Website accessibility: How to make a website accessible?

In today's digital-first world, ensuring your website is accessible is not just about inclusivity; it's also about enhancing user experience, improving SEO, and complying with legal requirements.

As businesses strive to engage a broader audience, an accessible website ensures everyone, including people with disabilities, can navigate and interact with your content seamlessly.

Making your website accessible not only helps you reach a larger audience but also enhances your reputation as a responsible and forward-thinking business.

In this blog, we’ll explore the strategic approaches along with the expert tips and site optimisation suggestions for creating an accessible website for everyone.

So, let us begin and understand how creating an accessible website can effectively promote your brand image, increase reach and drive more traffic for your business success

Understanding Website Accessibility

Creating a website that is accessible to all users and following the web accessibility standards is a legal requirement and a vital aspect of inclusive design. It is a social responsibility and an empathising step that hinges around making a better online landscape, accessible to all.

So, website accessibility is about mastering the website development is a way to achieve a single web environment for all.

It concerns a theoretically and methodologically defined process of web design and construction for people with different types of disabilities, including visual, hearing, physical, and learning disabilities.

Thus, the accessibility is integrated into the websites based on the four principles of perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for everyone to be able to interact with the online content.

When accessibility is prioritised it is not only about legal compliance but also about improving the experience of the web businesses and organisations of all users.

Why Does Web Accessibility Matters?

Web accessibility promotes integration, which is crucial to ensure that everyone in society gets a chance to enjoy the internet for learning, employment or buying products as well as social relationships.

Accessibility, similarly to other aspects, has legal connotations since the majority of countries, including Australia, require that the Website and its content be accessible to persons with disabilities, as a result of adherence to anti-discrimination legislation. 

Therefore, web accessibility is essential for several reasons:

• Legal Compliance: A good number of countries around the world have laid down legal requirements and policies regarding website accessibility. Non-compliance is fined heavily under the law and the organisation may incur detrimental legal ramifications.
• Expanded Audience: If a site is going to be accessible, the larger client base including those with disabilities can also access the site. It is important because they hold a significant share of the market.
• Improved User Experience: Web accessibility makes navigation simpler, and often leads to an improved user experience because now the specially abled people can also feel connected with your site.
• Enhanced Brand Reputation: Being accessible is the key to improving brand image and its overall perception in the market.
• Social Responsibility: Subscribing to the principles of web accessibility helps to make the world of web resources more open and friendly.

Benefits of an Accessible Website

Web accessibility improves website navigation for everyone.

For example, it makes a user-friendly landscape not only for the disabled ones but also for users with slow internet connections, old-age people, users with temporary impairments or those who specifically use only their mobile phones for navigating through the website.

Thus, accessibility ensures that you cater for a wide range of audiences by creating content for those with particular difficulties who would otherwise not be able to access the website.

Web Accessibility Principles

Web accessibility principles are the fundamental concepts that lay the groundwork for website design and the development processes to make them accessible to all users including the disabled ones.

These principles are encapsulated in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which are organised around four core principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust, referred to, in short, as POUR. Let us understand each principle below:

1. Perceivable

The principle of Perceivable in web accessibility ensures that all users can access and understand the content on a website through their senses, primarily sight and hearing.

This principle requires that information and user interface components be presented in ways that are perceivable by users, through their available human senses.

For example, text alternatives (like alt text) must be provided for non-text content such as images and videos so that users who are blind or have low vision can comprehend the content through screen readers.

Thus, the principle of Perceivable includes:

• Providing alternative text for images: This will help the users that are unable to view images, to grasp the information being passed on to them.
• Ensuring sufficient colour contrast: This is beneficial especially on the part of the users who have an impaired vision since other text and related items will be easier to comprehend.
• Transcribing audio and video content: This way users who either do not hear or cannot comprehend it get a text option of the content being displayed.
• Using clear and consistent labelling: This enables the users to gain insight on the uses and roles of various components on the page.

By adopting the principle of Perceivable, audiences will be able to access and interact with the content, especially those who have different senses impairments.

2. Operable

The Operable principle of web accessibility emphasises the user's ability to operate a website and perform a click or a gesture to interact with the website in case of disability.

