Why is accessibility important for a website?

Having an accessible website is important so that people of all abilities can enjoy a comfortable user experience and gather the information they need about your business. In this article, we go through three common questions people ask us about accessibility.

1. What does accessibility mean?

Accessibility, in terms of web design, means making a website that can be used by as many people as possible. One of the first groups that might come to mind is mobile device users, but accessibility particularly relates to people with disabilities. Often, they use different methods to navigate through your website to find information, so it’s important to accommodate their needs.

2. Isn’t my website already accessible?

Many people assume that the concept of accessibility refers to how a site is accessed. This isn’t the case as practically any website can be found during a Google search or by simply typing the URL into your address bar. Accessibility is actually about using websites and making information available through different means, such as providing video transcriptions and alt-text. This means that people with certain disabilities can use your website just as easily as those without any.

Disabilities can range from auditory, visual and speech to physical, neurological and cognitive and often dictate how a person will navigate through webpages. Unfortunately, many websites aren’t designed with these people in mind. As a result, some users who visit your website aren’t able to get the full experience as people who don’t live with disabilities.

Not making your site accessible could mean that a user is unable to use your website, navigate through your pages, access information or even make orders on your page!

3. How do I make my website accessible?

There are simple ways you can ensure that your website is accessible, including brushing up on the current guidelines established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The WCAG 2.0 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) provides 12 guidelines to help web developers create highly accessible websites.

Here are a few ways you can make your website more accessible:

• Using HTML code and structure – this simply means using <h1> and <h2> tags in your content
• Having pages that are easy to read – consider font, colour and size
• Making your site functional via keyboard – some users cannot operate a mouse to scroll and click
• Adding alt-text for images – this will help vision-impaired people to understand the use of images on your pages.

Looking to build a new website? Contact JTB Studios today! With our knowledge in WCAG 2.0 principles, we’ll help you create an accessible business website that considers all users.