In web vernacular, accessibility is the measure of how well web-enabled hardware and software devices can view and use your website in the way you intended. Remember - not everyone is using Internet Explorer on Windows. There are many other major browsers (Opera, Safari, and the Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox group, to name a few) and devices (cell phones, PDAs, web-enabled toasters, you name it) that people might be using to view your site, and they all have their own little idiosyncrasies that can distort, mangle, or completely destroy your site's look and feel under circumstances too numerous to mention here. By designing to a single platform, or simply neglecting the others, you might alienate a large portion of your potential audience.

Usability is the measure of the ease with which your audience can access, view, navigate, understand, and generally use your website. A website that's confusing, broken, distracting, difficult to read, or otherwise impaired is said to have poor usability; the catch is that, like aesthetics, some aspects of usability are universal, while others differ by opinion.

First and foremost - know your audience! Most good designers know how to design for good accessibility and usability, but without knowing your audience, a lot of that effort could be wasted. Some preach accessibility and usability guidelines with a zealot-like fervor, but adhering to every guideline can be a tedious and expensive process. Like insurance, you need to know how much is right for you.

I've designed sites specifically for the handicapped and impaired, adhering to the most stringent guidelines available, while retaining a quality and consistency of design that rivals traditional sites. If you have special accessibility or usability needs, please contact me so we can discuss those needs further.

View the many Accessible and Usable sites in my portfolio.
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