Web Accessibility Agency | Creating Your Accessible Website

Website accessibility refers to the inclusive practice of designing and developing websites that people with disabilities can use effectively. It ensures that all users, regardless of their abilities, can perceive, understand, navigate, interact with and contribute to the web.

Web accessibility is important because it promotes inclusivity and ensures equal access to information and services for everyone, including people with disabilities. It also complies with legal requirements in many regions and improves overall user satisfaction and SEO.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a series of recommendations for making web content more accessible to people with disabilities. The guidelines are part of the international standard set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

WCAG 2.2 builds on previous versions by adding more criteria to improve accessibility for users with cognitive and learning disabilities, users with low vision and users on mobile devices. It includes guidelines on accessible authentication, consistent help and redundant entry.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are organised into three levels of conformance to help developers, designers and content creators meet various degrees of accessibility: Level A, Level AA and Level AAA. These levels are intended to offer a gradient of accessibility that meets different degrees of needs for individuals with disabilities. Here’s an explanation of each:

Level A (Minimum Level)

• Level A is the most basic web accessibility features, which must be satisfied for some users to access web content. Compliance at this level is generally easier to achieve and is considered the minimum standard for accessibility.
• Requirements under this level often include providing text alternatives for non-text content, ensuring that all functionality is available from a keyboard and using basic HTML to structure content and titles correctly.

Level AA (Mid Range)

• Level AA includes all Level A requirements plus additional provisions that address the biggest and most common barriers for disabled users. This level is typically aimed at making sites accessible to individuals with a wider range of disabilities, including the most common barriers to accessibility.
• Meeting Level AA often involves improving colour contrast, making text resizable without assistive technology up to 200 percent, providing captions for videos and ensuring consistent navigation across the site. This level is regarded as the gold standard for most websites and is the level often specified as a requirement under laws and regulations.

Level AAA (Highest Level)

• Level AAA includes all Level A and Level AA requirements plus the highest and most complex level of web accessibility that helps make sites accessible to the greatest extent possible. This level attempts to provide an enhanced accessibility experience but is not required by most policies due to its stringent criteria, which might not be possible to meet for all content or may be deemed over-demanding for some types of content.
• Requirements at this level might include providing sign language interpretation for videos, offering detailed help and guidance for complex or non-standard website functions and ensuring a lower level of background noise for audio content.

Practical Application

While it is often recommended that websites aim to meet at least Level AA conformance to accommodate legal standards and a broader range of accessibility needs, reaching Level AAA might not be feasible for all content. For instance, it may not be possible to provide detailed documentation or sign language interpretations for all media on a site, especially if resources are limited.

Each level builds on the previous one, meaning that to achieve Level AA, a site must first meet all Level A criteria. The choice of which level to target depends on several factors, including the audience, legal requirements and organisational capabilities. Most accessibility legislation, such as the Equality Act 2010 require conformance to at least WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

Ensuring web accessibility involves overcoming various barriers that can prevent people with disabilities from using the web effectively. Here are some of the most common barriers to web accessibility:

1. Poor Colour Contrast: Insufficient contrast between text and background colours can make content difficult to read for people with visual impairments, including those with colour blindness.
2. Lack of Alt Text for Images: Images without alternative text descriptions prevent screen readers from conveying what the image depicts to users who are blind or have severe visual impairments.
3. Non-Keyboard-Navigable Interfaces: Websites that cannot be navigated using a keyboard alone can exclude users with motor disabilities who cannot use a mouse. This includes missing keyboard focus indicators which show where the keyboard actions will occur in the interface.
4. Missing Video Captions and Audio Descriptions: Videos without captions or audio descriptions can exclude users who are deaf or have hearing impairments. Captions are also helpful for users who are in a noisy environment or where sound is not feasible.
5. Complex and Inconsistent Navigation: Inconsistent or complex navigation mechanisms can make it difficult for users, particularly those with cognitive disabilities, to find their way around a site. Consistent, clear and predictable navigation is crucial.
6. Use of Language or Jargon: Overly complex language or jargon can be a barrier for individuals with cognitive disabilities, those who have difficulty with reading or users for whom the site’s language is not their first language.
7. Time-Limited Content: Content that requires a user to act within a limited timeframe can be inaccessible to users with cognitive or physical disabilities who may need more time to read or interact with content.
8. Lack of Form Input Labels: Forms without properly associated labels can be confusing for everyone, particularly for people using screen readers, as they may not understand the purpose of each input field.
9. Over-reliance on JavaScript or Dynamic Content: Websites that rely heavily on JavaScript or dynamically generated content can pose challenges for screen readers unless properly coded with accessibility in mind.
10. Pop-ups and Modal Dialogs: Pop-ups and modal dialogs can be disorienting for users, particularly if they are not properly coded to trap focus and manage screen reader interaction.

By addressing these barriers, web developers can create more inclusive web environments that allow people of all abilities to access and use web content effectively. Addressing these issues not only helps to comply with legal requirements but also improves the overall user experience, potentially increasing the site’s audience and engagement.

