Transcript of the video David Berman on The New Standard on Web Accessibility WCAG 2.0 events.
(The speaker, David Berman is sitting in an armchair by the fireplace. Throughout the entire video, he addresses the camera directly.)
I’m David Berman and I’m often asked why Web accessibility matters so much, and why people should care: why people should bother making sure their web presences are accessible.
The simple answer is legislation tells us we have to. I have the background of knowing how to make websites accessible and i’ve put together this one-day course which takes you through why it matters, what the major issues are,and how to make your web presence accessible. It’s really important for us that when people come out of this course that they have usable knowledge.
And so we focus on WCAG 2.0 Level AA. Why? Because that’s the standard that the United States has in Section 508. That’s the standard that the Canadian government has chosen, and the new Web standards and provinces and states like Ontario’s AODA call for that level AA compliance. If you learn this, you’ll learn the standard that everyone in the world is heading towards.
The most important point I want to share is that accessibility matters to everyone.
When we know how to make a site accessible for the extremes, and we do it well, we do it in a way that the site becomes more usable for everyone.
A more usable site is going to make it more likely that your audience is going to connect with your message. If you can get your audience to support themselves by going to the site, you can drive down your support costs, as well as having more satisfied customers.
Why wouldn’t you want that? [chuckles] I find this course is fascinating and educational for both people in management, as well as IT professionals.
I find when people come out of this course they’re excited, they’re motivated, they’re entertained.
Most importantly, they’re educated … and the information sticks. Over the past ten years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with hundreds of organizations on four continents: professionals who see the value to their business, to their communities,to their bottom line, in making their web sites more accessible.
If you’re a manager, if you’re an IT professional, if you’re a programmer, if you’re a designer, join us: for web accessibility matters.
(Text on screen:
Web Accessibility Matters.
(David Berman Communications wordmark)
Reviewed April 2, 2012