There are over one billion people all over the world who have any kind of disability. As the internet is very often used to empower individuals around the globe, it can bring anyone significant benefits. However, everything needs to be tailored to people’s needs.
Making your content more inclusive and accessible for people with disabilities will help you lower maintenance costs, improve search results and reach wider audiences. The internet should be a place to create connections between all people regardless of gender, race, age, or physical and mental abilities.
But what does it mean to make your website more inclusive? Be sure to make your content easy to understand, your page intuitive to navigate and yourself accessible for people with disabilities, including those with visual and hearing impairments, photosensitive epilepsy, or limited mobility.
With a little help of tools and innovative web implications, you can easily make your content more accessible. Stay with us to find out more about ways to create a digital space that’s more friendly for people with disabilities.
Transcripts and Captions
‘Add subtitles and text transcripts for any type of content that include video. This way, you will enable users affected by hearing impairment to benefit from it in a comfortable and convenient way,’ says Kris Rivenburgh, ADA Website Compliance Consultant.
What’s the difference between transcription and captioning? Transcription is the process of converting speech or audio into plain text while captioning involves dividing transcript text into chunks, also known as caption frames. Depending on the type of content, you will do yourself and many people a favor by using these two forms of implementing text to your website.
Alternative Text for Images
In some cases, visual information is inaccessible to people with reading difficulties and visual impairments. Those people rely on TTS solutions – text-to-speech descriptions.
What is TTS? It is a technology that reads out loud all the texts included on the website.
TSS is also used in case of weak Wi-Fi connections. Instead of loading a picture on the website, it is easier to use the text-to-speech description. That’s why it is so important to add alt texts for images – make sure to include all the necessary keywords so that one knows what’s in the photo without seeing it.
Color and Size of the Text
People who suffer from color blindness and lowered contrast sensitivity might find it easier to use websites with significant color contrasts. Make sure that you choose the right colors for your website’s text, icons and buttons to keep the contrast from the background.
For some readers, the text must be even twice as large as regular to consume content comfortably, so it’s best to let your users decide about the size of the text on your website.
Descriptive URLs
Why is it important to implement some descriptive links to your website? Because you can provide your readers with information about where this link will take them. Most of the screen readers would often continue reading by clicking on links included in articles. So providing links with proper description is a necessary and convenient way to improve your site navigation.
Headings
To create a well-structured content that will be easier to read, learn more about headings. In that way, you can improve the overall navigation.
How to use headings? For instance, while creating a written piece of content, you definitely want to make sure to use only one H1 as a page title. Next, add subheadings starting with H2; you can nest those further with H3 and so on. Keep in mind that placing H4 right after an H2 should be avoided.
The Bottom Line
Making your site welcoming and accessible for many people should be your top priority.
There is definitely no point in excluding anybody. Your users will thank you for adjusting your content to their needs. In the long run, it might lead to building a huge internet community brought together by your disabled-friendly content. The hidden benefits of those actions will be increased conversions, traffic and wider recognition of your brand.
Focus on understanding what might be the possible flaws of your website and think about implementing some innovative solutions. As the internet content is growing rapidly, everyone is gaining access to this network. The sooner you come to the conclusion that making adjustments, such as adding font size options to your text, are beneficial, the faster your website will grow. We live in user-centred times. By assuring your potential users with diverse and accessible content, you definitely beat the competition and conquer the market.
