How Do You Make Your Website Accessible?
You can’t see it, but there’s an invisible line of text above this one. Just kidding (in this case), but it often feels like that’s the case for millions of people with visual impairments or other circumstances that make their website viewing experiences different. These people often need to use auditory website readers or alternative viewing methods, and sites that haven’t been constructed properly can cause an incredibly confusing experience for these users.
Unfortunately, these problems are more common that you might think. Recent studies have shown that today’s most popular websites average 60 accessibility barriers per page. It’s time to be better. Here’s how to improve your website accessibility.
Navigation
When people think website accessibility, they sometimes make the mistake of thinking it only affects those with disabilities. Not so.
Your site’s navigational structure is the first point of failure for accessibility. It’s fundamental and holistic, impacting everything a visitor wants to do on your site. That’s true even for a majority of users.
Clear navigation is doubly important for those who face accessibility challenges. Ensure your site’s navigation makes logical sense and offers clear menus so visitors can get where they’re going with ease.
Color Choice
Color-blindness is a little-considered issue that effects millions of people when trying to navigate a website with only subtle color differences to distinguish links, buttons, and other site functions.
Yet a huge number of sites continue to use color schemes that read poorly to visitors with vision deficiencies. Something as simple as tweaking your site’s palette or offering easy-to-read options can transform a site’s accessibility.
Image Alt Text
Many sites rely on images to get their message across, but not everyone gets to see them in the same way. Image alt text is an important tool for ensuring everyone has the same experience when it comes to visual media.
Alternative text is a kind of behind-the-scenes caption you can add to images to provide a textual context for them. This allows search engines and screen readers to perceive your image, and it will show up if your image fails. Like many accessibility improvements, this can also boost your SEO into the bargain.
Descriptive Links
It’s often second nature to blend links into text so they visually pop without disturbing the flow of the text. Many use phrases like “click here” or “find out more.” While these keep text flowing, that same trait poses accessibility challenges.
Like alt text, descriptive links can contextualize links for the likes of screen readers and search engines. This makes your site easier to navigate overall.
Check It Out
A website accessibility checker can help you assess whether changes to your site’s accessibility have made a difference. These tools will sift through your site to give it an overall accessibility rating, allowing you to test website accessibility on the fly.
Using an accessibility checker, you can make your site accessible one area at a time, getting feedback along the way to ensure you’re on the right track. Many will also offer additional advice on how to improve your site.
Website Accessibility Made Easy
An accessible website can lead to happier visitors, a more diverse audience, and higher rankings on search engines. The rules change often, though, so don’t look at website accessibility as a “set it and forget it” task. If you need help staying up to date on the latest website accessibility guidelines, Campfire Digital offers an affordable monthly maintenance program that not only updates your website’s accessibility, but also maintains website security, plug-in updates, automated backups and other routine site maintenance. Learn more on our Pilot Light page.
