Before coming to Cherry Hill, I worked at marketing agencies, design firms, and corporations. Web accessibility standards played second fiddle to design and functionality. When I came to the Cherry Hill Company, I had to really understand what web accessibility meant and incorporate these principles in my designs. I learned how important it is because these inclusive guidelines break down barriers that those with disabilities may encounter when visiting a site that is not accessible. Properly designed websites will enable those with disabilities, older users, and those in developing countries use and navigate through your site with ease.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are part of a series of web accessibility guidelines published by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the main international standards organization for the Internet (see Wikipedia). According to Wikipedia, web accessibility is the inclusive practice of ensuring there are no barriers that prevent interaction with, or access to websites, by people with disabilities. When sites are correctly designed, developed and edited, generally all users have equal access to information and functionality.
The four main guiding principles of WCAG 2.1 guidelines (POUR) specify that resources should be universally:
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Perceivable.
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Operable.
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Understandable.
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Robust.
Implementing these principles is not difficult although it does require work. The benefits of creating a website in compliance is that you’ll reach a wider audience, the site will be more efficient (there will be less constraints to accessing the content), and you or your organization won’t be vulnerable to litigation. Yes, lawsuits. In 2018, the projected number of lawsuits (ADA Title III) for sites that did not meet web accessibility standards will have gone up by 30% (projected) than last year (see source).
Here are some examples of how you can make your website more compliant:
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Alt text for all images - You should provide alternative text for all non-text elements in your site.
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No images for text - Do not use images of text on your site.
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Color contrast - Color contrast should be at least 5:1. There are some color contrast tools that can help determine the ratio such as this one from accessible colors.com or this one.
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Captions for live multimedia - There should be text captions for live multimedia on your site.
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Audio descriptions for video - All video should have audio descriptions or a full multimedia text alternative.
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Page titles - All pages should have a page title.
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Text resize - Text on your website should be able to be resized up to 200% without loss of content or function.
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Functionality should be operable via keyboard - All the functionality of the site should be accessible and operable by keyboard strokes.
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Error suggestion - When users make errors on your site, provide suggestions of fixes.
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Multiple ways to get to pages - On your website, offer several ways to navigate to a page.
These are several suggestions to improve your site and certainly not all you can do to get your site up to standards. Cherry Hill offers Web Accessibility Consulting. We can review your site and create a report for you with recommendations on how to get your site compliant with the most recent WCAG guidelines. Contact us here if you have any questions or are interested in our Web Accessibility Consulting services. We are happy to help you and your company get your site compliant with the latest standards.
Below are some resources in learning more about WCAG:
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Web Accessibility Initiative: https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/
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W3.org’s 2.1 guidelines: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/