Making Websites Work for Everyone: An Accessibility Guide
Imagine you’re trying to order concert tickets online. You’re excited, ready to snag those seats, but the website throws you a curveball. Tiny, blurry text, confusing navigation, and buttons that seem to disappear when you hover your mouse—suddenly, a simple task becomes an obstacle course. This scenario, unfortunately, is a reality for millions of people who encounter websites that are not built with accessibility in mind.
Properly designed websites solve this with web accessibility. Simply put, it’s about designing and developing websites that are usable by everyone, regardless of their abilities.
Technical Talk: Building Bridges, Not Barriers
There are international guidelines, called the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), that provide a framework for building accessible websites. These guidelines might sound technical and are indeed very detailed, but the core principles are quite straightforward, as the MDN docs show:
- Perceivable: One crucial aspect involves understanding how people with visual impairments navigate the web. Users of your website must be able to perceive it and its contents with whatever senses are available to them. Your website should not be invisible to all means of perception.
- Operable: Not everyone can use a mouse. Keyboard navigation allows users to move through a website using the tab key and arrow keys. Ensuring your website functions smoothly with just the keyboard is essential for accessibility. Your website shouldn’t require an operation your users can’t perform.
- Understandable: Both the structure and content of your website should be easily understandable by your users. If your website takes several minutes to figure out, it scores low on accessibility, and that can impact revenues if it is supposed to make you money.
- Robust: Last but not least, your website and its contents must be designed and presented in such a way that they remain accessible to all user agents, including humans and assistive technologies, as well as remain accessible as web technology evolves.
WCAG also outlines technology-neutral success criteria against which web content can be tested and graded with a simple true or false if it meets or fails to meet the guidelines for accessibility on the web.
However, Web accessibility is not just about ticking a box; it’s about ensuring everyone has equal access to information and services online. Imagine someone who is visually impaired relying on a screen reader to access news articles or a person with limited mobility needing to navigate a website using only their keyboard. Accessible websites empower these individuals to participate fully in the digital world.
Benefits Beyond Borders
Think accessibility is just for people with disabilities? Think again! Many features that enhance accessibility benefit everyone.
- Clear Language & Structure: Simple, well-written content is easier to understand for everyone, regardless of reading level.
- Proper Formatting: Proper use of headings, bullet points, and a clear layout improves readability for everyone. How would you like it if lists such as these were written in a straight line without bullet points? Or with irregular formatting?
- Mobile-friendliness: In today’s mobile world (and you are probably reading this from a mobile phone), websites that adapt seamlessly to different screen sizes ensure a smooth experience for all users.
A World Wide Web for Everyone
A little effort towards accessibility goes a long way. By incorporating these principles, we can create a web that is truly inclusive and accessible to everyone. This guide serves as a starting point. Numerous resources are available online to delve deeper into web accessibility best practices. There are also organisations dedicated to promoting accessibility and providing valuable tools and information. Some more resources you can explore are:
- Introduction to understanding WCAG 2.0
- WCAG 2.0 Overview
- Understanding the Web Accessibility Guidelines
- The MDN Accessibility Learning Area
Accessibility is an ongoing conversation. By speaking up about the importance of accessible websites and encouraging others to do the same, we can collectively work towards a more inclusive digital world.