This principle dictates that all interactive components and all the links be available and operable via multiple means of input, including keyboard-only navigation, which is important for users with motor disabilities and cannot use a mouse.

The principle of Operable includes:The principle of Operable includes:

• Making the website keyboard accessible: All links, buttons and other objects within the site should be operable solely by keyboard by all users.
• Providing enough time for users to interact: Do not use timed based activities which may pose problems to people with disability.
• Avoiding content that flashes or flickers: This has impacts of causing seizures to people especially those with photosensitive epilepsy.
• Ensuring compatibility with assistive technologies: Your website should be compatible with screen readers, speech recognition systems as well as any other assistive technology.

Adopting the Operable principle ensures that the website becomes accessible to as many users as possible, and any user with physical limitations is able to engage with the online environment in a suitable manner.

3. Understandable

The Understandable principle in web accessibility ensures that users can easily comprehend the information presented on a website and operate its functions without confusion.

This principle implies that the content should be obviously simple to explain and its format logical and easily to predict.

For instance, texts should be easily comprehensible and therefore the use of plain language is recommended with the use of technical terms that should be elaborated where possible.

It should also be ‘well-behaved,’ which means navigation, buttons and the interactive elements must behave in certain ways throughout the website.

The principle of Understandable includes:

• Writing clear and concise content: It is important to avoid the use of complicated language or the use of what is referred to as ‘industry’ or ‘professional’ language.
• Using headings and structuring content logically: They work well for users to find out where they are on the page plus to be able to discern the relative importance of each piece of information.
• Providing clear instructions: Ensure that the users are aware of how to engage different parts of the web page.
• Avoiding complex language or jargon: The best writing style that the lesson the use of jargons and following simple language which is comprehendible interpreted by all

When a website is made understandable, users of all abilities are able to interpret the contents, complete the tasks which they need to do and avoid unnecessary hindrances.

4. Robust

The Robust principle in web accessibility entails development of content in a way that it will work with the existing and future technologies that include the current web browsers and different devices, and technologies such as the screen readers.

According to this principle content is to be constructed using well-formed and conforming semantic HTML and Usability standards so that it can be processed and displayed unerringly by various systems.

The principle of Robust includes:

• Following web standards and guidelines: It is a way to align your site’s code to the proper HTML, CSS, and ARIA to make a website friendly with most devices and browsers.
• Validating HTML code: This is to make some assurance that the code is well formatted so that the assistive technology can have easy time to interpret it.
• Testing with different browsers and assistive technologies: This assists in determining the compatibility level so as to know whether the family needs any compatibility intervention.
• Using semantic HTML elements: Applying the right HTML tags such as headings lists and paragraphs assist in passing a logical structure and meaning of the content to screen readers.

In compliance with the Robust, developers guarantee that websites remain usable over time and for anybody regardless of the emergence of new technologies and developments that would make the site even usable by a disabled person using a tool such as a screen reader.

How to Make Your Website Accessible? 10 Tested Strategies

Making an accessible website is all about making your content available for interaction to everyone who should wish to access it. It is about making a functional and interactive website that can connect every user. Here are 10 proven strategies to make your website more inclusive:

1. Prioritise Accessibility from the Start

   To provide an inclusive and user-friendly online experience, accessibility must be prioritised from the outset of website design. Make sure that your website satisfies the needs of all users, including those with disabilities, by incorporating accessibility concerns into your early planning and design stages.

   Also, ensure to follow the standard principles from the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) for making it compliant with the legal standards.  

2. Conduct Regular Accessibility Audits

   Use automated tools and manual testing to identify potential barriers for users with disabilities.

   We have discussed the tools and techniques further in this article that you can use to assess your website for accessibility.

   Focus on addressing critical issues first, such as colour contrast, alternative text, and keyboard navigation.

   Additionally, learn about the psychology of web design while creating and testing your website’s accessibility. This will give a clear picture about how people perceive web content and where you might be lacking.

3. Ensure Colour Contrast

   Next is to ensure the inclusion of high colour contrast, as they directly affect text readability and important visual elements for users, especially those with visual ailments.

