Ways to Improve Accessibility
Ways to improve accessibility or accessible websites may not be something you have thought about or maybe you are someone who wishes websites were better. Here are 8 tips for you to investigate or pass on. Who are your customers? Make sure your businesses is accessible to all.
We use WordPress which has a handy plugin called One Click Accessibility which allows a user to set different characteristics to enable them to ‘see’ the information in a more suitable format for them. The range of things that should can be changed are 1. Text size, 2. Background colour, 3. Underlining links, 4. Readable font (changing font to suit) and 5. Changing contrast (where text may be a similar colour to the background). Try it by using the blue button to the right of the screen.
However it is also good to consider accessible options that accommodate other visual, auditory, motor, cognitive, and speech impairments.
6. Keyboard navigation allows users to use the keyboard instead of a mouse.
7. Alt text is useful and can be used to add a description of a picture that is an essential part of the page or to describe other media.
8. HTML semantic structuring shows the HTML structure of a page and allows users or machines to identify sections e.g. <h1> <h2> headings or <p> paragraphs, to find what they want to read.
There are a lot of different ways to improve the readability of a website. We are not experts but understand a little better how to improve. We are working on this..
Public sector bodies have to by law have accessible websites. Accessibility guide for public sector websites.
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The BBC also have a range of accessibility help: https://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/
Image courtesy of Succo from Pixabay