4 May 2007

Designing a website to comply with the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines encourages the "free exchange of information", it has been claimed.

Joshua Strebel, a US-based web expert, made the comments as his company ObuWeb launched a new online corporate presence.

In addition, he said that complying with the accessibility guidelines helped to create "additional value for our viewers by ensuring cross-browser performance [and] disabled user accessibility".

He added that website design is evolving, with sites increasingly becoming more like an extension of the desktop and less a separate entity - with the growth of Web 2.0 helping to foster this change.

Last year, a study conducted by We Simplify the Internet warned businesses that failure to provide accessibility could mean that they are "turning away a significant share" of custom, Information Week reported.

The report advised businesses that complying with accessibility guidelines could therefore have a positive impact on profit generation.

© Adfero Ltd

Keep up to date with industry and Nomensa news by signing up to Nomensa newsletters.