Website accessibility is something that cannot just be wished away. As the world gets more digitized, more and more people are accessing the internet. Some of such people suffer from different types of disabilities.
It is the responsibility of every website owner and developer to ensure their website can be accessed by everyone without struggling.
Although making your website compliant with the WCAG directives may need help from an accessibility expert, there are certain tests you can undertake on your own. The main idea is to ensure that individuals with disabilities such as visual impairment can access your website.
Below are some of the ways to quickly check your website’s accessibility:
1. Check for alt texts
All images and non-text content in your website are supposed to have text alternatives. This means that even if the image fails to load as intended, the alternative text will be displayed. Besides, different people access your website differently. Some use screen readers while others refreshable Braille display.
For such assistive technologies to effectively interpret objects like graphics, you must provide accurate alt texts. This is because such tools aren’t able to read whatever is being displayed on the website naturally.
2. Check out for transcription videos and closed captions.
Transcripts and closed captions are essential to the accessibility of multimedia content such as videos. Captions are alternatives texts for audio that are incorporated in videos. You should have relevant sounds, spoken dialogue, and other elements such as music to bring out the intended meaning.
On the other hand, transcripts are the text versions of videos contained on your website. They should also have spoken words as well as text descriptions or anything vital being displayed.
3. Check colour contrast
Colour is a very important factor to consider when it comes to website accessibility. What does colour contrast mean? It is the difference in the light used on your backgrounds and fonts.
Because people with visual impairments will at some point visit your website, you should use sufficiently contrasting colours for proper accessibility.
4. Ensure your website can be accessed without a mouse
This is also a great way of determining if your website is accessible or not. Some people choose not to use a mouse because of one reason to another when accessing your website.
As such, you should test to find out if someone without a mouse can navigate through your website using a keyboard only. The good news is that this is something you can try independently without the need for an expert.
5. Use a website accessibility checker.
Other than the manual ways of checking website accessibility, there are several tools such as a website accessibility checker that you can use to determine if your website is accessible. You can access such tools for free over the internet or purchase more improved versions for better results. According to AudioEye, “a website that is not accessible increases the legal exposure to a potential accessibility lawsuit.”
It is important to ensure that everyone can access your digital content. The best way to do this is to conduct regular website accessibility checks.