Enhancements aimed at improving accessibility can also enhance the overall user experience. For example, clear navigation and readable fonts benefit all users, not just those with disabilities. Additionally, accessible websites tend to perform better in search engine rankings.

An accessibility statement is a document that explains the accessibility features of a website, including the level of compliance with standards such as WCAG. It’s important because it communicates the website owner’s commitment to accessibility and provides information on accessibility accommodations and how to report issues.

Yes, accessibility can significantly benefit SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). Many of the principles that improve accessibility also enhance SEO, making your website more discoverable and usable, which can lead to better rankings in search engine results. Here are some key ways in which implementing accessibility practices can boost SEO:

1. Alt Text for Images: Providing descriptive alternative text (alt text) for images helps screen readers interpret what an image depicts for users who are visually impaired. For SEO, alt text improves the indexing of images, as search engines use this text to understand the content of images, which can enhance the visibility of your site in image searches.
2. Heading Structure: Proper use of heading tags (H1, H2, H3 etc.) helps users and assistive technologies understand the organisation of content on a page. For search engines, clear headings can help understand the structure and hierarchy of content, improving content indexing and relevance in search results.
3. Link Anchor Text: Accessible websites use descriptive text in links rather than vague references like “click here.” This clarity helps users with screen readers and also informs search engines about the content of the linked page, contributing to SEO by establishing relevant connections between pages.
4. Site Navigation: Accessibility requires that sites be navigable via keyboard and easy to understand, which often leads to improved site architecture and internal linking. This structured and logical navigation is also favoured by search engines, as it makes it easier to crawl and index site content.
5. Transcripts and Captions for Multimedia: Providing transcripts for audio and captions for videos not only makes multimedia content accessible but also creates additional text content that can be indexed by search engines. This improves the findability of multimedia content and can drive additional traffic to your site.
6. Mobile Responsiveness: Accessibility emphasises mobile accessibility, including the use of responsive design to ensure that content works well on various devices. Since search engines prioritise mobile-friendly sites (especially after Google’s mobile-first indexing), this can greatly enhance your SEO.
7. Page Loading Speed: Many accessible websites are optimised for performance to ensure that they load quickly even on slower connections, which is crucial for users with certain types of cognitive disabilities. Faster loading times are a critical factor in SEO rankings.
8. Reduced Bounce Rates and Increased Time on Site: Accessible sites are generally more user-friendly, leading to better user engagement, longer time spent on the site and lower bounce rates. Search engines use these metrics as indicators of a site’s quality and relevance, which can boost SEO.

By aligning your website’s accessibility improvements with SEO best practices, you can enhance your site’s usability, reach a broader audience and improve your overall online presence. This synergy between accessibility and SEO not only helps to meet regulatory requirements but also contributes to a more inclusive web environment.

Making multimedia content accessible is crucial for ensuring that all users, including those with disabilities, can fully engage with your website’s content. Here are some effective strategies to enhance the accessibility of multimedia such as videos, audio files and images:

Videos

1. Captions: Provide captions for all videos. Captions should accurately reflect spoken words and other relevant sounds. This helps users who are deaf or hard of hearing to follow along.
2. Audio Descriptions: Include audio descriptions that describe important visual details in videos, which might not be clear through the soundtrack alone. This is particularly helpful for users who are blind or have low vision.
3. Transcripts: Offer full transcripts of videos and audio files. Transcripts help users who prefer to read rather than listen, and they are also useful for those who have difficulty processing auditory information.
4. Accessible Player: Ensure that your media player is accessible, meaning it can be navigated using a keyboard and is compatible with assistive technologies like screen readers.
5. Control Options: Provide options to pause, stop or control the volume of videos without requiring mouse interaction. This makes it easier for users with motor disabilities to control playback.

Audio

1. Transcripts: As with videos, provide transcripts for audio-only content. This allows users who cannot hear the audio to still access the information.
2. Clear and Distinct Speaking: Ensure that audio content is clear and speakers use a moderate pace, which helps those who may have processing disorders or are not native speakers of the language.

Images

1. Alternative Text: Provide alternative (alt) text for all images. The alt text should convey the content and function of the image succinctly. This is crucial for screen reader users or when the image fails to load.
2. Complex Images: For complex images like graphs or charts, provide longer descriptions either within the context of the document or linked near the image.

Additional Considerations

• Ensure Compatibility: Make sure that all multimedia content is compatible with common assistive technologies.
• Sign Language: For highly informative content, consider providing a sign language interpretation within the video frame to assist users who are deaf and use sign language as their primary means of communication.
• Avoid Seizure-Triggering Content: Be cautious with visuals that flash or flicker, especially if they do so more than three times per second, as they can trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy.

By implementing these strategies, you not only make your multimedia content more accessible but also improve the overall user experience for a broader audience. This approach reflects a commitment to inclusivity and can help your content reach as many people as possible.