Four Principles Of Web Accessibility

When we need assistance gathering information, we frequently use the internet to access websites. You will have fewer visitors on your website if it is difficult to access. So, what is it that makes your website accessible? Well, to sum it up, there are four principles of web accessibility.

The four principles of web accessibility are robust, perceivable, understandable, and operable. They are referred to as POUR. These principles break down the four main aspects that are needed to access databases over the web.

WCAG is widely accepted as a set of standards for websites and is the optimum way to achieve accessibility. It is also referenced in web accessibility lawsuits. Let us continue reading to learn more about WCAG.

Four Principles Of Web Accessibility

Information on websites must be presented to users so that they can easily understand and access them. Users often have to scroll through to find specific information for which they have clicked on your website. It should not take them long for them to get irritated and try out other websites.

Let us read in detail about how the four principles of web accessibility help make it easy for users to gather information from your website. Here is an introduction to POUR.

● Perceivable
Information presented on a website must be able to be processed by the user. You should present information in a processable format, or else it will not be accessible. This also indicates you are to provide texts for those who have a disability of hearing or are deaf. It has to comply with ADA web accessibility.
Your website should also have alternative texts for contexts so that they can be changed by users according to needs such as symbols, speech, language, etc. You may also add different times for people accessing your website from different time zones. Your content must match the site’s information. Pictures and videos must be relatable to the data being presented.

You also need to keep in mind that many users may also be blind and would need audio assistance. You don’t have to create audios for every piece of content up on your website, but those which are crucial for assistive technologies and voiceovers. Your websites require sight or hearing, or else they will not pass the permeability test.

● Operable
You should design your website in a user-friendly manner so that it is easily operable by the users. If the website is easy to access, it will gather more traffic on your site than websites or businesses providing similar services.
Users, upon looking at your website, must know where to click to get information. There should be tabs and drop-downs that help users navigate information and help them determine where to find content.

Your website should give enough time for users to find what they are looking for. Use domains that have more uptime and will load images larger in size faster. You should not keep users waiting for your page to load. Remember, they already have more tabs open looking for similar information from other sites.
Users who have cognitive disabilities must also be considered when setting up websites. Use media and animations that can be controlled and accessed by them as well.

● Understandable
A website that is easily perceivable and easy to operate can still be hard to understand for users. Your website should use concise language and be clear with links and tabs. You should also make your websites appear predictable and operational.

Make sure it is easy to comprehend for your users. If your user is clicking on a piece of information, then the result should be obvious and not seem like clickbait.
Your web interface must follow a logical flow of data and have different sections dividing information instead of jumbling it altogether. Your ads must also be organized and not block users from accessing information.

● Robust
Users usually select their technological mix. You should construct a website that runs smoothly across other platforms and browsers. It should also be accessible by different devices and not make users zoom in and out constantly on your website to collect information.

The best way to achieve website robustness is by following standards of development and conventions. Use codes that are as clean as possible. This makes the website more consumable, accessible, and robust across all platforms. Try to combine different technologies on your website so users are drawn more to your site and find it interesting.

In general, to make a website robust, it should be reliable by providing a wide variety of supporting technologies to user agents. Try to add tools or widgets to your website. This will allow users on your site to interact more. You may add chat rooms or surveys that help them get real-time information or also have relatable content presented to them.

Importance Of Accessibility

POUR needs to be presented for website accessibility. It improves the quality of your page while also helping users access information on the website faster. This is the primary concern for both users with and without disabilities. It also determines if users will continue to use your site for gathering information in the future.

By adapting POUR for accessibility, you pass the permeability test. This will aid users with and without disabilities in obtaining information from your website. It also keeps your codes clean, making the website look more organized. Users seek out websites with appealing visuals in addition to the information they need.

With so many websites out there, there is a need for your website to be presentable and have information that will be helpful to users. POUR helps users from other platforms to reach your site. It also gives you reference to ADA compliance website lawsuits and ADA web accessibility.

Conclusion

The four principles of web accessibility are robust, perceivable, understandable, and operable. It improves the quality of your page while also helping users access information on the website faster. POUR helps determine whether your website is easy to understand and accessible for users on your website.

Working on a website can be difficult. Adding new media and updating pages is chore, even though you know your company website needs to evolve and become more accessible to the many users you are trying to reach. Maybe when you first built it, accessibility wasn’t even really discussed. But now you’ve taken a step back, looked at your customer base with a desire to include everyone and you’ve realized just how important it is to make your site accessible. However, the thought of building a robust site that can do all the things you want it to do is overwhelming.

