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How Accessible is Your Website?
When you are first creating your website and start to produce content for it, you might not be thinking of how accessible it really is. However, consider this your reminder that it is fundamental to ensure your website is a dream to navigate for your users. For this reason, the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) has been put in place.
As with all of the pages and content you produce, you want to ensure that they are transferable, meaning that the headings, copy, as well as animations on your site, are understood by all users. The more accessible your website, the greater the user experience.
One of the key things to note when it comes to scanning your website for improvements, is that disability is not the only way in which accessibility is a potential problem. Therefore, your website should be multi-functional and the designer should take into consideration the fact that not everyone uses the same web browser or device, nor might they have all of the latest and relevant plugins. With this in mind, we have comprised a brief list containing some of the areas that might need to be addressed in order to have a DDA compliant website.
1) Alt. Text
Whilst many use alt text as a method of SEO, this is not its primary function. Alt text is responsible for bridging the barrier for those with visual impairments. Since alt text provides a nuanced description when the user cannot view the image, this means that the alt text supplied must be accurate. The best way to check for this is by going through all of your images and re-reading the descriptions. Then, if you discover that they do not match the image or go into enough detail, edit away.2)
2) Sitemaps
One of the essential requirements for your website is a sitemap, so that accessibility is improved. If you use a sitemap generator, these can be easily embedded within your site so that users can locate the content they want quickly and efficiently.
3) Text Resizing
For easier viewing, your website should have the capacity to enlarge text so that viewers can fully absorb your content. Once this function has been created, you must ensure that there are instructions on how to resize text in a statement available on your website.
4) Ability to use Your Website Without a Mouse
When users land on your website, they should be able to explore freely, without having to use a mouse. In order to resolve this, consider building a keyboard friendly website, where users are able to hold down the tab key and spacebar, or use the return key. This will also help mobile phone or tablet users - a win-win!
We have mentioned this in a previous blog, but it is worth reiterating that animations and other flashing text or images can be triggering for those who suffer from epilepsy, so try to keep pop-ups and fast-moving animations to a minimum. Overall, making sure that websites are DDA suitable is a time-consuming but nevertheless, incredibly important task. It is best to tick off your DDA compliancy list from the outset, but if this post has reminded you to alter your website, then get editing!
If you need us you can get in touch with us by emailing [email protected] or give us a call on 01923 260519.