When you create a website, it’s important to make it accessible for everyone, including those who are blind or visually impaired. This is not just for compliance, but also promotes inclusivity and ensures that everyone can engage with your content. In today’s digital age, accessibility should always be considered when building a website.
This article provides techniques for making your website more accessible to visually impaired users. We’ll cover ways to make it easier for them to navigate, understand, and interact with your content.
What is web accessibility for blind and impaired users?
Web accessibility for blind and visually impaired users is related to the practice of designing and developing web pages that are understandable and easy to navigate.
It involves implementing different features that make it easy to access the content, interact with elements, and navigate through web pages using assistive technologies such as screen readers or braille displays, for example.
The keys to creating web accessibility for visually impaired users are:
- Providing alt text for images
- Creating proper HTML markup for content structure
- Making accessible forms and controls
- Offering keyboard accessibility
- Designing the web page with a sufficient color contrast ratio
Designers and developers must follow accessibility standards and guarantee everyone equal access to online information and services.
Why is it important to have a compliant website?
Having a compliant website is important for several reasons. It is mostly about inclusivity, following legal requirements and bringing benefits to your business. A compliant website means it is accessible to everyone, including individuals with disabilities. This aligns with the moral principles of our society and also helps us create a more fair online environment.
The legal obligations we all must follow are another point that should be considered. A lot of countries nowadays have laws and regulations that promote web accessibility, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the US and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) established by the World Wide Web Consortium.
Non-compliance with these regulations will most likely result in legal action against your company or website.
What are the benefits?
Accessible websites rank better in search engine results, contributing to better visibility and online reputation. Accessibility is important, and it is not just a legal necessity but also a strategic move that benefits both businesses and users.
It brings you and your website benefits such as:
- Expanded audience reach
- Improved users experience
- Legal compliance
- Enhanced SEO
- Positive reputation
- Increased sales
- Adaptability for future technologies
Creating an accessible website aligns with moral and ethical principles of fairness, equality and social responsibility. It is simply the right thing to do. You should be sure that you are providing equal access to the information and services you offer.
What are the risks, and is it a legal requirement?
Non-compliance with accessibility standards will lead to legal consequences for you and your website. Inaccessible websites also damage your brand’s reputation. When you fail to make your website accessible, you risk getting negative user feedback or social media backlash, for example. This will damage your reputation and lower your website traffic.
Inaccessible websites lead to lost business opportunities because they isolate potential customers or clients with disabilities. The inaccessibility frustrates disabled users, and they will abandon your website in favor of competitors with more accessible websites.
Inaccessibility will also affect your SEO ranking. Search engines always prioritize user-friendly and accessible websites – failure to prioritize accessibility will lead to low SEO. If you don’t follow accessibility guidelines and regulations, you won’t be able to adapt to new technologies and trends. You will limit your website’s compatibility with emerging devices, platforms, and assistive technologies.
You should also know that addressing accessibility post factum will cost you more money and time. If you implement all the features your website needs to be easily accessible from the beginning, you will have peace of mind and be safe from legal fees, remediation costs, and potential settlements.
Failing to create an accessible website will also raise ethical concerns such as:
- Equality
- Fairness
- Social responsibility, etc.
Neglecting accessibility is a massive risk for your business, and you should avoid it at all costs. It denies people with disabilities from accessing information and services, and there is no case in which this can be looked at in a good way, both legally and from your users’ point of view.
4 tips to improve your website accessibility for visually impaired and blind users
There are some steps to follow to be sure that your website is accessible for everybody including disabled users with visual impairments. When you take them into consideration, your clients will have a better experience on your web page.
Here are the tips to improve accessibility that you must follow.
Create sufficient color and texture contrast
Sufficient color contrast between text and background elements is important in order to make your content readable for users with low vision. Use high-contrast color combinations to improve readability.
Avoid relying only on color to express important information and provide text alternatives or symbols to ensure that visually impaired users will understand and interact with your content effectively.
Restrict the use of colors
You can use color vision deficiency (CVD) simulators or tools to evaluate your website’s color scheme. By testing your use of colors, you can identify color combinations that may be problematic for users with color vision deficiencies and make adjustments to improve accessibility.
Also, make sure you use visual elements and colors that create contrast, such as black text on a white background, and avoid using low contrast combinations.
The users should be able to adjust the font size manually
To achieve this, you should incorporate expandable font sizes and avoid fixed pixel sizes.
It is best to use relative units such as:
- Percentages
- Em units
- Rem units
Avoid setting font sizes in pixels, as they prevent users from resizing text in their browser settings.
Provide keyboard accessibility
All interactive elements and functions on your website must be accessible through keyboard navigation. Many visually impaired users rely only on keyboard navigation, so it is critical to be sure that they can easily access and interact with all your website has to offer without using a mouse.
Test your website keyboard accessibility regularly to ensure that everyone can navigate menus, forms, links and all the other elements on your page.
What to avoid?
When trying to improve website accessibility for visually impaired and blind users, there are some things you should avoid. Using color as the sole means of conveying information or distinguishing between elements is an example of a mistake most of us make.
Some users may have color vision deficiencies or use grayscale displays and this will make your color-coded information inaccessible to them.
Always provide additional visual cues such as:
- Text labels
- Patterns
- Icons
Also, you should avoid using vague link texts such as “click here” or “learn more”. Use descriptive and meaningful ling text instead so you can provide users with clear context about the linked content.
Screen readers often present a list of links, so descriptive link text helps users understand the purpose of each link without the need to read the surrounding text. Create the links, forms, and text in general in a way that is compatible with screen readers.
Avoid design labels that are inaccessible or difficult to navigate and ensure that form fields have descriptive labels and proper HTML markup is used to associate labels with their corresponding input fields. Provide helpful error messages and instructions for completing the form accurately.
Avoid presenting content without proper structure or organization. Use headings, lists and other semantic HTML elements to create a clear hierarchy and structure for your content. Screen reader users rely on those structural elements to navigate through web pages effectively, so ensure your content is well-organized and easily understandable.
You should also avoid autoplaying audio or video content as it can be disorientating for users who rely on screen readers or have cognitive disabilities. Provide controls to allow users to play or pause media content manually and include captions or transcripts for multimedia content to make it accessible to users who are deaf or hard of hearing.
If you avoid these common mistakes with accessibility, you will create an inclusive and friendly online environment that all of your visitors will appreciate.
Conclusion
Ensuring website accessibility for blind and visually impaired users is a legal requirement, moral imperative and strategic business advantage.
You create a more user-friendly environment by imputing accessibility features, such as:
- Providing alt text for images
- Using semantic HTML
- Enabling keyboard navigation
- Optimizing your contrast, etc.
This benefits all users, upgrades your website reputation and improves your SEO ranking. It will also expand your audience reach and help your users feel considered and included which is always a good thing.
By prioritizing accessibility, you demonstrate a commitment to equality and provide access to information and services that you offer to everyone who may be interested.
Frequently asked questions
Why is website accessibility important for blind and visually impaired users?
It ensures that all individuals can access and interact with online content.
What are some common accessibility barriers for blind and visually impaired users?
The list includes inaccessible images without alt text, lack of proper HTML structure, insufficient color contrast, inaccessible forms, etc.
How do I test my website’s accessibility for blind and visually impaired users?
You can test the accessibility of your website using our tools here in Qualibooth.
How Does the Text-To-Speech Accessibility Feature Work?
How to Make Your Website for Screen Reader Accessibility?
