Designing for Accessibility: Why It’s Important & How to Do It Right
Web Design | April 28, 2023
In today’s digital age, making sure that your website is accessible to everyone is incredibly important. Did you know it’s actually the law in many countries? This includes the U.S., thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act.
Whether you just purchased a website template you’re ready to customize or you already have a website you or a designer created, it’s essential to ensure that your site is accessible to all visitors.
Here are a few tips to get you started:
- Check the color contrast: Make sure that the color contrast between text and background is sufficient to ensure readability for users with visual impairments.
- Check the heading structure: Use heading tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to create a logical hierarchy of information on your website. This makes it easier for users to navigate your website and helps search engines understand the structure of your content. (In Showit, this is as easy as selecting your textbox and selecting the appropriate HTML tag!)
- Provide alternative text for images: Not all users can see images, so it’s important to provide alternative text (alt text) that describes the content of the image. (Another benefit of adding alt text… It’ll boost your search engine optimization, so your website is more likely to pop up on Google searches.)
- Use descriptive link text: Rather than using generic phrases like “click here,” use descriptive link text that gives users an idea of what they can expect to find on the other end of the link.
- Provide captions and transcripts for multimedia content: Users with hearing impairments may not be able to access multimedia content like videos and podcasts without captions or transcripts.
By designing a website that’s accessible to all visitors, you’re ensuring that everyone has equal access to the information and services that you’re providing. Take the time to make your website accessible. It’s the right thing to do, and it will benefit your business in the long run.
