What is accessibility in digital products?

Accessibility in digital products refers to the design and development of websites, apps, and other digital tools in a way that allows all people, including those with disabilities, to use them easily. This encompasses a wide range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities. The main goal is to provide equal access and opportunity to people with disabilities, ensuring they can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web and digital tools, as well as contribute to the Web.

Key principles of accessibility include ensuring that digital products are:

1. Perceivable: Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive. This means that users must be able to perceive the information being presented (it can’t be invisible to all of their senses).

2. Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable. This means that users must be able to operate the interface (the interface cannot require interaction that a user cannot perform).

3. Understandable: Information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable. This means that users must be able to understand the information as well as the operation of the user interface (the content or operation cannot be beyond their understanding).

4. Robust: Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. This means that users must be able to access the content as technologies advance (as technologies and user agents