Everyone is different. We all have different needs, preferences and abilities. Therefore, website design should take into account that not everyone has the same access to information. Web accessibility is the process of making digital content accessible to everyone, regardless of their physical, technical or mental abilities. Many people assume that accessibility limits user interface design. This is not the case. In fact, there are more and more positive examples of good design that is also accessible. With the growing importance of accessibility, there are simply more opportunities for designers to exercise their creativity and create stunning designs that are both functional and visually appealing.
Web accessibility - what is it?
You probably know the toilet symbol. Or the disabled parking sign. Both are standards that everyone knows and understands instantly. They make our everyday lives easier because we don't have to explain where the toilet is or which car park is for disabled people. Web standards are similar - they define how things should look and work on the web. For example, there are standards for web pages, videos or images.
Web accessibility means that websites are designed so that as many people as possible can use them - whether they have a disability or not. It means, for example, that a website is easy to read and can be used by people with visual impairments. Or that a website is designed so that people with motor impairments can use it easily.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 describes on its website 4 principles to pay attention to:
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Perceptibility
Content must be designed to be equally accessible to all users. This means, for example, that the font size should be adjustable or that alternative text labels should be available for images.
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Operability
The 2nd principle describes that the content must be designed in such a way that it is possible for all users to access the desired information at any time. This includes, for example, that links can also be operated with the keyboard or videos can be interrupted and restarted.
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Comprehensibility
Content must be designed in such a way that the content it contains is understandable and its operation is comprehensible. This includes, for example, the language of the website or the structure of the information.
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Robustness
The 4th principle states that the content must be implemented in such a way that it can be used by current and future user tools (e.g. screen readers).
The WCAG standard sets out a number of success criteria that websites must meet in order to be accessible and understandable to all users. There are 3 levels of conformance: A, AA and AAA. Depending on the number of success criteria a website meets, it is classified in one of these three categories.
Level A is the lowest level and includes only the basics of web accessibility. AA is the intermediate level and requires a site to be a little more thoughtful. AAA is the highest level of compliance and means that a website addresses all aspects of the standard.
It is important for businesses to know which level of compliance they should be aiming for. Obviously, the higher the level, the greater the effort. But even small steps can go a long way to ensuring that the website is accessible to all users.
Why is accessibility important?
Websites should be accessible so that everyone can use them equally. This is important because using websites has become an essential part of our daily lives. We use them to work, to learn, to entertain ourselves and to stay in touch with others. Accessibility makes it possible to engage in the full range of these activities.
But there's another special reason why web accessibility is so important: the number of people with disabilities is steadily increasing worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than one billion people worldwide are living with a disability – that's about 15 per cent of the world's population. In Austria, there are more than 1.3 million people with disabilities. And the trend is increasing.
There are many different types of disability that can affect the way people use websites. For example, people with visual impairments may not be able to see images or video on a website. People with hearing impairments may not be able to hear audio or video on a website. And people with motor impairments may have certain types of user errors that make it difficult or impossible to navigate a website.
Accessibility therefore refers to designing websites so that they are equally accessible and usable by all users. This means labelling images and videos so that people with visual impairments can understand them, captioning audio and video clips so that people with hearing impairments can understand them, and minimising user errors so that people with motor impairments can navigate better.
Implementing accessibility is often easy and inexpensive. Many of the changes needed to make a website accessible simply involve the way content is presented. For example, using alternative text for images can be very helpful for people with visual impairments. Subtitles for videos can help people with hearing impairments understand what is being said. And optimising the usability of a website can help all users - not just people with disabilities.
So accessibility is important both ethically and practically. Ethically, websites should be designed so that all people can access them equally. Practically, accessibility is often easy to implement and offers many benefits to all users of a website - not just people with disabilities.
Who does accessibility matter to?
Many people think that web accessibility is only important for people with disabilities. But that's not true! Everyone, at some point in their lives, may find themselves in a situation where they need the help of web accessibility. Whether it's because of an illness, an injury or as we age, any of us may need help at some point. Web Accessibility is also important for children and teenagers, as they have no experience with it and therefore need help.
Web accessibility is also important for businesses, governments and other organisations that use the Internet. Many organisations have legal obligations to make their websites and applications accessible to everyone. Although there is not yet a legal obligation for the private sector in Europe, it is morally and commercially sensible to design websites and applications so that all users have equal access.
What can I do to promote accessibility?
There are many ways to promote web accessibility. The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is a good source of information and guidelines for creating accessible websites. But what can we do as designers?
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Visual presentation of text
There are several things to consider when presenting text. This starts with the choice of font. It is best to choose a font that is not too playful and is easy to read at small sizes - you should not go below 12px (although this can vary from font to font). Also, narrow-width text blocks, for example, are easier for everyone to read, especially people with reading or visual impairments. For this reason, WCAG recommends keeping the number of characters in a line of text to less than 80.
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Colours & contrasts
Content should not be colour-coded only (e.g. error messages) because there are many people who are colour-blind and would not understand the context of a message. It is better to use text and an icon to emphasise the message. In this way, both a colour-blind person and someone with no limitations can better understand the content. The WCAG guidelines state that the contrast ratio between text and background should be 4.5:1 to achieve an AA rating.
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Consistent navigation elements
It's never a good sign when users have to figure out how to navigate a website. That's why accessible design should be predictable. Users shouldn't have to wonder how certain elements will behave or how the interface will look on other pages. Navigation elements should always appear in the same order and in the same place on the website. Functional elements should also behave the same from page to page.
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Clear focus states
Many people use the keyboard rather than the mouse to navigate through a website. This requires clear focus states for elements to show the user which elements they have just selected with their tab key. By forgetting this, we not only exclude a large number of people who rely on it, but also frustrate those who do so voluntarily.
Developers can also help to make websites more accessible. For example, they can ensure that websites work well with screen readers. For example, by using "alt" tags on images so that people with visual impairments can "see" them. Or using "title" tags on all links to describe the target content. Multimedia content such as videos and audio files should also be provided with subtitles and/or transcriptions.
Conclusion
In summary, web accessibility is an increasingly important issue that requires collaboration between designers, developers, copywriters and content creators. To ensure that a website is accessible, the WCAG 2.0 guidelines should be followed. Although it can sometimes be difficult to follow all the guidelines, it's important that we all do our part to make the web accessible to everyone.