5 Easy Ways to Make Your Website More Accessible
What is web accessibility, and why is it important?
One fascinating thing about human beings: we’re all different. At The Angelo Agency, this is one of the things we consider when designing or managing a small business website.
In a nutshell, “web accessibility” is a term used to describe a set of standards and best practices that ensures a website can be accessed by as many people as possible, regardless of any disability or imparement.
“The power of the web is in its universality. Access by everyone, regardless of disability, is an essential aspect.”
— Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the World Wide Web
Common conditions and disabilities to consider include, but are not limited to:
Low vision and color blindness
Trouble with hearing things
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Seizures
Not only are there laws around this from a humanistic standpoint, web accessibility immediately expands your website’s potential audience — an obvious benefit to your small business or organization.
Here are a few simple ways to ensure your website is accessible:
Use alt text on all images
In a rush, alt text often gets overlooked, but it’s one of the easiest and most important things you can do when it comes to web accessibility. If someone can’t see well, for example, they might rely heavily on audio from the alt text to determine the content on the page. An added benefit? Improved SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Alt text will make your content more accessible in web searches. It’s a win-win.
Choose colors carefully
Too many off-the-wall colors can make it hard for some people to read your content well. In some cases, extravagant colors can even cause seizures in people with epilepsy. This is why we recommend picking 1 or 2 main colors for your site. Using your brand icon or company logo’s colors is usually a good place to start. Not only will this help with brand identity, it makes it less confusing to people who have trouble seeing color. We recommend you avoid using colors close in shade — like purple and blue, for example.
Use headings correctly
Screen readers use heading tags and other code to understand a page’s structure, so it’s important to make sure heading tags are organized properly. We recommend using headings based on the importance of the text. Avoid relying on formatting options (like bold or italics) to create structure.
Create content with accessibility in mind
Take a close look for things like this that might seem trivial or minor at first glance:
Make sure sliders do not automatically rotate. Also, ensure any .gifs don’t flash 3 or more times in one second. Excessive flashing can be another cause of seizures or other physical reactions.
Write out acronyms (at least once).
Shoot for images without text embedded into the graphic.
Instead, add the image to the background, then use HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) over the image.
Test Your Website Accessibility
It’s important to routinely check your website’s accessibility rating. If you’re unsure of what to look for, you can use Google Chrome's Developer Tools or Firefox's Accessibility Inspector to inspect your site for common issues and simulate how it might work with someone who has a certain disability.
This article doesn’t cover each and every aspect of web accessibility, but hopefully it gets you thinking about the importance of welcoming as many people as possible to your website.
Need assistance with your organization’s web accessibly? If so, contact The Angelo Agency today!
