Some are color blind, others are missing a finger or two. Your website needs to take this into account. If it doesn't comply with accessibility rules, you'll be penalized by both your customers and Google - and in the worst case, by the law.
You probably know something about who uses your website, but you never know everything. You don't know if they, permanently or temporarily, have impaired vision, mobility, hearing, motor skills or cognition. But what you should know is that all of these things affect how they use your website, both on desktop and mobile. And how they don't use it. Because if it's not adapted to users' needs, they won't use it.
The surest, indeed the legally required, way to avoid potential customers dropping out because they can't use your website is to make sure it complies with accessibility rules.
Google rewards accessibility
Universal design should be included from the start of the UX process and be a common thread throughout the design phase. That way you get a rock-solid solution that doesn't exclude anyone. Not even Google's search engines.
Accessibility and search engine optimization (SEO) are closely related. In short, Google penalizes websites that are not accessible to everyone. This means that you can risk being thrown into the valley of the shadow of death if your website is not good enough: That is, so far back in the results queue that no one ever scrolls to you.
Unfortunately, it's common to hear things like "our customers don't need universal design. We're nice, but not that nice".
But if you don't take people's permanent and temporary disabilities into account, whether visible or invisible, you'll be penalized: You risk fewer conversions, you may lose loyal customers and the chance of being discovered by new customers decreases. It's simply bad business.
And that's illegal.
Don't become a lawbreaker
Universal design is required by law. It applies to both private and public companies. The law is enforced by the Norwegian Agency for Universal Design of ICT (UUTIL), which in extreme cases can impose daily fines. They have done this for both NAV and SAS. Here you can read more about the legislation, the uutilsynet and what universal design is all about.
This is a rapidly developing field, and it is easy to fall behind. At AG&, we are constantly working to stay ahead of the curve for our customers. Did you know, for example, that new universal design rules have been introduced that all public sector organizationsmustcomply with and all private sector organizationsshouldcomply with from February 1, 2023? We are currently working on updating our own websites to make them as accessible as possible.