If the search engines can’t find you, how can anyone else? Valik Rudd over at WebDesignIdeas.org gives a good overview of the benefits of making your websites accessible and some good tools to help you do it. Making an accessible website not only involves a good visual appearance, it also requires a usable organization of the site’s information, and the ability to view that content without the visual design aspects of the site. That’s why Rudd suggests using a text-only browser to look at and navigate your site. If you have problems doing so, so will most of the search engines and part of your audience. In a nutshell, good design must allow everyone, including the search engines, the ability to access your content. To do otherwise is like shooting yourself in the foot. Ouch!
