Did you know 1 in 4 American adults have some form of disability?
This can range from something as incapacitating as vision disabilities to down syndrome or motor impairment. That’s a large crowd of people who, despite their disabilities, can and will access your website.
Website accessibility is now a priority. After all, you’ll start seeing a decrease in traffic and site credibility if people can’t access your site due to a lack of accessibility features.
Not sure how to increase accessibility or how to test it? We’ve got your back with our guide below. Keep reading to learn different ways to improve your site and make it more inclusive.
Have Colorblindness-Friendly Options
Start website testing for people who are color blind. You can download color blind filters for your browser or turn on the colorblind options on your PC. Once these are on, visit your site and try to navigate.
Can’t see some elements because the colors blend? That’s a sign you need to make some adjustments.
One good method is to offer colorblind modes for your site. These automatically alter the colors depending on the type of colorblindness. A more complex method is to feature color sliders, allowing visitors to alter the colors of your website on their own.
Accurate Alt Text For Graphics
Keep in mind that some people might need to disable graphics on your site. Others, like those who are blind, rely on Braille to navigate a website. The only way they can interact with yours is if you have accurate alt text telling them about the graphical element.
Too often, the alt text that describes website pictures and graphics is unhelpful or downright inaccurate. Integrate better alt text from the beginning. This ensures you won’t miss anything by accident.
Design For Text to Speech
Don’t forget to design your site with text to speech in mind. This also increases accessibility for people with vision impairments or those who can’t read. Make sure that the tool can check and read every element of your site.
This includes reading out menu options, text on buttons, and alt text for graphical elements. If there are elements that feature right-click menu options, add text to speech for those too.
Include Closed Captions and Transcriptions
Got videos on your website? Add closed captions and transcriptions. This ensures people with hearing disabilities can still understand the content.
However, you shouldn’t stop with English.
If possible, add captions and transcriptions in other languages. Pick some of the most common languages, such as Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin, Japanese, French, and Malay.
This guarantees everyone, whether with hearing disabilities or from other countries, can understand the content in your videos and audio files.
This is not the case for translating your site’s content to other languages. This will require the aid of professional translators. However, it’s a good option if you intend to widen your brand’s reach.
Turn Everything Off
A good method of testing your site for accessibility is to turn everything off. Turn off the graphical elements, videos, and advance CSS modules.
Can you still navigate the site when it’s in this kind of barebone presentation? Does the text to speech option still work?
If you can still get to the pages and content you want without all the fancy design features, you’re one big step closer to a more accessible site. However, you also need to test for motor impairment, which requires a few complex procedures which we’ll discuss next.
Limit Mouse and Keyboard Access
Some people can’t navigate a site with a mouse. The lack of mobility limits how they can move around and access elements like menu options, links, and buttons.
Imagine how patients, like the late Stephen Hawkings, accessed websites. He had little to no motor control and had to rely on an assistive machine to navigate websites. Make sure your site can cater to people with similar conditions.
You’ll need to see how your site works without a mouse. Can you access everything using a keyboard? How about when you use assistive tools like smart speakers with voice command prompts or adaptive gaming controllers?
Run a Diagnostics Test
One quick method of checking website accessibility is to run a diagnostics test. There are two ways of achieving this.
The first step is to find an online diagnostics center. Simply allow the online tool to access your website and it’ll run a full systems check. It might take time, depending on how big your site is and how many pages there are.
Your other option is to use a CSS diagnostics tool. You’ll have to insert it into your site (via CSS coding) and then run a test.
It’s a better choice to do both. Now you’ll have a better average of test results to help point out your site’s weaknesses.
Hire Professional Testers
At the end of the day, however, you’ll want to focus on your business. Coding and running your website shouldn’t be your job.
That’s why it’s better to hire professionals, like the ones at https://www.qualitylogic.com/what-we-test/web/, for website performance testing.
They have the experience, tools, and knowledge to get the job done right. It might cost you more at first glance but you get the guarantee they’ll spot every issue to fix.
Hiring professionals also opens the door for more quality assurance testing. Don’t hesitate to give experts a call and focus on improving your website even further.
Test Website Accessibility Now
Why wait any further? Invest in test website accessibility today and make sure everyone can visit and navigate your site. Follow these steps right here, from enabling colorblind modes to hiring expert QA teams, and you’ll have a more inclusive website in no time.
Of course, improving your site doesn’t end with these steps. If you want to learn more tech or general tips, feel free to keep reading our posts. We cover everything from technology to real estate so feel free to continue reading today.