Digital accessibility and your responsibilities

Digital technology has created amazing opportunities for communicating, sharing information, and banking and shopping.

But users of your digital technologies have different needs. Keep this variety in mind, otherwise millions of people will find it hard or impossible to use your content – people you want to reach.

Accessibility is important to at least 60% of your audience and getting it right means you’ll build something that is better for everyone, so it’s good for business!

Digital accessibility is also a regulatory requirement. There have been legal cases launched against websites that exclude users, who may be colour-blind, or have impaired use of arms or hands, cognitive differences, or visual or hearing impairments.

It’s best to think about accessibility from the start of a project. Here are some tips.

Tip 1

If you are commissioning an app, software or website, make accessibility part of the contract – refer to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2 (WCAG 2.0) and British Standard 8878.

Ideally, include disabled users in your testing.

Tip 2

If you are using an online platform to create your website, use ‘accessible’ themes and plugins, and keep the following in mind:

Tip 3

Design pages so that users may customise their experience of them – changing colours, the size of text or buttons.

Use responsive layouts that will work on different devices

Tip 4

Always let users know where they are and how they get to somewhere else.

Create alternative routes to suit different requirements, like a ‘skip to main content’ link.

Tip 5

Make sure that every action that can be performed using a mouse can be achieved using the keyboard alone.

Keyboard-only users need to see where they are at all times when they navigate using the tab key, and tabbing should follow a logical order.

Test how easy it is to navigate using only the tab, enter, space and arrow keys.

Tip 6

Ever get frustrated by moving objects, adverts popping up? It isn’t just annoying- flashing content can cause seizures, while some people with cognitive impairments find it really hard to concentrate if there are distractions.

Give the user control – provide a pause button and don’t set audio or video to play automatically.

Tip 7

Choose a video player that allows you to add captions and provide a text transcript to make audio and video content accessible.

Include descriptions of any important visual information as well as speech.

Tip 8

If an image is important, contains text or is a link, explain this with ‘alternative text’ that screen reader software can read out to users with visual impairments.

Tip 9

Is your text in easy-to-understand language?

Use short, simple sentences to aid readability and engage a wider audience.

Tip 10

Give each page a title, and organise the text using headings, paragraphs and lists.

Add ‘mark up’ to enable easier navigation and explain features to people who can’t see them – this applies to documents in Word or PDFs as well as web pages.

Tip 11

Make sure that links stand out clearly from surrounding text and let users know if the link will open in a new window or download a document.

Links need to be concise and descriptive, so that if they are read on their own, people will still know where they go.

Tip 12

Test text and background colour combinations and contrast online to ensure text can be easily read by people who are colour-blind or have impaired vision.

If your webpage ‘times out’ before people are able to complete forms, this can be a very frustrating experience.

Tip 13

Give visitors time to extend their session if they wish.

Tip 14

Explain accessibility improvements you’ve made, and why, in an accessibility statement and provide easy ways for people to contact you if they are having difficulty.

Tip 15

Spam protection like CAPTCHA may shut out potential customers not just spam robots.

Please use alternatives, such as text-based logic problems, or simple human user confirmations.

Let’s make sure digital technologies are as usable and inclusive as possible.

We will all benefit!

This video can’t cover everything, and technology and best practice are always evolving.

For more help and information go to citizensonline.org.uk/accessibilitytips.

Thanks to the Digital Accessibility Centre [digitalaccessibilitycentre.org], DIG Inclusion [diginclusion.com] and the Fix the Web Steering group [fixtheweb.net] for this animation, made by Tinmouse.

Some people with disabilities may use assistive technology or AT to access content or perform tasks. This can be any equipment, software, or product that is used to increase, maintain, or improve a person’s functional capabilities.

There’s a wide variety of AT products and applications that enable people to improve their ability to access technology.

AT doesn’t necessarily need to be high tech or expensive.

Did you know that if you are wearing glasses, you are using AT? Do you use post it notes to help with reminders?

These are both inexpensive tools that can help improve your ability to perform a task and can be used by people with and without disabilities.

Sumitra, an engineer at Microsoft, uses JAWS, a third-party screen reader that works with Windows, to navigate her computer. Using the keyboard, JAWS allows Sumitra to hear everything on the screen as she navigates. She uses JAWS to help code, read and edit documents and emails, and much more.

