What is web accessibility?

The Importance of Web Accessibility

Making digital content accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities, is not just a moral responsibility, but also a legal one. This inclusive practice, known as web accessibility, ensures that websites are usable by all people, regardless of their abilities or disabilities.

Defining Web Accessibility

Web accessibility means that websites, tools, and technologies are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them. By considering accessibility during UX design, developers can ensure that all interactive elements of a website are reachable, operable, and understandable to users with disabilities.

Understanding Web Accessibility Standards and Guidelines

Web accessibility is guided by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), a set of recommendations for making web content more accessible. Web designers should be well-versed in these guidelines, as they must abide by them to make their websites accessible.

What is WCAG 2.1?

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 are a set of international standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities. Released in June 2018, WCAG 2.1 builds on the previous version (WCAG 2.0) by addressing additional accessibility issues, particularly for users with cognitive or learning disabilities, low vision, and those using mobile devices. WCAG 2.1 is organized into four principles—Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust (POUR)—which guide the creation of accessible digital content. The guidelines are further divided into success criteria at three conformance levels: A, AA, and AAA, providing specific, actionable recommendations to improve web accessibility.

Benefits of Implementing Web Accessibility

Practising web accessibility can have major benefits, including:

• Increased audience reach: Making your website accessible opens it up to more users, broadening your audience.
• Improved SEO performance: Accessible websites often align with SEO best practices, improving search engine ranking.

How to Make Your Website More Accessible

• Using contrasting colors for text and backgrounds
• Clearly labeling buttons and navigational elements

Web accessibility should not be viewed as an afterthought, but a critical part of UI design. An accessible website can lead to improved user experience and increased audience reach. Our digital product development services at Miyagami take accessibility into account from the get-go, ensuring all users can effectively utilise the digital products we build.

Interested in making your website accessible? Contact us to learn how we can help.