In response to last week’s article, “ADA … What It Means For Your Practice,” we are following up to answer your questions about web accessibility.
The sad reality is that most websites today are not fully accessible.
Based on WHO figures from 2023, 1.3 billion people, or 16%, that’s 1 in 6 people worldwide, live with a significant disability, including motor, visual, auditory, speech, and cognitive.
Yet in 2021, a staggering 97.4 % of websites tested out of 1 million had detectable accessibility challenges and failures.
Don’t let your site be one of them!
When you work to improve your website’s accessibility, you comply with the law, and all visitors benefit from a better user experience.
A Complex Problem
At first glance, website accessibility appears to be an overwhelmingly complex topic, and to some degree, it is.
The reasons are websites are built on different platforms, written in various coding languages, and utilize different organizational structures.
When changing a website, some sites are far easier for the end user to update, while others require a professional to do much of anything.
However, websites are relatively easy to change compared to physical structures like buildings.
While it would be best to plan accessibility from the very beginning, that is often not the case.
Hence, many websites need to be “retrofitted” to some degree or another.
What is Web Accessibility?
Web accessibility refers to inclusive websites that all visitors can navigate and use, regardless of ability.
A broader definition includes the user experience, regardless of ability, when navigating your website; typically, this is referred to as UX.
Sites should utilize specific design and development criteria, regardless of the type of assistance users may require, to provide a positive experience to all visitors.
A Two-Tiered Approach
When it comes to improving your site’s accessibility, you may have to take a two-tiered approach because…
All websites consist of two distinct parts:
- The website backend (the code, site functionality, core website pages, etc.) is usually designed and developed by a professional, often referred to as the developer.
- The website content, such as articles, images, and other information, is published by the website owner on top of the website’s backend.
Let’s take your office as an analogy…
When you rented (or bought) your space, you rented the shell, a building designed for a distinct purpose (e.g., a clinic).
But when you moved in your “stuff” and arranged it in ways suitable to your liking, you gave it “personality,” a specific look and feel.
The office space you rented is the “backend,” and the stuff you brought in is the “content.”
Developer
As a website owner, you are responsible for your site’s accessibility. However, unless you are a developer, you cannot change the “backend” of your website, which controls the site’s functionality.
You may need a professional to make structural changes to your website. Alternatively, you may consider moving your site to a different platform with greater accessibility.
End-User
As you now know, as the end-user, you control the content of your website and the look and feel of it.
Here are strategies to make the content on your site as accessible as possible:
- Colors…
Use high-contrast colors on your site, particularly for text and background.
Site visitors with color blindness will find it hard to differentiate between red and green or blue and yellow. - Fonts Styles and Sizes…
This one is simple but overlooked by so many sites:
• Use a font size of at least 14 (or larger)
• Use a font that is easy to read for all users; avoid stylized or decorative fonts that may be difficult to read for some.
• Do not use light fonts, but semi-bold or even bold fonts to make the text stand out on the page and, thereby, easier to read. - Use text markup wisely…
Clearly structure your content using markup. Use titles (H1 tag), subtitles (H2 tag), paragraphs, etc.
This helps readers understand the content and what’s most important on the page. Use markup to create a hierarchy, which is good for scanners and screen readers alike. - Hyperlinks
Use descriptive text in your hyperlinks.Instead of saying, “Click here,” tell the reader what clicking the link will do for them. An example might be: “Click here for full access to XYZ Report.” Make hyperlinks stand out: highlight or underline them in a different color from the text. - Mouse vs Keyboard…
Not everyone can use a mouse, so make sure your site can be navigated by both mouse and keyboard via focus states.
Focus states indicate that an option on the site is selected; it shows as a highlight, underline, or hover on the page. When the tab key is pressed, menu options, pages, and sub-pages should indicate that they’ve been selected.
Many sites cannot be navigated 100% by both keyboard and mouse, if at all. Most often, changes must be made by a developer or by an add-on to a site, such as adding a plugin to a WordPress site. - Accessibility for Hearing Impaired
Not all site visitors may be able to hear. To improve accessibility, provide transcripts of recordings and add captions to videos. - Site navigation
Are your navigational links clear, and identify where they will take the user? Is the site’s navigational structure logical, and what users would expect? Review the navigational menus on your site to ensure they perform as intended.
This YouTube video demonstrates most of what was discussed above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOmehxAU_4s
Next steps…
- Perform an accessibility audit of your website. After all, you can’t fix what you don’t know is broken. There are several free checkers you can use; just do a Google search. Alternatively, you may use the checker on “Accessible.com/Accessscan” to see your site’s accessibility level.
- Add an accessibility statement to your website if you don’t have one already. If there are problems with accessibility on your site, say you are aware of it and what you are doing to remedy the situation.
In the meantime, provide web visitors with an option to contact you should they have questions or if you can help.
In Conclusion…
The first step in increasing your site’s web accessibility is awareness. After all, you can’t fix or improve something if you don’t know it needs fixing, right?
If your website is not accessible to all, you may lose potential future clients, violate the ADA requirements, and discriminate against a group of people.
None of which you want to do, nor do you intend to do. We all want to be more inclusive and welcome anybody, regardless of ability.
Before I go, a word of caution…
Don’t allow yourself to become overwhelmed.
I may be stating the obvious here, but we don’t know what we don’t know.
Creating greater web accessibility will not happen overnight but is likely a process. However, it is an area that must be addressed (sooner than later).
And you are not alone… We at NPBusiness.org realize, too, that we have some work ahead of us, making our site more accessible.
Here are a couple of links you may find helpful to get additional information when examining the accessibility status of your website:
A Ted Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWPWgaDqbZI
https://webaim.org/ for more details about accessibility topics
I hope you find the information useful and thought-provoking. Let us know what you think, we’d love to hear from you…
Share with us what YOU will do to improve the accessibility of your practice website.
By Johanna Hofmann, MBA, author of “Smart Business Planning for Clinicians” and regular contributor to the NPBusiness blog.