These web accessibility tips are for the web designers, developers, or content authors, to assist them in developing website fully accessible to all users.
To check detail you must visit
WCAG homepage.
- Use appropriate alt text for images.
Use alt text to provide access to the content of images for people who cannot see them, including people using screen readers or Braille output devices.
Alt text is supported by maximum document formats, as well as HTML, Microsoft Word, and Adobe PDF.
- Use headings appropriately.
Use headings and subheadings to make a shape of the page. They help blind and low vision people (including search engines) to know how the page is organized,
And make it easy for screen reader users to navigate.
- Make accessible PDFs.
Tag content in PDFs, and make sure that the content will be readable with the screen reader users. If this format is not necessary, consider using an alternate format, such as HTML.
- Use ARIA landmarks.
The latest term Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) W3C specification makes it possible to generate accessible interactive web applications.
Simply use HTML attribute for one of the eight landmark roles (e.g., role=”navigation”, role=”main”) and screen reader users will be able to jump directly to that section of the page with a single keystroke.
- Add labels to form fields.
Web developer should use the <label> and in PDF, use tooltips so that blind users will know which labels or prompts are related with form fields.
- Markup tables in proper way.
Web developers should use HTML markup properly to clearly communicate relationships between column and row headers and the data cells within their scope.
- Identify language of text.
As some screen readers are multi-lingual, use markup to identify the default language of a document and of any text that move away from the default language.
- Use a color contrast checker.
Web developers ensure that foreground and background have suitable contrast. There are many free plugins that can help with this
- Avoid using small fonts.
As users may be uninformed they can increase font size using browser hot keys, use a reasonably large font size by default; then, users can adjust the font size according to their desires.
Note that a font size of 1em uses the default browser font size.
- Respect white space (between lines, between paragraphs).
Given plenty of space between lines and blocks of text can help users who have problem tracking text horizontally. Suitable white space also gives more aesthetically pleasing interface for everyone.
- Use text, instead of pictures of text.
Use text instead of pictures of text, and handle its appearance with CSS. Pictures of text become unclear when enlarged, take longer to download, and screen reader is not able to read the text if it is in a form of image or graphic.
- Make the content easy to read and understand.
Web content writers keep their content simple and easy so it can be understand by all users.
Avoid difficult words and longer sentences unnecessarily.
- Caption video.
Captions have many benefits for all users, especially to deaf people. There are many free, easy-to-use tools available that provide the process of transcribing and captioning videos.
- Provide a transcript.
Web developers should provide a transcript for video and audio so people who are deaf-blind and those with low Internet bandwidth can access content quickly
- Choose Accessible media players
Keep these points in your mind before you select any media player on your website, like it support closed captions, description, operated with a mouse, buttons and controls accessible with keyboard.
- Test JavaScript widgets before you apply
Many widgets claim to be “accessible”, but this does not work in all of the cases.
The best way to learn is to test them using with a keyboard only, or to ask users with disabilities to test them for you.
- Select any Learning Management Systems (LMS) and Content Management Systems (CMS) that support accessibility.
Ensure there are accessible themes, plug-ins, and modules available that will
Meet web accessibility standards.
- Test web pages with a keyboard.
Use keyboard to navigate the web page and control all its features. You can use tab key on a keyboard; don’t touch the mouse. This simple method is typically a good
Practice of accessibility.
- Test pages with high contrast color schemes.
All main operating systems have high contrast color schemes. When it is enabled, check that all important page content is still visible on the page.
- Test pages with assistive technologies.
There are free screen readers [NVDA] that can be used for testing. You don’t need to be an expert user, but simple tests can give valuable information into whether certain features/controls are working or not.
- Test pages on mobile devices.
Now a day’s huge number of users, including users with disabilities, is accessing the net using phones, tablets, and other mobile devices. Test your website using I-phones/android.
- Demand accessibility!
If the item or product you want to keep on the website is not accessible, avoid buying it, using it, or supporting it.
Put the client on notice that you expect to buy an accessible alternative when it becomes available.
- Get involved!
There are many groups are working together on making the web (and world) more accessible. Together we can, together we will!
