I live in a small city in the Netherlands and every Saturday I go to the local fresh market and buy cheese. I've tried a lot of cheese varieties over the past year and I still haven't gone through all they have to offer here. One of my favourite cheeses is Aged Gouda.
Gouda typically matures for different lengths of time. The cheese is aged on wooden shelves in a controlled environment with specific temperature and humidity levels. You must regularly turn the cheese to ensure it ages evenly. Aged Gouda can mature for several months to several years.
- If you wait for about six months, the result is a mild, creamy flavoured and smooth textured cheese.
- Wait for up to two years and the cheese develops a firmer texture and a richer, more complex flavour, often with nutty and caramel notes.
- When you don't disturb the process for 5 years or more, the cheese becomes very hard and crumbly, with intense, concentrated flavours and an often crystalline texture.
Time changes the cheese and gives it unique flavours and textures. The process requires patience and precise conditions. And the result is worth it: a rich, delicious product that is savored by everyone.
Making aged Gouda can take years. Making an accessible website can take months and maintaining it is another matter entirely. It demands significant time and effort.
Web accessibility covers a wide range of needs, from the WCAG and ARIA roles to semantic HTML. It involves ensuring your website is usable for people with visual, auditory, cognitive and motor disabilities. Implementing accessibility on the web will have you dealing with technical debt, overcoming a lack of awareness and managing the complexity of accessibility standards.
This means that accessibility can't happen overnight. And that's perfectly fine! Don't stress about it and certainly don't put your team through a grinder every day just to get it done faster. Faster isn't necessarily right. And the benefits of investing your time to get it right cannot be ignored. An accessible website will broaden your audience, ensure legal compliance and enhance the overall user experience.
Web accessibility is a large undertaking and takes time. We need to accept that large tasks take time and that the investment is worth it.