Ways to Improve The Accessibility of Your WordPress Website

 Imagine that you are visiting this website and face some difficulty in navigation of the website which is not because of the browser or code implemented for the website but because of some physical, medical or cognitive limitation.  Website accessibility means a good practise of making websites and content which gives seamless experience for all visitors.

 

It is based on how your WordPress Website was created because you may be blocking some of your audience from experiencing your content, Just because your site lacks accessible features.

W3 also stated that website accessibility is not only for those with endless limitations but also beneficial for users with different situations like,

●     Users using Smart Watches, Smart Phones, Smart TVs and some other devices with small screens or different input modes.

●     Some users have slow internet connection or limited bandwidth of Internet or Expensive internet due to geographic location.

●     Sometimes “Situation Limitation” like less visibility due to bright sunlight Or some environment where can not listen audio properly i.e Public Transportation

●     Some people with “Temporary Disabilities” i.e Medical conditions, Lost Glasses or a broken limb.

●     Old age people with varying and changing abilities due to aging

Once you are ready to improve accessibility of your Wordpress Website, Implement these 13 tactics,

Use Right Color Contrast For Website

Many people who are color blind people in the world so while choosing colors for your website, Be careful about contrast and color ratios. It is advisable to go with high contrast color options like Black and White which makes it simpler to see and read website content easily. Generally white background and black text readable by all users without any limitations.

Though do not rely only on the Color of website to differentiate the content, Links and Buttons of your Website.

Underline Links/Highlight Links

Current trend is to remove underline from Web Links and the reason is to make the content more beautiful but by removing the underline from Web Links, It is difficult for users to identify the content which are hyperlinked.

There are alternate ways of underlining in hyperlink text that you can change the color of the text or make it bold.

Use Descriptive Links

When you are talking about links then some individuals with visually challenged or limitations to use voice command technology and screen readers to interact with website content. It means that your links must be with proper context so users can know where this link will bring them.

I.e Generally we are using “Learn More” in button but you can use like this way “Click Here to Learn More About Our Services”

Use an Appropriate Size Font For Website

 

When you are accessing a Website from your Mobile Phone or Laptop and it is required to scroll because of the small Font size. Once creating a Website keep in mind about font size not only for visually challenged but for those who are using a small size screen such a Smartphone.

 

Add Main Content Links

 

 

Once we are using Screen reader then it will start voicing from top of the page. It quite often depends on coding of a Website, It means users first listen to Menu, Navigation and other external content before going to the main content of the Webpage.

 

In order to improve user experience for your website then you can add “Skip to Main Content Link” in the first column of your HTML which will allow screen readers to avoid the useless content on your webpage.

 

Add Image Alt Text

 

Once we are using Screen reader, Images can not be described unless Alt Text is used for image.

 

Image Alt Text introduced for accessibility purposes but after that it has become a part of SEO and uses this field to implement specific keywords.  Of Course this is not enjoyable or accessible for those who are using voice commands or Screen readers.

 

In order to make it useful for Screen Readers or Voice Commands it is advisable to fill it with proper image description rather than Keywords for better user experience and use Image Alt Text as per context of page content.

 

 

Content Headers & Appropriate Content Structure

 

According to Nielsen Norman Group, Mostly 79% of the website content scanned the visitors while only 16% of the website visitors read word-to-word content.

 

Content Header will help those who are using screen readers to determine the context of each section of a web page so users should know about the section from the first 4 to 5 words.

 

In order to provide best user experience, break your content with well formed structure. Use clear title of headings and subheadings on every page.

 

While using headings in a page use proper H1, H2, H3 to make web page content easily readable.

 

Extend Security With CAPTCHA

 

You can use CAPTCHA on your website to protect your website and information from SPAM. You can see it as,

 

●     Buttons like “I am Not a Robot”

●     Gamification Content

●     Random Strings of Characters

 

People who are visually challenged can use Audio CAPTCHA and People who are having hearing impairments can use Visual CAPTCHA but both solutions are not feasible for those who are blind and deaf.

However CAPTCHA is a very useful tool as a different spam alternative for your website.

Form Field Label Placement

While creating any forms for your website, Please make sure to put the Field labels inside the field for visual style. Although some screen readers can not access field labels which are inside the form field so it is better to place content and field labels above or to the side of the respective fields.

Remove Auto-Playing Media From Website

In order to increase accessibility of the WordPress Website, Stop auto-playing media on your website.

There should be functionality of Play and Pause of any multi-media content like Audio or Video. Also Google has started to disfavour the websites that have autoplay feature of Multimedia Content.

If you are using predefined WordPress Theme in your website then you can use a bunch of images and show them in a carousel. People who are with neurological and cognitive disabilities may have stress with auto-playing media.

 

Test The Accessibility Of Your Website

 

After implementing all these tactics we are not sure that Website is accessible for all or not ? But the simple answer is Test It !! There are many tools available online to test accessibility of the Website. The first step is to improve the current state of your website to increase accessibility. Evaluate and Test various aspects of your website to make it more user friendly to increase accessibility of the site.

 

Conclusion :

 

In the current Digital World your website is like a Salesperson on the internet to present your business through a website. If any visitors come to your Online Shop or Website but do not understand anything then it will be a huge loss for your business. If you develop your website but are not accessible by visitors then you will also lose a big share of the Market. Hopefully this post will help you to understand different tactics to enhance the accessibility of WordPress Websites and It is not possible to cover all the aspects in Single Post but you can hire WordPress Development Company to get WordPress Services to get deeper knowledge of the concept.