When building a website, there are countless factors to consider—branding, UX, SEO, page speeds, and so on. Websites need to be available to as many people as possible without annoying anyone with terrible design conditions. Alas, even with user-friendly design techniques in mind, many web developers still overlook optimizing their sites for those differently labelled.
According to wearepurple.co.uk, over 8.6million internet users in the UK have some disability that requires additional access needs to be met for web navigation. In addition, 70% of sites checked, according to the same source, had a severe lack of accessibility options.
Learn why building your site with accessibility in mind is so essential below with Wildfire Marketing.
Site Accessibility benefits more people than you think.
The public is mostly unaware of the countless invisible disabilities that affect millions every day. When asked to consider accessibility in design, many believe that the disabilities they need to accommodate require external tools and software on the users to make their site compatible. Even when this is the case, taking just small steps to improve your site can have a massive impact.
Consider, for example, colourblindness. According to colourblindness.org, 4.5% of the UK population suffers from some form of colourblindness. Low-contrast colour combinations such as the ones highlighted in this tweet:
can cause significant issues for something that can affect over 3 million potential users. Small changes not only benefit people but also ensure your website doesn’t lose any clicks.
Site Accessibility is easier than you think.
Accessibility is usually accomplished best when considered at the very start of the web development process. Of course, this is something we believe when building new sites. Still, web developers can easily make modifications to make a site more accessible.
Hight Contrast options, larger text, etc., are all easy options to include that can dramatically improve the quality of your site for those with additional access requirements. Small UX changes can allow for a website to be quickly and intuitively controlled via the keyboard. These changes can massively improve the quality of a site for those unable to use a mouse or rely upon a sip-and-puff device. Even something as minute as a simple review of alt text on images will open up your site for the visually impaired. Investing in site accessibility is easy and often free.
An accessible site doesn’t have to be ugly.
Many presume that accessibility in their site will require sacrifices in visual design. Huge text, garish colours and the like are common reasons people do not pursue an accessible website.
Accessibility and inclusive design is an issue that is at the forefront of discussion via leading UX designers and companies. Beautiful, accessible design no longer costs a pretty penny and will seamlessly integrate with your branding.
One of my favourite examples of this is the font ‘Atkinson Hyperlegibile’. This font, designed for the Braille Institute and now available via Google Fonts for free use, is explicitly designed to be easily read by the visually impaired and dyslexic. This font is aesthetically pleasing, modern and free of charge. Take a look for yourself:
If you’re interested in an excellently designed, accessible website for your business – trust Wildfire Marketing. As the number one SEO Agency in Leeds. We provide quality, optimized sites built with your branding and purpose in mind. Learn more about our web design process in our blogs or contact us today to begin your journey.