Web Accessibility: Building Accessibility Standards for Websites

Accessibility standards for websites are an important consideration for business owners and web developers, but one that is often overlooked. You know how much user experience matters. Visitors should be able to navigate your site easily and find what they need without frustration. If they can’t, they’re going to click that back button and never return.

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Unfortunately, in the quest to bring optimal UX to site visitors, one group often gets left behind. According to a study by the Pew Research Center, only 62% of Americans with disabilities report owning a laptop or desktop computer, compared to 81% of those without a disability.

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Physical disabilities, socioeconomic problems, cognitive impairments, age-related issues, and language barriers are all examples of problems that can prevent users from using the Internet. Making your website inclusive isn’t just an ethical way to ensure opportunities for everyone; it’s also smart. As a business owner and citizen, the web is a better place where everyone can take part.

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So, where do you start, considering the wide range of disabilities many people must overcome? Learn more below!

What Is Web Accessibility?

Web accessibility means ensuring that your website is readable, understandable, and functional for everyone. By removing barriers and implementing features that assist impaired individuals, web designers can ensure that every visitor to their site has access to the same information.

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It is easy to see why this is important to people who have impairments that make it difficult for them to access or understand parts of websites, or that stop them from using the internet altogether. It is not fair to exclude them from a world that increasingly relies on the web for business, communication, and entertainment.

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From a business standpoint, web accessibility requirements are important, and not only because a company would be foolish to ignore a percentage of its potential customer base by not making its site functional for everyone. Maintaining accessibility standards can also help with search engine optimization, which means more organic visitors to your site.

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There are compliance issues and legal consequences to consider. For example, in the United States, site owners could face fines if found in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

Understanding Web Accessibility

As you can see, there is a lot to unpack here. Fortunately, it isn’t difficult to bring your site up to compliance. The first steps involve understanding what web accessibility means, who it affects, and what standards are in place to ensure fair access to information on the internet for everyone.

Types of Disabilities

Consider the different disabilities and the struggles people must face to overcome them. These include:

• Visual: Website visitors with visual impairments may struggle to read the screen and react to visual prompts. Since the web is so visual, this is a major impediment. Web designers must implement ways for blind and visually impaired visitors to experience and understand what’s on a page.
• Auditory: People who struggle with hearing difficulties range from the Deaf, who were born without the ability to hear, to those who suffer various levels of hearing loss because of illness or accidents during their lifetime. Audio and video content are obvious stumbling blocks, but there are others.
• Motor: There are a wide range of reasons people may experience physical or motor problems that prevent them from accessing the web. These motor issues may mean the inability to interact with traditional peripherals.
• Cognitive: Ensuring web accessibility for those with cognitive issues means making your site usable for people with problems such as learning disabilities, mental illness, and age-related cognitive decline. This population needs special considerations to process the content on your site.

Legal Requirements

In the United States, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) sets the legal standards for accessibility compliance:

• Title II of the ADA pertains to state and local governments. This ensures that users with disabilities have equal access to programs, benefits, and information.
• Title III covers businesses open to the public, such as retail stores, hospitals, restaurants, and entertainment venues. As it relates to a website, these businesses need to provide accommodations for disabled individuals and allow them equal access to their site.
• Besides strict ADA guidelines, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act relates to the Federal Government and businesses that receive federal funding from the Federal Government. It requires equal access to information and communication technology for disabled employees and members of the public.
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is an international standard developed through the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The goal is to establish a single benchmark for web accessibility across the globe.

Unlike the ADA regulations and Section 508, WCAG is not a law, and there are no penalties for lack of compliance. However, it is still important. By following their universally accepted recommendations, you can put your site in compliance with other regulators. We’ll get into that more soon.

How Web Accessibility Benefits Your Business

Maintaining a website that complies with regulations can keep you out of hot water and avoid costly legal battles and fines. Even if that wasn’t the case, there are still good reasons for savvy business owners to create sites that meet web accessibility standards.

