Let’s briefly get on the same page. The goal of digital accessibility is to ensure that all users, regardless of their abilities, can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with your website.
For more in-depth information, we have a post on how to improve the accessibility of your website.
Why is accessibility important?
There are many reasons, but (we think) these are the three most important ones:
- Firstly, because Google thinks it’s important too. On What is accessibility? their website, they state that “Everyone should be able to access and enjoy the web. We’re committed to making that a reality.”
- Secondly, because if you’re not thinking about accessibility, you could be neglecting a huge part of your audience. Which means you could be missing out on engagement and SEO opportunities.
- Thirdly, because the European Accessibility Act has a deadline for compliance of June 28th, 2025. It means websites and apps need to be compliant with WCAG 2.1 AA ruling. This applies to all organizations selling to EU customers by the way; not just companies that are located in Europe.
A bit of context about people’s needs
We all know that the pandemic changed people’s shopping habits. Everyone was ordering things online. After the pandemic, however, people didn’t revert back to their old shopping habits. They still order online a lot, but people also want the option to visit a store. Meaning: they want the best of both worlds. As a business, it’s good to keep this in mind.
Accessibility trends in 2024
Let’s go over some emerging trends in the field of accessibility.
A new demographic?
When you think of ‘old people’, you might picture a white-haired person who switzerland telegram data has no idea how to turn on the computer at the library. But that’s not true anymore!
A lot of people who will soon retire have spent the last 20 years working with computers (in the workplace). And they probably want to continue using technology as they get older. But as people get older, their vision or mobility for example might worsen. Which means they’ll need websites and apps to be accessible.
New assistive technology
If you’ve done research on accessibility, you’re probably familiar with screen readers. They help people with visual impairments to use a website or app. But the world is slowly moving on as technology keeps evolving.
Take SeeingAI, for example. It’s a smartphone app that narrates the world around you. It helps with the china whatsapp data CSV describing photos, identifying products in the supermarket, and much more.
And we can’t forget about eye tracking technology, which has been part of assistive technologies for people with disabilities for years. With the announcement of Apple Vision Pro, it’s clear that huge steps have already been made.
A more involved AI tool
Since AI technologies are booming, it’s not a leap to consider that a personalized AI interface will be khb directory developed soon. Think of a tool that finds the information you’re looking for from multiple websites and apps, then presents it back to you in an interface which suits you best.
But in order for this tool to work, your website needs to be accessible and easy to crawl.