Welcome to the masterclass Web accessibility, the business case.
There is a famous quote by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web:
“The power of the web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.”
Tim Berners-Lee (1997)
This is a fairly old quote that you might have seen before, but it tells us two important things:
- that accessibility in relation to the web is not some fancy new trend, and
- that access by everyone, regardless of disability, is an essential aspect of the web.
Now, more than two decades later, you don’t have to be a genius to see that the web is truly universal. We are constantly connected and are using more devices than ever before to learn, connect, interact, navigate, and shop online. The World Wide Web is empowering people like never before.
Unfortunately, we also have to admit that the accessibility of the web was not adopted with the same enthusiasm.
I strongly believe in an open web that is accessible to everyone. I believe that it is simply the right thing to do. Beyond that, with this masterclass, I will show you that there are many more arguments for web accessibility than just the ethical ones.
My name is Taeke Reijenga. I am the CEO of Level Level, a full-service WordPress agency in the Netherlands, and the founder of the A11Y Collective.
Let’s get started!