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According to the CDC, 27% of the population of the United States has some type of disability. From a business perspective, ignoring more than a quarter of the population isn’t smart. Here are a few ways keeping up with compliance can benefit your business:

• More customers: As is true with any potential customer, if you make it hard for individuals with disabilities to find what they need on your site, they will go elsewhere. If a person with a disability wants to spend their money with you, make it easy for them to do so.
• More opportunities: When people can’t access your message, they can’t do business with you. Many disabled individuals are business owners and entrepreneurs or work with people who are. It is foolish to ignore these potential connections.
• More talent: With the right accommodations, many people with disabilities can be outstanding employees. By making your site—including the search for quality job candidates—accessible, you just might find that one employee or executive who is a real difference maker in your organization.
• Better SEO: Many of the things you’ll do to improve accessibility on your site, such as properly applying SEO tactics such as meta tags, increasing site speed, and making text easily readable, can also improve search engine optimization. Search engines like Google care about user experience, so it’s illogical to offer a subpar site to a quarter of your potential visitors.

Key Principles of Web Accessibility

The World Wide Web Consortium outlines four key principles to consider in their Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. While this list is not exhaustive, it gives website owners an excellent overview of the accessibility standards for websites 

1. Site Content Must Be Perceivable

This means users can access information using all senses (sight, hearing, touch). Some ways to implement this include:

• Image alt tags: Fill out your alt tags correctly. Remember that one of their main purposes is to assist visually impaired people who use screen readers.
• Enable video captions: That’s easy enough for videos you host on your site, but, if possible, make sure that any embedded videos have captioning as well.
• Include descriptions for non-text files: These give impaired visitors who can’t view them access to the same information as everyone else.

2. Websites Should Be Operable for Everyone

Impaired individuals should have access to every part of the website, with alternative methods available where needed. These include:

• Keyboard navigation: It is important for those who cannot use a mouse and other peripherals to have the ability to activate buttons, hyperlinks, and other on-screen features using a keyboard only.
• Alternate input modalities: Some disabled people cannot use a keyboard, and rely on input methods such as speech, gestures, and touch to interact with the web.
• Sufficient time for interactions: Some people with disabilities may require extra time to read or process information.

3. Web Content Should Be Understandable

Websites should be understandable, with clear navigation and language. This is especially important for any site designed for the public at large. Some things to consider here:

• Use readable text: From the fonts you choose, to contrast between text and backgrounds, to the way you format your articles or blog posts, present everything in a way that’s easy to read.
• Use predictable navigation: It should be easy for anyone to find their way around your site. Maintain consistency between pages, make it clear where visitors will end up when they click links and stick to a simple site hierarchy.

4. Content Must Be Robust with Reliable Interpretation

That’s a complicated way of saying your site should be compatible with a range of different browsers and assistive technologies. This is not only important so that your site is accessible to everyone today, but also so that it is ready for new technology as it develops.

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While it is impossible to predict what assistive devices may emerge in the future, by building a site that’s marked up correctly and adaptable, you are in a good position to accommodate future accessibility needs.  

Steps to Building Accessible Websites

Now that you understand how important it is to make your website accessible for everyone, and you know the issues some people face when interacting with the internet, it is time to think about how to make the needed changes.

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You’ll need to assess the current state of your site and highlight any shortcomings. Use the W3’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and ask yourself if your site meets their accessibility standards for websites. 

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After you’ve pinpointed where you need improvement, get your web team together and discuss ways to implement the necessary changes. This could be a painful discussion, but time and money spent here will yield benefits down the road.

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Your team must understand the importance of web accessibility standards. It’s easy to skip things like image alt tags, or transcripts for video content because most users never notice them. But these ingredients are essential to an accessible design.