What is Web Accessibility

A practice of designing and coding the website in order to provide complete compatibility in accessing it by people with disabilities. In addition, it is a way to improve search engine optimization only an ADA Compliant Web Designer will help you to make your website Compliant. Is your website compatible? By going through the checklist below, you can get the answer.

Assessing Current Web Pages and Content

The website must include a feature like a navigation link at the top of the page. These links have a bypass mechanism such as a “skip navigation” link. This feature directs screen readers to bypass the row of navigation links and start at the web page content. It is beneficial for people who use screen readers to avoid to listen to all the links each time they jump to a new page.
All the links should be understandable when taken out of the context. For example, images without alternative text and links without worded as “click here”.
All the graphics, maps, images, and other non-text content must provide text alternatives through the alt attribute, a hidden/visible long description.
All the documents posted on the website should available in HTML or another accessible text-based format. It is also applicable to other formats like Portable Document Format (PDF).
The online forms on the website should be structured so assistive technology can identify, describe and operate the controls and inputs. By doing this, people with disabilities can review and submit the forms.
If the website has online forms, the drop-down list should describe the information instead of displaying a response option. For instance, “Your Age” instead of “18-25”.
If the website has data charts and tables, they should be structured so that all data cells are associated with column and row identifiers.
All the video files on the website must have audio descriptions (if necessary). This is for the convenience of blind people or for having a visual impairment disability.
All the video files on the website must have synchronized captions. People with hearing problems or deaf can access these files conveniently.
All the audio files on the website should have synchronized captions to provide access to people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
All web pages should be designed so that they can be viewed using visitors’ web browser and operating system settings for color and font.

About Website Accessibility Policy and Procedures

One must have a written policy on website accessibility.
The website accessibility policy must be posted on the website at a location where it can be easily found.
The procedure should be developed to ensure that content is not added to the website until it has been made accessible.
It should be confirmed that the website manager has checked the code and structure of all new web pages before they are posted.
While adding the PDFs to the website, these should be accessible. Also, the text-based versions of the documents should be accessible at the same time as PDF versions.
Make sure that the in-house and contractor staff has received the information about the website accessibility policy and procedure to confirm the website accessibility.
It should be confirmed that in-house and contractor staff has received appropriate training on how to ensure the accessibility of the website.
The website should have a specific written plan if it contains inaccessible content. Also, it should include timeframes in place to make all of the existing web content accessible.
A complete plan to improve website accessibility should be posted along with invited suggestions for improvement.
The homepage should include easily locatable information that includes contact details like telephone number and email address. This is useful for reporting website accessibility problems and requesting accessibility services with information.
A website should have procedures in place to assure a quick response to the visitors with disabilities who have difficulty in accessing information or services available on the website.
Feedback from people who use a variety of assistive technologies is helpful in ensuring website accessibility. So make sure to ask disability groups representing people to provide feedback on the accessibility of your website.
Testing the website using a product available on the internet is helpful, These tools are of free cost and check the accessibility of a website. They may not identify all accessibility issues and flag issues that are not accessibility problems. However, these are, nonetheless, a helpful way to improve website accessibility.

Checklist of Action Items for Improving the Accessibility of a Website

In addition, while considering the above suggestions, the following checklist initially prepared by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Federal Agencies provides further guidelines on ways to make websites more accessible for persons with disabilities.

This practical advice, as well as another checklist, are available at:

Satisfying all of these items does not necessarily mean that a website complies with ADA, but it will improve the website’s accessibility and decrease the risk of litigation. Again, an Expert or Web Accessibility Consulting & Services provider should be engaged to conduct a comprehensive review of your website.

Nothing brings you closer to reality than actually facing it. This is the premise of my latest attempt to spread awareness about Web Accessibility.

For better understand, here is a link in which a practical example is shown to make the websites’ user experience better by following the guidelines. Also, it tells the issues affecting various users on the internet with solutions.

You can make your website ADA compliant in an easy way by consulting the professionals, who can do this job effortlessly. Also, you can get a quick website audit from To Be ADA Compliant that offers complete web accessibility consulting & services in California, USA.

Resource: https://dev.to/chinchang/an-interactive-and-practical-introduction-to-web-accessibility-22o1