Technology is changing the world in a big way. Almost everything is going digital and a bigger percentage of people have smartphones and access to the internet.
As a business owner, it is your duty to ensure that everyone is able to easily access your website. According to the Center for Diseases and Control (CDC), 25 percent of American adults suffer from different types of disabilities.
What is web accessibility?
Web accessibility can be described as the ability to design and develop websites, technologies, and tools that allow people with disabilities to uses them without any issues.
Disabilities and conditions that affect access to the web
There are several things that affect the way people with disabilities use websites. They include the following:
- Auditory
- Neurological
- Physical
- Visual
- Speech
- Cognitive
Below are 5 tips to make your website disability-friendly:
- Use al-tags
Any person with a visual impairment will require a special software or screen reader to be able to access whatever information they are looking for on a website. When a screen reader is used, the alt tags are read aloud, making it easy for the user to the type of image.
That’s why every business owner or developer should take the issue of alt tags seriously and used them to give clear descriptions of images. For example, it is the image of a person, ensure you write the name of that person.
- Make your website keyboard-friendly
This is probably the most important step when it comes to website accessibility. In simple terms, for a website to be considered easily accessible, it must be able to work without a mouse. Why is because most a majority of the assistive technologies largely depend on keyboard-only navigation. What does this mean?
It means that users must be able to access all major features in your website through the keyboard and nothing else. The most popular way of navigation via a keyboard is using the Tab key. Your objective should therefore to ensure that important content can be accessed using the Tab.
- Put periods in Abbreviations
Whenever you are abbreviating anything in HTML format, insert periods in between letters. For instance, if you are referencing the Federal Bureau of Investigations, write it as F.B.I instead of FBI. This is because a screen reader can’t recognize abbreviations that don’t have periods – it will instead pronounce it as a word.
- Describe your links
It is important to describe every link you embed in a post instead of just asking readers to “click here”.
- Conduct a web accessibility audit
Another way of ensuring that your website is accessible is by carrying out frequent audits. According to AudioEye, using a web accessibility checker is a great way of determining whether your website is easily accessible or not.
Bottom line
Web accessibility is something that every business owner and developer should aim to achieve. Ensure that everyone can easily access your digital content.
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