10 Ways to Improve Web Accessibility for Your Site

You want an accessible website. For one, it’s a way to reach more users that are disabled or neurodiverse. For another, it can help prevent lawsuits from ADA trolls or legitimately concerned parties. Better access means better word of mouth and higher brand recognition. ADA Compliance Checker has several ways that you can improve your website today. See them listed below:

1. Provide Alternative Texts For Images

   This is the simplest tool to implement, at least in terms of providing information. An alternative text appears when you leave your cursor or mouse on an image if due to time and broken links the image will not appear on the website, or a user’s screen reader doesn’t allow for images. Keep your text short and descriptive; e.g. if describing a book cover, list the title and author.

2. Detail Closed Captioning On Audios And Videos

   People will love you for accurately transcribing videos. Don’t rely on automatically-generated subtitles, because they tend to run on the phonetic side. You need to cross-check to make sure the video and audio have all the appropriate subtitles and communicate your information clearly.

3. Use Color For A Cleaner Presentation Of Information

   Color palettes can convey volumes with a certain shade or tone. They can also assist in contrasts, which make for reading text easier. Level AA guidelines for the WCAG require a “contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1” except for large text, decoration, or logos. If you have a website or graphic designer, work with them to find the right colors for text and background to convey the message you want, without obscuring important information.

4. Provide Controls For Any Website Audio

   Not only can loud sounds annoy users, but they can also cause extreme discomfort to neurodiverse users. You want to make sure your website keeps users and doesn’t drive them away. Mind your automatic audio and video; no one likes autoplay ads, because when they play too loud, they can be distracting. It can also affect focus.

5. Reduce Flashing Lights And Images That Can Cause Seizures

   You do not want to induce seizures in users. Sometimes you want to show off your graphics, especially for special occasions or for sales on certain products. But you do not want to cause them to collapse from stimulated brain activity.

6. Refine Your Website Navigation To Make It Understandable

   Understandable means that viewers will know how to navigate your website and find the information you provide. You want people to stay on your website for as long as possible because they will leave if you cannot accommodate them. When you have PDFs, add page numbers so that readers can track their place. Make your navigation button text relatively large and readable.

7. Clarify Your Text Content

   This is more subjective than most; depending on your subject matter and SEO ranking. Academic text, as one example, may need appropriate abstracts to explain the central argument and thesis, whereas a site selling movie tickets just needs to identify the movie’s price, date and time. Convey the messages you want to send with information so that a user can reach you directly or learn fast.

8. Keep Your Webpages Consistent

   A navigation menu needs to remain the same during updates and doesn’t change its order of items. Your link buttons, headers, and footers are all the same size. Any information that is repeated should appear in the same sequential order when readers view it. Double-check alternative texts for images to review the flow of facts.

9. Extend Time Limits If You Absolutely Need Them

   Try to avoid time limits for people to read and peruse the information you provide. Have a useful pause button for users that may need more time to type or read. On some websites that say run auctions, this is unavoidable because auctions tend to have a time factor. Make sure the time limits are reasonable and as long as possible.

10. Make Sure A Keyboard User Can Navigate Your Website

    Many people use keyboards, for typing and for navigation. Test your HTML because a broken code can reduce accessibility. If you need to use Adobe Flash to run a video, implement workarounds so that that running the video doesn’t trap the user on that page; this is especially important for older browsers such as Internet Explorer.

You’re going to want help with ADA Compliance and trust us, our tools are all you’ll need. Reach out today to start this lengthy but highly necessary and effective process. You’ll be glad you did!