One of the reasons accessibility in web design is so
important is because a large percentage of seniors are surfing the web.
The baby boomers are approaching or are in their sixties and about 75%
of them are surfing the web to get information about health issues in
particular and they are also shopping big time. How nice is it for them
to shop at Christmas for their grandchildren without having to go out
and brave the elements? I think it’s absolutely fantastic that the
internet has made seniors’ lives so much easier. And the internet has
also enabled them to keep their minds active, which, in my opinion, is
an important key to longevity.
So what does that mean to a web
designer? Well, a savvy designer would design sites to adhere to
current web standards and accessibility. Using dark text on light
backgrounds, enabling the visitor to adjust the font size on the web
page, and clear concise information on a page with easy navigation is
what a senior should expect to find when visiting sites and the smart
designer should know this.
Unfortunately, that is often not the
case. In fact, many corporate web sites virtually ignore the needs of
seniors, using deprecated code, unreadable text, and worse, unclear
content. How ignorant and just plain dumb is that?
My advice to
web designers, whether freelance or corporate, is think about seniors
and the baby boomers and what their needs are, and design your sites
accordingly. If you take care of them, they'll take care of your bank
account by giving you their business.