Development Best Practices 

It’s a good idea to establish a set of best practices within your organization. Here are a few things to think about:

• Use Semantic HTML: Implementing site code correctly makes it easier for assistive devices to understand what’s on your page.
• Incorporate Accessible Rich Internet Applications: ARIA bridges the gap between assistive devices and more complicated coding elements and makes them understandable.
• Establish Content Standards: Everyone who contributes to your site needs to be on board with your web accessibility standards initiatives. Content creators, editors, and curators need to write in understandable language, use appropriate alt tags for images, and interlink content logically.
• Test Thoroughly: When you are done upgrading your site, and at regular intervals afterward, conduct testing with screen readers and other assistive technologies to make sure everything works correctly.

Tools and Resources for Accessibility

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Speaking of testing, there are a few tools and resources that can help:

Automated Testing Tools

Automated tools scan pages and compare them to established accessibility guidelines. Some of the most popular include:

• WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool) provides visual feedback to highlight on-page accessibility issues and provides detailed reports.
• Axe is a free, open-source tool that provides in-depth testing and reporting for a wide range of applications.
• Lighthouse is another open-source automated tool that offers real-time testing and comprehensive reporting.

Manual Testing Techniques

Automated tools are helpful, but manual testing is essential as well. Some tests you’ll wish to carry out include:

• Keyboard navigation testing
• Screen reader testing
• Color contrast evaluation
• Semantic HTML review
• Responsive design checks

User Testing

If practicable, it is worth the time and expense to assemble a diverse group of users with various disabilities who can help with testing. Clearly define objectives, and create realistic scenarios for your focus group to navigate.

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Encourage them to use the same technology and methods they would use to access the web in their homes. This best simulates how users will interact with your site and can give unique insights into what you’ve got right and wrong.

Educational Resources

The more you know about web accessibility, the better you’ll prepare your site. Here are a few resources worth bookmarking:

• ADA: The Americans with Disabilities Act sets the legal framework for accessibility standards for websites in the United States.
• W3C WAI: The Web Accessibility Initiative is a program of the W3C intended to improve web accessibility for people with disabilities.
• WebAIM: An organization dedicated to improving web accessibility that provides resources, tools, training, and consulting.
• A11Y Project: A community-driven initiative to promote web accessibility, focusing on resources, awareness, advocacy, and education.
• Deque University: Offers courses and training materials on accessibility standards and best practices.

Case Studies and Examples

What does the successful implementation of accessibility standards for websites look like? Here are a few companies that got it right in some clever ways:

• Wikipedia: Wikipedia is a useful source of information, but some pages are so dense it’s easy to get lost and frustrated. By implementing a table of contents on the left side of the page, users can view a simpler breakdown of information and easily understand where they need to go.
• Target: This is a company that takes great strides to meet and exceed WCAG guidelines by incorporating things like easy-to-navigate site structure, full keyboard access, and text equivalents for audio content.
• BMW: Shiny, beautiful cars are enough to make anyone’s head spin. This is why BMW includes features that make their site easier to read, so impaired users can more easily take in the information.
• BBC: The BBC is a leader in web accessibility, with a strong focus on inclusion. This means things like providing text alternatives for media, clear navigation, keyboard accessibility, and even incorporating British Sign Language into some of its programs.

The Future of Web Accessibility

AI is quickly changing the web, and it’s already improving accessibility for the people who need it most. AI-powered virtual assistants are a powerful way to address many of the complications people with disabilities face when using the web.

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While it is hard to imagine how far it can go and what amazing innovations await us, there is no doubt that artificial technology will play a major role in the future of web accessibility. For a smart business owner or site designer, future-proofing your site means keeping up with these trends and making updates accordingly.

Accessibility Standards for Websites Matter

Web accessibility isn’t just ethical; it is essential. When you ensure equal access to information, you improve the world by enabling a sizable part of the population to live better lives.

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You comply with federal laws and international standards, a smart move for any company that cares about its reputation and legal standing. And, you help your own business by increasing your customer base, bringing in talented employees with disabilities, and improving your SEO.

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Still, it can be a little overwhelming. It helps to partner with a skilled digital marketing organization that knows the ropes and can guide you on your journey. Contact elk Marketing to discuss ways we can help you meet accessibility standards for your website.