People with disabilities have a right to web accessibility. They can navigate, understand and interact with information on the web. Making the site accessible to everyone should be your top priority. Below is everything you need to know about web accessibility.
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What is Web Accessibility?
Web accessibility is the ability for everyone to access and interact with the web regardless of their condition. It prevents barriers to interaction for people with disabilities.
Why Is Web Accessibility Important?
Prevents discrimination
With the increased technological trends and digital transformations, most people can now access information from the web. Without WCAG compliance, people with disabilities will not access the information on the web. This is discrimination and can land you into legal battles.
So, ensure your site is accessible to everyone regardless of their condition. Legal lawsuits are on the rise affecting people who are not compliant. That is why there is increased awareness for every website owner to ensure compliance.
Reach a wider audience
People living with disabilities have visual, hearing, motor, and cognitive disabilities. Making your site complaint is an excellent way to reach out to people from different sectors, both public and private. You can add more features to your site and ensure it supports mobile devices to allow everyone accesses to your site.
Builds business reputation
Not every website is web accessibility compliant. If you create a compliant site, you will give your business an edge over your competitors since you will attract more people. This helps you build a positive reputation for your business.
It makes people believe in your values and ideals, creating a positive brand for your business. When people visit your site and find it friendly to everyone, they will often come back severally, which can boost business growth.
How to Make Web Accessible?
Blind and visually impaired people may find it challenging to navigate because they cannot browse the website or use a mouse. In this case, ensure you include keyboard navigation to allow them to access your site seamlessly. The information you put on your site should allow users to navigate effectively using the keyboard.
Use large fonts
It can be challenging for people with low vision to read small texts on your website. No matter how long they spend on your site, they may never get it right. So, when writing content, ensure you use specific fonts that address people with low vision. This will enable them to get what they want on your site within the shortest time possible.
Add color and contrast
Let the text on your website have a high contrast to enable visually impaired people to read the text with ease. Color combination is essential in creating the best background. For effective results, do color blind testing to check the contrast and color state on your site.
The Bottom Line
When building a website, always have web accessibility at the back of your mind. Even if you have an existing website that isn’t compliant, you can modify it by adding features to make it compliant.
