What is accessibility? Why do I care?

Let's kick off All Access Blogging with answers to a couple of Frequently Asked Questions.

What is accessibility?

Everyone has a different definition. For some people it involves meeting technical standards. For some people it involves making sure that everyone, regardless of disability or technology, can access the content of a website.

For the purposes of this blog, accessibility is about eliminating barriers that may keep people with disabilities from accessing your blog. People who have these disabilities may use specialized technology to help them use their computers, or they may not. They may have visual, motor, hearing, cognitive, or other types of disabilities.

Some of the techniques for making your blog more accessible may also provide benefits for search engine visibility, viewing your blog using mobile phones or other tiny screens, etc. Whenever a particular tip is laid out here, those benefits will also be mentioned.

But first and foremost, the emphasis will be on making sure that for people with disabilities, the door on your blog says "Welcome" instead of "Do Not Enter."

Why do I care about whether my blog is accessible?

Maybe you write about gardening, parenting, gadgets, programming, sports, literature, music, health, religion, shopping, politics, the environment, pets, crafts, movies, food, business, cars, nonprofits, travel, dating, or science. (Or maybe you write about something else. There are plenty of other topics, but I got bored of making the list.)

No matter what your topic is, chances are good that somewhere out there, someone who just happens to have a disability is interested in what you have to say. People with disabilities are, of course, people. People are interested in all kinds of things. Especially if you include arthritis, severe nearsightedness, and other conditions that we don’t usually think of when we hear the word “disabilities,” I would bet that almost every blogger has readers or potential readers who would benefit from more accessible blog design and content.

Most of the tips for making your blog more accessible are so easy to implement, why not take a little extra time and make sure those readers can participate?

Last but not least, as someone said to me at the BlogHer conference in 2006, "It just seems like good manners."