One of the millennia-old truths about people is that it takes one illness or accident for someone to go from entirely healthy to disabled. Unfortunately, most places are not designed with accessibility in mind. This includes the internet, where there are no hard standards for making accessible websites.
Organization
At the most basic level, the organization makes websites readable. Whether that’s to a person or an accessibility device doesn’t matter. With text set into paragraphs, headings, subheadings, and so on, it creates breaks. These breaks make the content infinitely more readable than a wall of text.
Using headers, subheadings, and dividers properly also increases the chances an accessibility feature will interpret without interruptions. It also helps the more intensive devices sort out which sections are most important.
On the back end, there is an accessible standard called W3C-ARIA. In addition to helping mark out sections of web pages for easier maneuverability, this also deals with rich content. Plugins, whether CSS or Java, have been fouling accessibility for years. W3C-ARIA implements a set of standard functions so that they’re easier to navigate, or at least not kill the whole web page.
Visual
One of the most straightforward website fixes is to choose a readable font. For visual impairments, serif fonts are most comfortable to read. They’re also easier for dyslexics, though a dyslexic specific font is easier. For standard text, consider using Arial, Calibri, or Comic Sans.
Another excellent step towards accessible websites is ensuring all images have alternative text or long descriptions. These should describe the image they are associated with. It’s an excellent SEO tool. However, it also allows the visually impaired to know what should be there.
A third consideration is color use. In text, color may make something pop, but it may also go unnoticed for someone with a visual impairment. In the case of color, set it off with something else as well like underlining. Additionally, high contrast between the website background and the text color help immensely.
Auditory
Auditory content is actually some of the easiest to make accessible these days. Any audio and video can be transcribed, by an outside source if necessary. Modern video technology also makes adding synchronized captions easy. As a bonus, any included transcription adds value for SEO.
Device Friendly
There are many devices on the market to compensate for different disabilities. Fortunately, many of them use the same cues as the W3C-ARIA standard to navigate. However, it really is up to web developers to ensure consistent implementation. Nothing makes a website less reachable than patchy compliance.
As an overview, there are two different classes of devices to plan for on accessible websites. The first is visual modifiers. These include screen readers, text-only readers, and screen magnifiers. The second involves input modifiers. Examples of this technology include speech input, eye tracking software, and single switch entry devices. To learn more about different tools, click here and here.
Parting Thoughts
Every website gains customers when it is accessible. Often, making accessible websites requires a little more effort. That effort is usually repaid in spades throughout the website’s lifespan. If everyone can access the content, most people will.