   Enhanced colours of text and background ensure that users with low vision, colour blindness, and other visual challenges can easily read and interact with your content.

   

   [Source: Amazon]

   For example, Amazon uses strong colour contrasts throughout its website. A combination of white text on a dark blue background is used for many features such as buttons and titles. This high contrast makes it easier for visually impaired users to read and navigate the web even in low light conditions.

4. Provide Alternative Text for Images

   Making a website accessible requires not only prioritising colour contrast but also offering alternate text, or alt text, for images.

   This is especially crucial for visitors who may not have fast internet or who use screen readers, which can cause images to load slowly. For users who are unable to see a picture, alt text acts as a textual explanation that explains the image's meaning.

5. Use Descriptive Link Text

   When a user clicks on a link, the descriptive text should make it apparent what they will see; it shouldn't rely on generalisations like "click here" or "read more."

   Therefore, give descriptive wording that specifies the link's location in place of utilising such phrases. Relate the text of the link to the surrounding content to improve understanding.

6. Ensure Keyboard Accessibility

   Those with motor difficulties are among the numerous users who are unable to operate a mouse. Making a website keyboard-accessible thereby makes it easier for users to use their keyboard to explore and interact with it.

   This entails verifying that every interactive component—including buttons, form fields, and links—can be accessed and used exclusively with a keyboard.  

7. Provide Clear Headings and Structure

   Making your website accessible to people who want to swiftly scan the text or who have cognitive limitations is crucial. To help readers navigate the content in a logical sequence, headers (such as, <h1>, <h2>, <h3>) should be utilised in a hierarchical fashion to highlight the content structure.

   

   By organising your content with this structure, you ensure better accessibility as now readers can more easily comprehend the flow of the content.

8. Optimise for Screen Readers

   Optimising for screen readers is of paramount importance to help the visually impaired users, because if it is optimised, they will be able to navigate your site with relative ease and understand the content as presented.

   A screen reader helps a user to transform text and other materials found on the web page into speech or Braille, and users can browse the web the same as presented.

    

9. 

10. For example, Shopify has gone to great lengths to make its website and user interface accessible to all users, including those who rely on screen readers.

    It entails correct structure implementation of content and separation of material with the help of semantic HTML that allows the screen reader to show what the site is about.

    Further, it gives the provision of descriptive alt tags for images and clear fonts for forms and buttons to enable the visually impaired users to move in the site, in their stores, and to communicate.

    Therefore, to improve the compatibility of the site for screen readers, it is necessary to use semantic markup, describe images with text and all interactive elements should be described in detail.

11. Test with Assistive Technologies

    After following the above steps, conduct a screen reader check, keyboard navigation check, and other check with assistive tools to know the accessibility problems of your website.

    You can also engage the disability persons for testing to be able to understand more about what disability needs your website should come with.

12. Stay Updated on Accessibility Standards

    It is extremely significant to remain aware of the current WCAG guidelines, standards and best practices. Thus, learn more about new types of accessibility issues and address them from time to time to implement the solutions as needed

Creating an accessible website with Enterprise Monkey

Choosing the right partner for accessible website development is crucial, and we stand out as a leader in creating one!

At Enterprise Monkey, we understand the importance of inclusivity and accessibility in web design. We go beyond aesthetics and functionality by incorporating accessibility at every stage of the website development process.

Our expert team adheres to WCAG standards to assure that your website is legally compliant and user-friendly for people of all abilities - ensuring that none of your potential customers are left behind.

We focus on delivering tailored solutions that enhance usability for everyone, including individuals with disabilities, while improving SEO and user experience. With ongoing support and a commitment to inclusivity, Enterprise Monkey ensures your website remains accessible and compliant as standards evolve.

Conclusion

Accessibility goes beyond using your fingers to tick certain boxes; it is about engaging users and making your site available for any and every person with or without accessibility issues.

At Enterprise Monkey, our mission is to empower your business by creating a unique digital experience, accessible to all. So, partner with us to ensure your website meets the needs of all users while maximising your reach and impact.

Let's join hands and work together to make a flawless, engaging, and accessible website for your business that is capable of letting you touch new heights.

Is your website accessible? Let's check and fix it with Enterprise Monkey!