Web accessibility and usability
Often, people don’t realize the difference in usability as opposed to accessibility. They vary greatly and they are often viewed as being different in their levels of importance. One should take seriously accessibility and usability; however both accessibility and usability have similar ideals and are interchangeable.
Better usability provides a better frame to build upon and leads to better accessibility. Your site will almost certainly be problematic for those with disabilities or learning difficulties if wider audience finds your site hard to use. Be sure to use the same degree of consideration for the usability of the site.
Accessibility is key to many web design courses, as the Internet is a medium made for its users, particularly now with web 2.0 technology.
The most important thing for web designers to remember is that it isn’t how fancy the site looks; it’s how well it can be used by people that is important. If you strip away all the gimmicks and browser-crashing images, it all comes down to providing the best medium to display content. The needs of the user coming first sums up usability, this should be in mind before you even open up Dreamweaver or start coming up with ideas. How the final product performs is what counts; it’s true from shoes to sites.
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