Are you looking to make your website accessible and ensure it complies with the latest web accessibility standards?
In this blog, you will walk through a comprehensive guide to web accessibility, and you will learn how to make your website accessible.
So let’s dive deep!
Web accessibility is when you make websites, web applications, and other online content accessible to all people, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, impairments, and limitations.
The goal is to ensure equal access to information and functionality regardless of the user’s abilities.
Web accessibility is also important from a legal standpoint. Canada and U.S. require all websites and web applications to be accessible to people with disabilities.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has established a set of guidelines known as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
So when you design and develop a website, you should consider web accessibility.
Web accessibility improves the user experience for everyone by making your website and its content more user-friendly and understandable.
And making your site accessible has many benefits. Here are just a few:
Web accessibility should be a priority when you design or develop your website.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has established the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as the international standard for web accessibility.
The most recent version, WCAG 2.1, provides a comprehensive set of guidelines for ensuring that web content is perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.
Present information and user interface components so users can perceive through visual, auditory, or touch-based means.
This includes providing alternatives for visual content, such as text descriptions for images.
Ensure that colour contrasts are easy to distinguish.
Make the user interface components and navigation operable through a keyboard or alternative means without relying on a mouse.
This includes providing keyboard-accessible alternatives for mouse-only interactions, such as drop-down menus.
Ensure that all functionality can be triggered using a keyboard.
Make information and user interface easy for everyone to understand, including those with cognitive challenges.
This includes providing clear and concise content, using straightforward language, and ensuring that the meaning of the content is not obscured by presentation or other factors.
Content must be robust enough to be interpreted by various user agents, including assistive technologies.
This includes using semantic markup to identify content and structure clearly, and ensuring that the content remains accessible even when new technologies are introduced.
WCAG 2.1 also defines three conformance levels (A, AA, and AAA) to assess website accessibility and make improvements.
Level A is the minimum level of accessibility. It requires the website to meet basic requirements.
These requirements address the most common barriers to access for people with disabilities.
Level A includes:
Level AA builds on top of the Level A. It adds additional accessibility features to address a wider range of disabilities. This is typically what most accessible sites are – they are not perfect, but offer a better experience.
Level AA includes:
Level AAA is the highest level of accessibility. It includes the requirements of Level A and AA, as well as additional features that address even more advanced accessibility needs. This is where we should all aim to make the web a better place for everyone.
Level AAA includes:
Note: While Level AAA conformance provides the highest level of accessibility, it’s not necessarily required for all websites. The appropriate level of conformance will depend on the specific needs of your website and users.
Making your website accessible can seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be.
Here are 25 tips to help make your website accessible for everyone.
There are lot of tools to help us develop and design accessible websites – from basic to advanced; for accessibility testing, evaluation, and remediation.
A Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool helps identify accessibility errors and provides suggestions for improvement.
WAVE visually showcases the inaccessible parts of your website by analyzing the URL you provide.
It pinpoints the sections that do not follow WCAG standards. And it offers a thorough examination and assessment of the website’s content.
WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind) is a comprehensive web accessibility resource.
It provides various resources and services to help individuals, organizations, and developers create accessible websites and applications.
WebAIM offers training and education on accessibility, research, and analysis of best practices, tools, and services for accessibility testing and evaluation.
An aXe is an open-source accessibility testing engine. It runs automated tests on websites and provides detailed reports on issues such as missing alt-text, improper use of headings, improper use of ARIA attributes, and inaccessible forms.
The engine is available as a browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge.
This tool is designed to be used in the development process and can be integrated with various development environments and testing frameworks.
HTML_CodeSniffer is a script you can use to detect potential accessibility issues in HTML code.
The tool analyzes the HTML source code of a website and flags any areas that do not comply with the accessibility standards.
It’s a browser-based tool, meaning it runs in the browser, and it is available as a bookmarklet, as a JavaScript include, or as a stand-alone Chrome extension.
A11Y a tool for checking the colour contrast of text on a website to ensure it’s accessible for people with colour blindness or visual impairments.
It helps to identify areas of the site where text and background colour combinations may not meet the minimum contrast ratio specified by accessibility guidelines.
The tool allows users to enter the hex codes of the text and background colours and checks the contrast ratio, providing a pass/fail result and suggestions for improving the contrast if necessary.
JAWS (Job Access With Speech) is a widely used screen reader for Windows operating systems.
It reads the text and buttons, describes images, and provides information about the layout and structure of web pages. It’s also making it easier for users to navigate and access the information they need.
JAWS supports a wide range of applications and software, including web browsers, office applications, and email clients.
NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) provides access to computers for individuals who are blind or have low vision by converting text, images, and other information on a computer screen into audio output.
NVDA can be used with a standard computer keyboard, a refreshable Braille display, or both.
The software allows users to read and write emails, browse the web, and access other applications on a computer.
The WAI-ARIA (Web Accessibility Initiative – Accessible Rich Internet Applications) Validator is a tool used to check the conformance of web content with the WAI-ARIA specifications.
The tool helps to ensure that dynamic web content and widgets are accessible to people with disabilities, including those who use assistive technologies such as screen readers.
The validator analyzes the code of a web page. It provides a report of any issues found, such as missing or incorrect ARIA attributes, to help developers correct them and improve the accessibility of their content.
The WAI-ARIA Validator supports both HTML and XHTML documents.
Web accessibility is becoming increasingly important. More and more websites are taking steps to make their websites accessible.
Here are a few examples of websites that are leading the way in web accessibility:
Apple’s website is a great example of web accessibility because it meets all requirements set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
This means that their website is designed to make it usable for everyone:
Additionally, Apple regularly tests its website to ensure it remains accessible to all users. It also updates it as needed to comply with the latest accessibility guidelines.
Apple’s commitment to web accessibility ensures that all users have equal access to its website and its content, making the user experience more enjoyable and user-friendly for everyone.
Another example is BBC, which has taken a number of steps to make its website accessible.
BBC uses various accessibility features, including:
GitHub uses semantic HTML and ARIA attributes to provide additional information to screen readers, making it easier for users with visual impairments to understand the site’s structure.
The site also allows users to customize the interface to their preference, including increasing the text size, changing the contrast, and toggling the display of animations.
WordPress.org is a platform that provides tools and resources to help users create accessible websites.
The site’s core code is built with accessibility in mind, and it includes features such as alternative text for images, semantic headings, and structured content.
Also, the site provides extensive documentation and support for users looking to make their WordPress-powered sites more accessible.
The Unilever website offers accessibility support through accommodations for assistive technologies and coding, such as:
The website also adheres to or exceeds WCAG standards in colour contrast, layout, navigation, browser compatibility, audio-video content, text alternatives, and more.
When making your website accessible, you can sometimes make a few common mistakes. So it’s always better to test your website and ensure you don’t have these issues.
Here are the most 4 common accessibility issues and how to fix them:
Making your website accessible is an essential step. You will ensure that all users can access and use the content on your website, regardless of their abilities or disabilities.
And with the right tools, resources, and knowledge, you can ensure your site complies with the WCAG 2.1 standards.
If you’re looking for a stunning, functional website that drive results, we should talk.
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