Accessibility in today’s world of web development is not a trend but a norm that can simply not be ignored. Web accessibility is now more crucial than ever as technology progresses to make websites accessible to all users including the disabled ones.
In this extensive guide, you will find out how web accessibility works, the advantages of web accessibility, and how you can start making yours. When it becomes possible to make it more accessible to users, you can improve the user experience, meet legal requirements, and expand the target audience.
Understanding Web Accessibility
Web accessibility is defined as the process of making website content accessible to people with disabilities with the use of special software tools. This comprises visual, audition, motility, and cognition impairments.
An accessible website has been defined as a website where all the laid down policies promote equal access to the site and its content, for all users. For any web development company in UK or for that matter any region of the world, accessibility can go a long way in enhancing the usability of your site, and the number of people that can access it.
The Importance of Web Accessibility
Legal Compliance
Today, a number of nations have legal requirements for web accessibility. For example, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the United States and the Equality Act in the United Kingdom demand website accessibility for persons with disabilities. Lack of compliance might attract legal consequences; therefore, the business should abide by these standards.
Enhanced User Experience
Let’s understand that accessible websites somehow improve the experience for all users. Navigation with a keyboard, ability to listen to the content, and the clear structure help not only people with disabilities but can also be valuable for those, who work with mobile devices or have a slow connection to the Internet. In this way, a firm that specializes in custom software development can promote the access to computers and the Internet and make their use safer and more accessible to the disabled.
Broader Audience Reach
Accessibility to your website will help you extend your audience. At least 15% of the people in the global community are people with some type of a disability. Being able to market to this large market segment translates to a boost in one’s brand popularity and therefore potential clientele.
Key Principles of Web Accessibility
Perceivable
Information should be provided in a form that is perceivable by the user irrespective of his or her sensory impairment. This involves captioning and describing all non-text items, including images and videos, and making sure content is not colored only by shades of green and black.
Operable
Internet users should be able to move around and make selections within a website’s layout through multiple locations by the use of keyboard alone. This includes designing coherent and unidirectional screen layouts, making all the controls clickable, and allowing enough time to finish activities.
Understandable
Both the content and the elements of the interface should be comprehensible. This involves avoiding specialized language and professional terms, writing instructions and feedback comprehensively, and keeping the behavior of the website uniform.
Robust
The content needs to be good enough for different user agents including assistive technologies for the web content to make sense. This entails writing well-formed HTML and employing web standards so as to be recognizable across the various devices and browsers.
Practical Steps to Improve Web Accessibility
Conduct an Accessibility Audit
The best way to approach it is to start with a thorough accessibility assessment of your website. This means employing tools that can pick out accessibility problems and actual usage testing. This may include lack of alt text for images, low color contrast and non-accessible forms.
Implement Accessible Design Practices
Ensure that accessibility design techniques are implemented right from the design phase of your website. Select those colors which offer good contrast and remember to use a response design in order to facilitate access through multiple devices. Also, check that all controls are responsive to Keyboard navigation.
Provide Text Alternatives
Make sure that all non-text content includes text equivalents; this is images, videos or files that include sound. This can include description of images, videos and descriptions for auditory materials such as audio or voice-over. These options ensure that your content is available to those with visual or aural disabilities for an improved experience.
Optimize for Keyboard Navigation
For physically challenged users, it is common to use the keyboard for navigation within a specified Web site. All links, buttons and form fields should be operable through the keyboard. This includes the use of focus states and following the ‘logical tabbing’ in order to improve the navigation.
Use Semantic HTML
Semantic HTML should be employed to make sure your content is properly structured. This aids the screen readers as well as other assistive tools in order to capture and make semantic sense of its contents. In this case, the best practice is to apply the proper heading levels as well as the lists and the landmarks to make its structure comprehensible.
Test with Assistive Technologies
Check your website periodically with different assistive technologies; for instance, screen readers, to see if they are compatible and usable. This will inform you of the accessibility barriers that might not be detected by the automated checking tools alone.
Provide Clear Instructions and Feedback
It is also important to pay attention to all the controls used throughout the site, including forms and buttons, and make sure that they are labeled properly and have descriptive hints. It is necessary to apply descriptive labeling, on-screen error messages, and success messages to keep users informed and navigate through the tasks and interactions.
Final Thoughts!
Accessibility is not only a requirement in legislation, moral imperative, but is also reasonable business sense in web design. In as much as we seek to design a website for clients that are of a certain disability, we should always strive to realize the following benefits: To accomplish these goals, the expertise of professionals in technology companies could assist, like a web development company in UK, a custom software development firm or a mobile app development company. Let’s promote accessibility today and ensure all individuals find your digital platform inclusive.