9 Easy Ways To Improve Web Accessibility Without Much Extra Effort

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is not just about ensuring wheelchair accessibility in physical premises like shopping malls. It extends to digital properties, such as your very own business website, as well.

Simply put, web
accessibility is an indispensable part of modern website design. It
means ensuring that your website is designed in a way such that
people with disabilities can use them. In other words, an accessible
website is one that accommodates all users on all devices no matter
the physical or mental ability of the user.

You see, nearly 26% (one
in four) of adults in the United States live
with a disability. So, making your website more
accessible is not only the right thing to do, but failing to make
your website accessible will automatically turn away this potential
client base before you’ve even had an opportunity to introduce your
business.

What’s more, not making
your website accessible leaves can attract costly lawsuits and claims
by advocacy groups. In fact, discussions about website accessibility
have increased and according to a recent
report by UsableNet, 2018 saw a 181% increase in
Federal ADA lawsuits over 2017.

So, make no mistake —
website accessibility deserves your utmost attention. Here are nine
ways to improve your site’s accessibility without spending big on
time, money, or effort:

Ensure Proper Colour Contrast

Colour contrast is all
about how well one colour differentiates from another on your
website. Without sufficient contrast in colours, it can be really
difficult for visually challenged visitors to navigate the page.

By using
properly-contrasting colours, your website’s content and buttons
become sharp enough for people with poor vision to read comfortably.
This, in turn, results in comfortable user experience for everyone.

Have an
Alt Text With All Images

Without fail, add an alt
attribute for all images on your website so that the content is
usable by people who use assistive technology. Without the alt text,
visually impaired users can’t fully access your content, which
means failed ADA compliance.

Screen readers can’t
understand images, so it’s critical that proper alt text is
provided which details the visual accurately. And as an added bonus,
alt text also helps boost your website’s rankings as search engine
bots can’t crawl image files either.

Include
Closed Captions for Videos

Just like alt text in the
case of images, videos must also be closed-captioned so the content
can be consumed by visitors who are hard-of-hearing.

As you likely already
know, captions are text alternatives of the audio content, synced
with the video. For the hearing-impaired, captions and text
transcripts are essential.

Make
Your Website Keyboard-Friendly

People with mobility
disabilities may not be able to use a mouse or trackpad to browse
your website. And so, enabling keyboard-only navigation on your
website is crucial. This means all activities that can be done with a
mouse need to be fulfilled with a keyboard.

Plus, users who have
sight but navigate using the keyboard should be able to know where
they are on the page. So, there must be a visible focus indicator
that distinguishes the active element the user is currently
selecting.

Create
A Logical Outline Hierarchy

HTML headings (H1-H6) should always be nested as it would be in a document outline, because screen readers depend on headings (and other web elements) to navigate content.

That is, an H3 would
indicate a sub-section within an H2 section — implying you should
never come across an H3 that is not contained by an H2. Skipping
heading levels can confuse screen readers into thinking that some
content is missing from the web page, so always create a logical
hierarchy of headings.

Also, make sure to use H1
only for the main title of the page, not more than once on any page.

Have
Descriptive Anchor Text

Screen readers normally
have a mode in which they can pull all the hyperlinks off of a page
and list them out for smooth navigation. Consequently, the anchor
text of each link must be descriptive so it makes sense when listed
out of context.

Rather than just saying
“Click here”, go for something like “To learn more about web
accessibility, check out this guide.”

Besides, a descriptive
anchor text also helps search engine crawlers understand your content
and thus, leads to better rankings on Google. Not to mention “click
here” links look bad and harm the user experience (UX). So, in a
nutshell, don’t have any “click here” or even “view more”
type of links on your website.

Add
Labels to Forms

Just like alt text,
labels are a crucial element to incorporate on your website so screen
readers can deliver information to the visitor. For instance, if the
field is for entering the mobile number, it should be labelled
clearly as “Enter your mobile number”.

Test
Your Site With Accessibility Testing Tools

Check out this web accessibility evaluation tools list compiled by W3C to make your life a tad bit easier. Scroll through the list and test your website for various possible accessibility issues.

Don’t think of ADA compliance as a complicated pain in the bum because, as you can see, there’s a lot you can easily improve upon.

Publish
an Accessibility Statement

In essence, an
accessibility statement is a declaration on your website that conveys
your commitment to web accessibility. It clearly states your
company’s target level of accessibility and what it is doing to
achieve ADA compliance.

Accessibility statements are becoming fundamental to business websites and many visitors will seek them out as a sign of whether the business prioritizes equal access to information.

Closing
Thoughts

This post is not a
comprehensive list of things you need to do to improve your site’s
accessibility or make it fully ADA compliant. But putting the
above-mentioned points in practice will get you started in the right
direction.

Don’t procrastinate.
Review your website for accessibility issues and fix them as soon as
possible. Doing so will not only bring you more business but also
prevent potential ADA lawsuits.