What is Accessibility?
Web Accessibility means making your websites usable by as many people as possible, i.e. making sites accessible to other groups such as those using mobile devices, or those with slow network connections.
In a recent study there will be 4 billion smartphone users by 2025 which means it's high time we start taking accessibility in consideration.
So now we have an idea about what is accessibility, but why should we care about it?
- Let us take an example where we are not permitting people in a club on the basis of their colour/Gender, that would be very horrendous/disgusting to even think about Right? No one should be left out because of their colour/gender or any other parameter. This same applies to accessibility. We should aim to make the web accessible for everyone. In fact, in some countries, there is law about it.
- Using Semantic HTML will improve SEO[Search Engine Optimization] making your site more findable.
- Moreover, it is a best practice which shows empathy towards people living in different demographics.
- Plus, You don't have to think of your Website speed decreasing because of it since it has a very little to no impact over speed.
- People frequently confuse addressing accessibility will force them to choose between creating a delightful and attractive experience, and one that is clunky and ugly but accessible which is a myth.
How can we ensure the accessibility of our Website?
A sound foundation of accessibility for people with cognitive impairments includes:
- Delivering content in more than one way, such as by text-to-speech or by video.
- Clearly understood content, such as text written using plain-language standards.
- Minimizing distractions, such as unnecessary content or advertisements.
- Consistent webpage layout and navigation.
- Familiar elements, such as underlined links blue when not visited and purple when visited.
- Dividing processes into logical, essential steps with progress indicators.
- Website authentication as easy as possible without jeopardizing security.
- Making forms easy to complete, such as with clear error messages and simple error recovery.
How can you monitor your website accessibility score?
- There are various resources to check your web accessibility score For e.g. -AXE Extension, GT matrix but the most near one and useful to you is in your own browser! Yes, you read it right:), it's Google lighthouse (you can also install lighthouse as an extension if you are a Firefox user)
- Open your console[Ctrl+ Shift+I] and go to lighthouse tab and there you can see
generate reportbutton, in which you can also choose your device type, i.e. Mobile/Desktop** - After the audit is done if required Lighthouse also gives you some suggestions to improve the accessibility score.
This blog about accessibility, gave us a rough overview that why it's important and why we should start working on accessibility and also how can we improve our accessibility score. At last, thank you for your time and feel free to share any feedback/suggestions you have in the comments or Mail. Since this is my first blog :P
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