Simple Ways To Incorporate Accessibility Into Your Website

15% of the world’s population has a disability. Despite this, less than 2% of the one million most popular websites across the world are fully accessible to people with disabilities. Fortunately, by making the effort to make your website accessible, you can give your business a competitive edge, ensure you cater to a broader customer base, and boost your brand image all in one.

Don’t neglect keyboard navigation

Around 12 million adults aged 40 and over are visually impaired in the US. Specifically, one million people are blind, while nine million have some type of visual impairment. Although most people with a visual impairment are able to see to some degree, they’re typically unable to view web content or use a computer mouse and monitor. It’s therefore important for business websites to feature keyboard navigation (blind users will likely attempt to access your site with screen readers or Braille keyboards). So, make sure people with disabilities are able to navigate every interactive feature on your sites, such as drop-down menus, chat boxes, forms, widgets, URLs, and CTAs. It’s also important to create keyboard-accessible JavaScript widgets.

Add images with alt text

When it comes to reading text on screen, people with blindness or vision impairments typically rely on assistive tech like refreshable Braille readers and screen readers: software programs that enable them to use the computer. Additionally, the latest innovative assistive tech also includes apps for disabled people, such as augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) apps. AAC apps incorporate tools like text-to-speech voices to help people with speech impairments (or who are nonverbal) with communication and language comprehension. Nevertheless, assistive tech still isn’t capable of reading on-screen visual elements like images or text within images. So, be sure to add alt text to your images to make your site fully accessible. The text should describe your images as clearly and accurately as possible.

Pay attention to font size and color contrast

People with disabilities also often need to use specific font settings to browse websites as it can be challenging or impossible to read small text sizes. By featuring an alternative style sheet that magnifies text size without leaving the rest of the page unreadable, you can make it easier for people with low vision to use your site. CTA buttons should also feature larger fonts. Additionally, it’s important to make sure your site features highly contrasting colors (some people with vision impairments have a low color contrast sensitivity). Black text on a white or light background is usually the easiest to read. Also, make sure you’re not incorporating any CSS or JavaScript features that stop users from adjusting the color contrast.

Making your website accessible to people with disabilities is a great way to widen your customer base and ensure you’re reaching all markets. By incorporating keyboard navigation, images with alt text, and large font sizes, people with disabilities will be able to get the most out of your website.