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What you really need

2 minutes read

I think as people, we are very much outcome-driven.

We want to be healthy, but we don't want to give up fast food, soft drinks and alcohol. We want to look good, but we don't want to sweat in the gym. We want financial freedom, but we don’t want to cut back on spending. We want the benefits of mindfulness, but we don’t want to sit still for ten minutes.

We want to learn new skills, but we don’t want to invest the hours it takes to practice. We want meaningful work, but we don’t want to step out of our comfort zones.

We want the outcome, but what we need is the journey.

So if what you want is an accessible website, what you need is to commit to accessibility from the beginning.

You need to learn about clear, semantic HTML that structures content in a way everyone can understand. You need to train your designers to consider colour contrast, text size and user experience from the start, not as an afterthought.

You need for developers to prioritise keyboard and screen reader support. You need to test across a diverse range of assistive technologies.

You need to put in the effort continuously. You'll need to put in the hours it takes to practice. It'll be uncomfortable, but meaningful work usually is.

You'll get the outcome you wanted all along. But not without the journey.

Did you enjoy this bite-sized message?

I send out short emails like this every day to help you gain a fresh perspective on accessibility and understand it without the jargon, so you can build more robust products that everyone can use, including people with disabilities.

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