What is the main purpose of web accessibility?

The main purpose of web accessibility is to ensure that everyone, including individuals with disabilities, can access and use the web effectively. This involves creating websites that are designed and developed in a way that accommodates various needs, ensuring that people with visual, auditory, cognitive, and motor impairments can navigate, understand, and interact with content just as easily as those without disabilities.

Accessibility considerations include using proper markup for screen readers, providing text alternatives for images, ensuring keyboard navigability, and maintaining good contrast ratios for text and background colors. By prioritizing web accessibility, developers and organizations not only comply with legal standards but also foster inclusivity, allowing all individuals to benefit from online resources.

In contrast, enhancing design for aesthetic appeal, promoting web security and privacy, or optimizing websites for search engines do not directly address the needs of users with disabilities. While these elements are important for overall website functionality and user experience, they do not fulfill the fundamental objective of accessibility, which is to eliminate barriers that prevent disabled users from having equal access to web content.