As website design continues to be of increasing importance in our very technical world, a new buzzword has come to the forefront of web designers’ awareness. Accessible web design is now receiving increased attention as its importance and significant value-added are being recognized.
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What is accessible web design?
Accessible web design refers to designing websites in a way that makes it possible for people with disabilities to successfully use the website and access all of the information and features on the site. This type of web design involves optimizing the site for potential users with a wide range of disabilities, including:
- physical
- visual
- auditory
- communication
- cognitive
- neurological
Why is accessibility important in a website?
Accessibile design should be a key consideration in creating a website. Paying attention to this aspect of design has several important benefits for all websites.
Maximize your website’s possible user base
Regardless of your website’s intended audience, it is statistically likely that people with disabilities could be among the potential visitors to your site. People will naturally prefer to visit sites that they can navigate easily and use fully without barriers to access. Most internet experts, including web giant Google itself, encourage development of accessible websites in order to broaden a site’s potential user base by being inclusive of the estimated 1 billion people worldwide who have a disability. Accessible website design will maximize the number of people who can use your site.
Improve the user experience for all of your site’s visitors
Accessible web design will benefit your website overall by improving the user experience for everyone, disabled or not. Accessible UI design is closely related to responsive design, the concept of making sure your website works across a variety of devices and in different ways people might prefer to use the site. Designing an accessible site will maximize the flexibility all of your users have to customize their own browsing experience.
Keep your website up to date with current global standards
The main international organization that deals with setting protocols and guidelines to improve people’s experience using the internet – The World Wide Web Consortium or W3C – has devoted considerable effort to studying the importance of accessible sites and the best ways to design them. While the recommendations of the W3C are not legally binding, they form the basis of the standards many websites conform to and designing your website in accordance with the best practices suggested by a preeminent web authority will keep your site at the cutting edge of web design.
Maintain your website’s rankings and competitive edge
Designing an accessible website will improve your site’s popularity with users and can also result in increasing your site’s visibility to as many users as possible. Accessibility in web development impacts your site’s SEO and can affect its place in rankings. Many accessible features of websites make it easier for the site to be read and indexed by the web crawlers that populate search engines and accessible UI design design principles that improve the site in general will tend to benefit the site’s rankings as a result of the improvements
How can website design improve accessibility?
How can you ensure that your site is accessible and obtain the significant benefits that will result? Design your site in a way that provides flexibility and adaptability. Wherever possible, provide information such that users can access it in formats that work best for them.
Consider how your site is laid out; will it be simple and intuitive to navigate? That is essential for some users such as those with visual or cognitive impairments, and a site that’s easy to use would be appreciated by anyone.
Website design can take into account whether the site is compatible with a variety of assistive technologies that might be used by people with disabilities, and can even create an effective site that has some customization options through which users can make the appearance of the site more suited to their personal tastes or needs.
Web accessibility guidelines
Ensure that you deliver information in more than one way, such as utilizing both text and graphics. If a user has challenges in one area, they can still access the information on your site through another medium. Additionally, screen readers generally cannot interpret pictures but do look for image descriptions to convey the main ideas of the image to blind users.
Be mindful of the colors and fonts chosen for your website. Not only can this help you make the site accessible for users with visual disabilities, it is also a good reminder to pay attention to the aesthetic appearance of your page. All users appreciate an attractive and easy-to-read design.
Ensure that your site has clear organization and is easy to navigate. This will help any users who have assistive technology, users who have difficulty processing complicated information, or people who might become confused by a chaotic visual layout. In addition, organization and intuitive navigation are key components of general user experience optimization for all users.
You can find extensive information on how to design accessible webpages from organizations such as the WAI through W3C. Additionally, you can use automated tools to check how accessible your website’s design is.
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