What is A11Y?

“The Web is fundamentally designed to work for all people, whatever their hardware, software, language, culture, location, or physical or mental ability. When the Web meets this goal, it is accessible to people with a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight, and cogn ()itive ability.” (W3C — Accessibility)

Accessibility (often abbreviated to A11y — as in “a” then 11 characters then “y”) in Web development means enabling as many people as possible to use Web sites, even when those people’s abilities are limited in some way.

Why is A11Y essential ?

1. It enables social inclusion for for people with disabilities as well as others, such as older people, people in rural areas, and people in developing countries
2. There is also a business use case :

• Drive Innovation: Accessibility features in products and services often solve unanticipated problems.
• Enhance Your Brand: Diversity and inclusion efforts so important to business success are accelerated with a clear, well-integrated accessibility commitment.
• Extend Market Reach: The global market of people with disabilities is over 1 billion people with a spending power of more than $6 trillion. Accessibility often improves the online experience for all users.
• Minimize Legal Risk: Many countries have laws requiring digital accessibility, and the issue is of increased legal concern.

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