Testing ASP.NET Web Applications

9.2. The Importance of Accessibility Testing

If the users of the web applications that you create cannot reasonably get to your content, it may as well not be there at all. Many developers believe that accessibility refers to code elements that can be added to an application to make it usable by people with special needs. This is one definition of accessibility, but it's a poor one. Most web applications have accessibility barriers that make it extremely difficult or near impossible for users with special needs to use them and to contribute to the web.

There are software packages out there that provide assistance to users with special needs with tools to provide better access to these sites, but those tools alone are not enough. The developers of these web applications need to follow a set of simple principles that will help these packages make web applications accessible to users with special needs.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 19.3 percent of the U.S. population has some type of disability. That's almost 1 in 5, and if you relate that to your web application traffic, 1 in 5 users may have trouble accessing your web application. For a public retail site on the Internet, that could mean a loss of revenue.

In recent years the web has became an important resource for commerce, education, employment, recreation, and many others. It is because of these types of resources found on the web that make it essential that the web be accessible to provide equal access and equal opportunity ...