The standards for web accessibility can be a little overwhelming, but it’s important to keep them in mind when designing a website. The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) technically does apply to websites because websites are public spaces. Government entities should be especially conscious of this, as they are held to a higher standard than businesses. Right now, lawsuits regarding websites are rare, but it’s likely that accessibility will eventually be as much a requirement for your website as it is for your storefront. Additionally, making things as easy as possible for your customers and readers is just the right thing to do.
As with any design decision, you have to consider the purpose of your website and the needs of your intended audience. Sometimes you have to strike a balance between aesthetics and functionality; unfortunately, most assistive technology doesn’t do well with flair. If your brand does require a less accessible aesthetic, you should provide alternative formats for people who simply need to access information.
The best way to make a site accessible is to build it that way from the beginning. If starting over isn’t an option right now, follow these tips to improve your site’s accessibility without a huge investment of time or money:
- Reconsider red for “required.” Red-green color deficiency is the most common form of “color blindness.” While the condition is rare, having red as the go-to color for labeling required fields means that people with this impairment will not be able to subscribe to your content, make purchases, or offer feedback.
- If your video has sound, do not set it to autoplay. Sound that comes out of nowhere can be distracting and/or upsetting for many neurodivergent people. It also doesn’t consider the needs of anyone visiting your site from an office or a room where others are sleeping.
- Use Logical structure. Headlines and sub headlines help assistive technology understand what’s going on with your content and present the information to the user in a logical way. This is also an important tip for Search Engine Optimization.
- Make sure people don’t need a mouse or trackpad to access or understand your content. This one gets a little tricky for non-design people, but if you aren’t a designer, chances are that your site meets this requirement. This is because browsers have what is called a default :focus style. This style helps users understand what content is currently selected. Usually, it is an outline of some sort (for example, if you tab through a form or click in a field, you know which field is selected because it has an outline around it). Some designers remove this feature because it doesn’t look right with the rest of the design. However, not having it makes it very easy for people using keyboard only navigation to get lost in the site’s content. If you don’t like the look of the :focus style, replace it with something that is consistent with your brand rather than remove it altogether.
- Use labels, descriptions, and names for links, forms, and images. Text alternatives allow people with visual impairment to receive audio descriptions of visual content. Clear labels on forms allow Assistive Technology to understand and convey the information. Links that describe their purpose (“Visit our website for more information” rather than “Click here”) help people who scan content figure out where to go to find what they need.
- Close caption you own video and only share video with captions when possible.
Substance and Style 