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Making your website accessible for people with disabilities makes sense for any business. Optimize your website for visually impaired users with these tips. Incorporating accessibility on your website is the right thing to do today.
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Why?<\/strong> Web accessibility is about designing and developing websites, tools, and technologies that people with disabilities can use, according to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). People with disabilities should be able to perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with, and contribute to the web. Web accessibility applies to all disabilities that affect access to the web, including:<\/p>\n The most relevant sections of the ADA to web accessibility are Title II and Title III.<\/p>\n Title II<\/strong> requires state and local governments and governmental entities receiving federal funding to provide qualified individuals with disabilities with equal access to their programs, services, or activities.<\/p>\n Title III<\/strong> prohibits \u201cplaces of public accommodations such as restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, museums, and hospitals from disability-based discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n While the ADA does not clearly address the question of web accessibility, websites and apps are often considered as part of a business.<\/p>\n Recent years have seen a spike in the number of ADA-based web accessibility lawsuits. There were nearly over a thousand ADA website-accessibility lawsuits filed in federal courts this year. Below are some notable cases. A number of class-action lawsuits have been filed by plaintiffs alleging that they cannot access the information, products, and services, offered on defendants\u2019 websites. <\/p>\n Robles v. Domino\u2019s Pizza <\/strong> Loadholt v. HSN, Inc.<\/strong> Brown v. Grocery Delivery E-Services USA, Inc. (HelloFresh)<\/strong> Optimizing a website for disabled users makes perfect business sense. You can cater to a broader market segment while building a positive brand image. Once you have tested your website for web accessibility, you can implement the following steps:<\/p>\n 1. Add Images with Alt Text<\/strong> Screen Readers are software programs that read the text on the screen using a synthesizer or Braille display. However, neither of these technologies can read images or the text in the images. So, you need to add Alt Text to describe your images to disabled users.<\/p>\n Make sure to describe the image as clearly as possible. You can use alt attribute for brief descriptions and \u201cLongdesc Tag\u201d for lengthy descriptions.<\/p>\n 2. Allow Users to Enlarge Font Sizes<\/strong> Make sure your CTA buttons have a larger font size. Also, make these buttons visible to people with impaired vision.<\/p>\n 3. Keep Contrast Sensitivity in Mind<\/strong> Also, try to avoid using any JavaScript or CSS features that will prevent visually impaired users from increasing the contrast or righ-clicking. Some devices use right-clicking to be able to assist their users.<\/p>\n Just like the text size, color contrast is also critical for CTAs.<\/p>\n While black text on a white background has the highest readability, you can also use a combination of black text on a yellow background and yellow text on a blue background. Avoid using combinations like green text on red background and vice versa as they are hard to read.<\/p>\n 4. Add Keyboard Navigation<\/strong> Also, make JavaScript widgets accessible with the keyboard. Alternatively, you can use HTML links, buttons, and form fields alone to make sure all elements of your website are keyboard-accessible.<\/p>\n 5. Make Video and Multimedia Accessible<\/strong> Make sure you don\u2019t end up with hours of audio description, making it a meaningless experience for the user. You can provide text captions that synchronize with the video and audio tracks for users who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Make sure to use the right color contrast to highlight the captions correctly.<\/p>\n Finally, you will have to use an accessible multimedia player. Fortunately, HTML5 players provide a better chance of incorporating accessibility.<\/p>\n 6. Use Descriptive URLs<\/strong> Low Readability<\/strong>: www.abcmarketing.com\/about Avoid using anchor text like \u201cRead More\u201d or \u201cClick Here\u201d anywhere on the page. Also, don\u2019t add links to images that can\u2019t support Alt Text.<\/p>\n 7. Use ARIA Roles<\/strong> The six most common categories of ARIA roles include:<\/p>\n However, only people with access to source code and with the knowledge of ARIA and HTML5 can and should make these changes.<\/p>\n 8. Avoid Using Placeholder Text in Forms<\/strong> So, instead of placeholder text, use the
