The main principle behind the concept of web accessibility is that ideally everyone should be able to use any website on the internet. Regardless of whether they have a condition that affects their capabilities or what hardware and software they need to use. The fact is that billions of Internet users have special needs, disabilities and impairments that can make it difficult or even impossible to use certain types of websites.
By designing your website with these challenges in mind, you can ensure that it receives as many users as possible. Certainly, there are many disabilities and conditions that affect the way each person uses websites, and among the most common categories of disabilities we have:
-Visual disability
-Hearing disability
-Motor skills
-Photosensitive seizures
-Cognitive disabilities
These problems are usually solvable by many people, using assistive technologies to navigate the Internet. This can in many cases include screen readers that vocalize the text on each page, speech recognition software that converts speech into text, Braille displays, and even alternative keyboards that accommodate special needs.
The website is fundamentally designed to work for all people, regardless of their hardware, software, language, location or capacity. When the web can achieve this goal, it is accessible to people with a wide range of hearing, movement, vision and cognitive abilities. For this reason, the impact of disability changes radically on the Web because the Web removes each of the communication and interaction barriers that many people face in the physical world. However, when websites, applications, technologies, or tools are poorly designed, they can establish barriers that prevent people from entering the web.
Accessibility has become essential for developers and organizations that want to create high-quality websites and web tools, and not exclude people from using their products and services.
To make your website more accessible first and foremost is to choose the correct Content Management System (CSM) to run your site. When we are talking about accessibility, few CMS can beat WordPress. Therefore, we will then refer to a series of specific solutions for the WordPress platform, which ends up being the most common in these cases.
Make sure your site supports the keyboard
Make sure all content is easily accessible
Add alt text to all images
Choose your colors carefully
Use headings to structure your content correctly
Design your forms for accessibility
Enable resizable text that won’t break your site
Avoid automated navigation and media
Making sure your site is welcoming to as many people as possible has to be a high priority. There is no reason to exclude anyone, especially since it is remarkably easy to avoid. Your users will not only thank you, but they will also see benefits in the form of increased traffic and conversations. Taking the time to understand potential flaws in your design and content can ensure that your site is optimized for accessibility today.
Fortunately, accessibility is not difficult to implement. You just need to understand the underlying issues that can make a site difficult or impossible for certain people to use. Once this is fixed, you can take steps to avoid such mistakes and make your site welcoming to all visitors.
