Usually web accessibility is one of the last things that organizations plan in their web projects. Some people assume that accessibility is easy enough that it can wait until the last minute of the development process. But there are some big problems with this mindset:
- A last minute approach usually results in a bad design, and a bad user experience. It might be possible to create a last-minute solution that is not technically functional
And for making it a good user experience, you probably have to start over again.
- Adding accessibility features at the end can be challenging.
You can imagine if you try to add electrical wiring and plumbing to a building after the building is finished, and all of the interior design is in place. Where would you even start from? Are you going to tear apart the walls and force things to fit where they weren’t designed to fit? You might be able to do it, but would you enjoy it? And it would take a lot of time and effort to come up with something that is hardly acceptable.
- Accessibility might never get done at all.
Just imagine if any company notices that the web accessibility work is too hard to implement in the end because of their poor planning, they simply quit adding web accessibility features in their web plans. And in the end you will get a poor web-design and poor web-developed website for disable people especially.
- Until web accessibility is not added in the beginning of any web plan and designing stage, it is impossible to make high quality accessible designs, because they will find the practical limitations in a finished design and not able to make it.
- A last-minute approach even if it is not intentional, shows that the needs of disable people are not a priority for an organization.
- If an organization is frequently developing web designs that fail accessibility standards, the organization is constantly at legal risk for discriminating against people with disabilities.
Note: Design your website with accessibility in mind from the beginning. It takes a little bit of extra planning, but it saves you a lot of work and your time in the end.