\nBecause 25% of adults in the U.S. live with a disability, according to the CDC. However, too many websites still lack accessibility features. That means millions of users are struggling to use the web.<\/p>\nWhat Is Web Accessibility?<\/h2>\n
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Where Does ADA Stand?<\/h2>\n
New Wave of ADA Lawsuits<\/h2>\n
\nThe Domino case first went to trial more than six years ago. After going through \u201cevery level of the judicial system,\u201d parties finally settled the case on June 6, 2022. Terms of the resolution are unknown.<\/p>\n
\nMore recently, Plaintiff Christopher Loadholt has filed a class-action lawsuit for himself and other similarly situated individuals, claiming the Home Shopping Network (HSN) violates both the ADA and the New York City Human Rights Law. Loadholt says he is unable to use the HSN website because it was not designed to be accessible for assistive technology users. Loadholt uses a screen reader to navigate websites and other digital content because he is blind. He alleges that the HSN website failed to label titles properly, includes broken links, and uses vague headings, among other things. According to the lawsuit, \u201cThese access barriers effectively denied Plaintiff the ability to use and enjoy Defendant\u2019s website the same way sighted individuals do.\u201d Loadholt seeks declaratory and injunctive relief in addition to compensatory, statutory, and punitive damages for himself and all Class Members.<\/p>\n
\nPlaintiff Lamar Brown alleges that the HelloFresh website (Grocery Delivery E-Services USA, Inc) fails to provide an accessible digital shopping experience for people who use screen reading software. In doing so, he claims HelloFresh violates the ADA, the New York State Human Rights Law, New York State Civil Rights Law, and the New York City Human Rights Law. The lawsuit claims, \u201cThe access barriers make it impossible for blind and visually impaired users to even complete a transaction on the website.\u201d <\/p>\nHow to Optimize Your Website for Disabled Users<\/h2>\n
\nA picture may be worth a thousand words, but visual elements like images are an accessibility barrier to blind users and those with low vision. They often have to rely on assistive technologies such as Screen Readers and refreshable Braille Readers.<\/p>\n
\nPeople with low vision often can\u2019t read small text sizes. So, they have to use specific font settings when browsing your website. Offering an alternate style sheet with the ability to enlarge the font size without breaking your page layout should make it easier for them to read your content.<\/p>\n
\nAlong with text size, think about color and contrast. People with vision impairments such as retinitis pigmentosa, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and cataract have low color contrast sensitivity. When designing your webpages, make sure to have a high contrast between the foreground and background, such as yellow letters on a black background. Avoid using thin fonts.<\/p>\n
\nFor blind and visually impaired users, navigation is a challenge. As they can\u2019t use a mouse to browse the site, you have to incorporate keyboard navigation into your website. Blind users will use Braille keyboards to access your site. Make sure disabled users can access all interactive elements of your website, including:<\/p>\n\n
\nVideos and other multimedia elements on your website play a critical role in increasing the user-engagement on your website. While blind and visually-impaired users can\u2019t see visuals, deaf users and those hard-of-hearing can\u2019t hear audio. You can use an audio description to describe visuals-only parts such as images, gestures, and changes in settings, among others. It will help blind users to enjoy the video. However, use your better judgment when adding an audio description. <\/p>\n
\nScreen readers can quickly and precisely read descriptive URLs, offering blind and visually-impaired users some context. Meaningful descriptions also make it easier to skip to the right content. For example, when describing the link of the \u201cAbout\u201d page, keep the following mind.<\/p>\n
\nHigh Readability<\/strong>: www.abcmarketing.com\/about-our-company<\/p>\n
\nARIA stands for Accessible Rich Internet Applications. It helps you make dynamic content more accessible. ARIA roles and attributes provide more information or context about a website element to screen readers and other assistive tools. You can add the ARIA role using a role=\u201d\n
\nOnline forms often use placeholder text to describe various elements to save space. However, placeholder text is usually gray.
\nVisually impaired users can\u2019t read it due to the low contrast. It is also a non-label text, which means screen readers will usually skip place holder text. As a result, blind users won\u2019t be able to read this text either.<\/p>\n