And Jackson, a technical program manager at Microsoft, uses Magnifier built right into Windows 10 to enlarge text on the screen, making it easier to complete tasks and thrive in the workplace.

Jackson also uses additional Windows 10 features in the Ease of Access centre, including enlarging his mouse pointer so he can locate it on the screen more easily, text cursor indication to help locate the small blinking cursor, and colour filters to adjust colour schemes when he has eye fatigue.

Assistive technology comes in many forms and can be personalised to fit the person’s preferences and needs.

Did you know that 15% of the world’s population according to the World Health Organization live with some kind of disability? That’s over 1 billion people and they are potentially not able to use your website unless you have made it easily accessible to them.

Digital accessibility is about providing equal access and opportunity to people of all abilities and disabilities. That includes visual, hearing and physical impairments, but also cognitively challenged people, the elderly and other less obvious groups.

Simply put, it’s making websites simple and usable for everyone across all devices.

This simple idea is recognised by the United Nations as a basic human right.

It’s not difficult to build accessible websites and doing so is a great way to take social responsibility and improve your business at the same time.

When sites are accessibility optimised’ they are easier to navigate and simpler to understand for all users. Accessible websites are also found easier by search engines.

All in all, it’s positive for everyone.

Accessible websites work like a magnet on people with disabilities simply because they can be accessed. Many websites neglect this and this means they are turning down what could have been loyal customers or users.

Also, making your website accessible doesn’t strictly mean catering to the disabled. It also means catering to an increasing number of senior citizens. By 2020, the share of people over 65 will reach nearly 30% in Japan, 20% in Europe, and 16% in the U.S. This is definitely something worth paying attention to because seniors are a segment with strong purchasing power.

Accessibility is increasingly also a necessity from a regulatory point of view. In fact, many countries around the world are introducing or tightening existing laws that make accessibility a mandatory focus. Some even enforce this with fines.

At Siteimprove, we can help you make sure everyone experiences your website the way they were meant to. Let’s build a better web for all. Siteimprove: a better web for all.

What is WCAG and why is it important?

An introduction to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

The power of the web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.

In this video, we will present the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, sometimes known as W.C.A.G. or wuh-kag for short.

We will introduce the conformance levels and the 4 principles that govern WCAG 2.1.

At the end, we will also give some examples of the guidelines in WCAG 2.1.

Let’s start! Web Content Accessibility Guidelines cover the information in a website including text, images, forms and other media.

WCAG started out as some basic requirements for accessible content. As needs and technologies have changed, updated versions have been released.

Version 2.0 is incorporated by reference into other standards, primarily at government level.

Version 2.1 builds on this with 17 further success criteria, including mobile interfaces, supporting cognitive impairments, responsive design and supporting users with low vision.

The WCAG guidelines are organised around 3 levels of conformance: level A, level AA, and level AAA.

Level AA is the most common level specified in government and organisational standards and requirements. It is also the common level specified in lawsuits, settlements and structured agreements.

4 core principles

The guidelines are organised around 4 core principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. If any of these are not met, users with disabilities will be unable to use a site or application.

Perceivable

Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive. This means that users must be able to perceive the information being presented. It cannot be invisible to all of their senses.

Operable

User interface components and navigation must be operable. This means that users must be able to operate the interface and its controls. The interface cannot require interaction that a user cannot perform.

Understandable

Information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable. This means that users must be able to understand the information as well as the operation of the user interface. The content or operation cannot be beyond their understanding.

Robust

Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. This means that users must be able to access the content as technologies advance. As technologies and user agents evolve, the content should remain accessible.

Guidelines

Each of these 4 principles has a corresponding set of guidelines. There are 12 in total for WCAG 2.0 and 13 in total for WCAG 2.1, including text alternatives, time-based media, adaptable, distinguishable, keyboard accessible, enough time, seizures, navigable, input modalities, readable, predictable, input assistance, and compatibility.

Each guideline has success criteria which address important access issues that specifically impact people with disabilities. They are all testable and for either A, AA, or AAA Conformance Level.

Let’s summarise! WCAG is a standard that defines how to make web pages accessible. It is broken into 4 principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. The success criteria that make up the guidelines are organised by these principles.

Each success criterion’s level of conformance is defined by A, AA, or AAA. Government and corporate requirements generally adhere to AA conformance.

Congratulations! You have reached the end of this introductory video on WCAG.