From the course: EPUB Accessibility Using InDesign

A business case for incorporating accessibility - InDesign Tutorial

From the course: EPUB Accessibility Using InDesign

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A business case for incorporating accessibility

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- [Instructor] Let's pause and consider some statistics first in an effort to make a clear business case for spending a little more time in EPUB production from the start. Trying to retrofit accessibility is inefficient and wasteful. Accessibility is like ice cream, the longer you ignore it, the messier it can get. This quote is from Phil Springall at a conference called Accessibility TO in Toronto. He is an accessibility expert for the Ontario government. Here are some points toward making the business case for including accessibility in your eBook. Books built with accessibility in mind will give a better all-around reading experience. I will talk about building in several layers of navigation, which will make any eBook easier for the entire population to consume, for example. Content that is sloppily built generally means that you are settling for the least value you can get. Content that is more usable is more valuable. Market size, an estimated 10 to 20% of any given market is print-disabled in some way. And the population is aging. Accommodating this expanding market is simply a good business decision. Future-proofing, meeting accessibility standards, even very low benchmarks, means that your eBook content is ready for the next device, the format of the next screen, that is, it will be compatible with the next great unknown product innovation. Legal requirements, having something like an accessibility certificate on your eBooks will be more and more important where institutions can't purchase content that doesn't meet a baseline standard. Change is slow, but I imagine that the Marrakesh Treaty will play a more significant role in eBook buying where any kind of government money is involved. Libraries and colleges, for example, will be prohibited from buying eBooks that don't meet rigorous guidelines. And finally, marketing advantage, building born-accessible content means that you can crow about how great your eBooks are, robust, agile, high-quality content, get yours here. You could put those things on your website and even into your catalogs. Again, content that is more usable is more valuable. Tie that to the fact that producing special versions of an eBook is expensive and cumbersome, creating digital content without accessibility in mind, well, it just doesn't make sense. Taking the time in the production process to make thoughtful, accessible eBooks means that your eBooks will sell more, will have a longer life cycle, and will reach more readers.

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