Why Your Website Needs To Be Accessible To Everyone?
Importance of Website Accessibility
When do you think about websites, that come to your mind? The graphic? The content? The colors? Or the functionality? Probably how accessible it is. It doesn’t mean how and when you can get it to load on the screen Before diving into web accessibility, you should first understand what the word accessibility means. Accessibility refers to the ability of everyone to have access to something, regardless of disability, which is an essential aspect.
This article will take you through what is website accessibility? Why is it important? Why does your website need to be accessible? And how can you make your website accessible?
Website Accessibility Defined?
The Americans with Disabilities Act was introduced in 1990, which at first only dealt with physical barriers or barrier to entrance, such as doors, stairs, etc. However, in 2010, the act was updated to include websites as well. The ADA determined that refuting access to the website or any information is another type of blockade to entry.
Ideally, it is significant that every website on the internet is accessible to everyone. An accessible website is one that has certain features, and some are visible to the user and some are not. All these features combine to create a comparable experience for visitors, particularly those who experience disabilities such as:
- auditory
- cognitive
- neurological
- physical
- speech
- visual
Why is it Important?
The internet is a common resource for anyone to access any information, whether education, healthcare, or more. Significantly, a website must be designed in such a way that it is readable and usable to anyone. Accessibility is essential for both organizations and developers to create high-quality web tools and websites for a better user experience. It must not exclude users from accessing their products and services.
Moreover, accessibility tools, technologies, and screen readers may help those who may not be able to see well.
Why Your Website Should be Accessible?
There are many reasons why your website should be accessible to everyone. Every website owner wants to generate as much traffic as possible. However, only a few take the necessary steps to make sure their site is accessible to everyone. There are millions of websites users out there who want websites to be easily accessible. If you don’t take the time to understand the user’s requirements, then you will miss out on big traffic.
How can you Make Your Website Accessible?
Accessibility may sound a little daunting, but fortunately, it isn’t hard to implement. All you need to do is to understand underlying issues which can make it hard for your users to have the best experience. Once you have determined these issues, you can take steps to avoid all mistakes that were making your site unapproachable. Here are a few important techniques that will help you achieve your goal.
- Your site should be keyboard-friendly
- Make sure your content is easily accessible
- Make your color selection carefully
- Make sure to add alt text to all images
- Design your forms for accessibility
- Do not forget to use headers to structure your content
- Use tables for only tabular data
- Allow resizable text that doesn’t break your site
- Evade automatic media and navigation
Hey Fawad Malik,
Great post with great information. I really like the post and the points that you have listed. Thanks for mentioning the importance of website accessibility. It is really important that our website must be accessible for everyone, as internet is one of a common source for everyone to access information and to gain knowledge. The website that we are designing must be readable and usable for every user.Website accessibility provide us several benefits and also generate traffic to the website. Your steps to make the website accessible are great and helpful, and i truly like the way you described the importance of website accessibility.
Really helpful post for users and thanks for sharing.