The internet has become a part of people’s everyday lives. However, some people experience this resource differently. People with disabilities are not guaranteed ease of use and connectivity on the web as companies are slow to implement inclusive design tactics and website accessibility to their websites. It is because many companies believe that implementing such things is expensive and difficult to do.
Listed below are five tips that can help companies make their websites inclusive of people with disabilities:
1. Support keyboard navigation
Keyboard accessibility is one of the best ways to make your website inclusive of people with disabilities. Visually impaired individuals or those with motor disabilities use a keyboard as their primary means of navigating the web. It implies that websites without a keyboard navigation option provide a frustrating experience for those users. Keyboard navigation offers users the ability to choose every interactive web page element using the tab key.
2. Make your content readable
On your website, content is king. It is an essential asset as great content helps attract visitors. Aside from that, good content makes people engaged, and it helps educate them. Still, no matter how rich your content is, it will be useless if your reader can’t read them.
Today, there are millions of people who suffer from visual disabilities. That means there are a lot more people who would have read your content if only they were visually accessible. So, make sure that your content is structured in a way that is easier to read for people with language, visual, and cognitive disabilities.
An accessibility website overlay can help you make your website more accessible to those with such disabilities. It provides options that allow users to implement changes on a website with just a few steps. These changes can help them navigate the website easier and more comfortably.
3. Write helpful alt text for your images
The easiest way to make your website more accessible is to write descriptive and helpful alternative text for your images. While they are easy to implement, it is among the most overlooked accessibility areas.
Screen readers help users suffering from visual impairment navigate and understand a website. Also, they depend on an image’s alt text to describe the website’s images to those users. You can easily add an alt text to an image using the attribute <alt> inside an HTML image tag.
4. Don’t rely on color to present critical information
When presenting an error on a form field or data in a graph, never use color visual alone as a cue. It will make it difficult for individuals suffering from color blindness or those with low vision to understand the information you want to relay.
5. Make video and multimedia accessible
Including video descriptions and other multimedia elements in your site helps increase user engagement. For example, videos with audio descriptions help describe visuals-only parts like gestures, images, and changes in settings to help people with visual disabilities.
Final word
Make your website accessible to anyone. This way, your website can equally be enjoyed by all its readers. It can also open opportunities for your business.
