the HTML code — the building blocks of a web page — must be structured in a way they can all understand and interpret.
This is accessibility.
Proper structure
HTML has an inherent organizational structure and hierarchy that today's technologies expect to find. However, this structure is often overlooked by those who see HTML as solely a formatting language to create cool looking web pages. By following this structure, you can retain your design while being open to:
- The Past - Older browsers and technology
- The Present - An international audience, users with disabilities, and search engines
- The Future - Evolving technologies