Here’s how to make your website more accessible
Here are the facts
According toWHO, over a billion people in the world – 15% of the global population – are living with some form of disability, and 40% of people living with disabilities don’t receive the assistance they require for basic everyday activities. Factors such as an increase in chronic diseases and an aging population are resulting in increasing rates of disabilities across the world.
Themajority of websitesand mobile apps don’t meet the basic accessibility standards, due to having illegible text, unfavorable color contrasts, or poor navigation. This hurts not only the users but the website owners; if a website isn’t accessible,71% of peoplewith disabilities will leave straight away.
In December 2008, theWeb Content Accessibility Guidelines(WCAG) was published, detailing a list of criteria for all public sector websites to meet. The guidelines have been revised several times and WCAG 2.2 is now scheduled to be published in 2021. As shown in this map, many major countries around the world have implemented WCAG standards:
Credit:3PlayMedia
It’s important to be aware of how local laws could affect your business if you don’tcomply with WCAG standards. The necessary adjustments to become WCAG compliant include both front-end UI and design, which can be implemented by installing an Accessibility Interface on your website, as well as back-end code to ensure your website is set up in the most compatible way possible.
Making the change
When carrying out changes on an existing website, you have to consider the time and cost of making it more accessible, however for new web owners, starting off on the right foot will save you from having to change things later down the line, and will reduce the risk of running into any lawsuits.
To meet the guidelines, your website or mobile app must be‘perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.’ Here are a few tips on how to make your website accessible:
Perceivable
Operable
Understandable
Robust
For more details and specifics, thefull guidelinesas developed by theWeb Accessibility Initiative(WAI) and theWorld Wide Web Consortium(W3C) are online and available for everyone to read.
