DevArticles.com has a new piece this moring that makes some valid points about web accessibility and how it can have an impact on you and your site.

Why Accessibility and Usability are Important to You starts off talking about what "accessibility" really is and how both sides benefit from it. This includes thinking of the users that aren't in the "target demographic" such as: visually disabled users, customers with a slower connection (dialup), and even those that choose to browse without graphics. Granted, situations like these are few these days, but it's best not to shun any one group of users simply because you're too lazy to add a few more lines.

Of course, the next logical step is to ask "what is usability". In order for your site to be user-friendly, it needs to be quick and easy to use. It should be pleasing to the eye, but just as pleasing to the mind - with menus and smart error recovery built in.

There are all sorts of benefits you can reap from these two ideas, but I often wonder if people take it a bit too far. I know there are companies out there that focus on these kind of things months before they even hand down the site to the designers/developers - but is that too much? Shouldn't functionality come before form? What do you all think - should form come before functionality or vice versa?