What is digital accessibility?
Digital accessibility refers to the practice of designing and developing digital content and technology in a way that is accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. This includes websites, mobile applications, electronic documents, multimedia, and other digital content and technology.
Use of online accessibility principles and standards, such as the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), is an important part of digital accessibility (W3C). These recommendations establish a set of technical and functional requirements that guarantee online content is perceivable, operable, comprehensible, and resilient enough to be utilized by people with a broad variety of abilities and impairments.
Benefits Of Digital Accessibility
There are numerous benefits of digital accessibility, including:
- Inclusion: Digital accessibility helps to create an inclusive digital environment where people with disabilities can access and participate in online activities, just like everyone else. This helps to reduce barriers and promote equal access and participation for all.
- Improved User Experience: Designing for accessibility improves the user experience for everyone, not just people with disabilities. For example, captions and transcripts for videos not only help people who are deaf or hard of hearing, but also people who are in a noisy environment or who prefer to read text.
- Compliance: Ensuring digital accessibility helps organizations comply with accessibility laws and regulations, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. This can help to avoid legal issues and ensure that the organization is meeting its social responsibility obligations.
- Increased Market Reach: By designing and developing accessible digital content and technology, organizations can reach a wider audience, including people with disabilities. This can lead to increased market share and greater brand awareness.
- Innovation: Embracing digital accessibility can inspire innovation and creativity, as designers and developers are challenged to think creatively about how to make digital content and technology more accessible to everyone.
- SEO benefits: Implementing accessibility features can also provide benefits in terms of search engine optimization (SEO) by making the website or digital content more user-friendly and navigable.
4 Main Principles of Accessibility (POUR)
The 4 main principles of accessibility, also known as POUR, are:
- Perceivable: This principle ensures that digital content and technology can be perceived by all users, including those with visual, auditory, and other sensory disabilities. This can be achieved by providing alternative text for images, captions and transcripts for videos, and clear and consistent presentation of information.
- Operable: This principle ensures that digital content and technology can be operated by all users, including those with physical disabilities. This can be achieved by providing keyboard accessibility, clear and consistent navigation, and ensuring that time limits are adjustable.
- Understandable: This principle ensures that digital content and technology can be understood by all users, including those with cognitive and learning disabilities. This can be achieved by using clear and concise language, organizing information in a logical manner, and avoiding confusing or ambiguous content.
- Robust: This principle ensures that digital content and technology is compatible with a wide range of user agents, including assistive technologies used by people with disabilities. This can be achieved by using standard HTML, CSS, and JavaScript coding practices, and ensuring that the content is compatible with the latest versions of web browsers and assistive technologies.
By following the POUR principles, designers and developers can create digital content and technology that is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a set of international standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to provide guidance on how to make digital content and technology accessible to people with disabilities. The guidelines are organized into three levels of conformance: A (lowest), AA (mid-range), and AAA (highest).
WCAG 2.0 includes 12 guidelines that are organized under the four principles of accessibility (POUR). Each guideline includes specific success criteria that are used to determine if a website or digital content is accessible. These guidelines cover a range of topics, such as providing alternative text for images, using appropriate color contrast, providing keyboard accessibility, and ensuring that content is compatible with assistive technologies.
WCAG 2.1, released in 2018, includes additional guidelines and success criteria to address new technologies and user needs, such as mobile devices and people with cognitive disabilities.
Complying with WCAG guidelines is not mandatory, but it is recommended for organizations that want to create accessible digital content and technology. WCAG is widely recognized as the industry standard for digital accessibility, and following the guidelines can help organizations comply with accessibility laws and regulations, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
What is Digital Accessibility Testing And Compliance?
Digital accessibility testing and compliance is the process of evaluating and ensuring that digital content and technology meet the accessibility standards and guidelines, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
This process typically involves a combination of automated and manual testing, as well as user testing with people who have disabilities. Automated testing involves using software tools to scan digital content for accessibility issues, such as missing alternative text for images or improper use of color contrast. Manual testing involves reviewing digital content and technology to ensure that it meets accessibility standards and guidelines, such as providing keyboard accessibility and clear navigation.
User testing involves working with people with disabilities to evaluate the accessibility of digital content and technology. This can include testing with people who are blind or have low vision, people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and people with cognitive or motor disabilities.
Once digital content and technology have been tested for accessibility, organizations can take steps to address any accessibility issues and ensure that their content and technology meets the applicable accessibility standards and guidelines. This can include making changes to the code, content, and design of digital content and technology, as well as providing training and support to content creators and developers to ensure that they are aware of and follow accessibility guidelines.
How to Create Digitally Accessible Content and Platforms
Here are some tips for creating digitally accessible content and platforms:
- Use appropriate color contrast: Ensure that there is enough contrast between text and background colors to make content legible for users with low vision.
- Provide alternative text for images: Use alternative text to describe images and other non-text content, which allows users with visual impairments to understand the content.
- Ensure keyboard accessibility: Ensure that all functionality can be accessed using a keyboard, as some users may not be able to use a mouse or touchpad.
- Use descriptive link text: Use descriptive link text instead of generic text like “click here,” which allows users with screen readers to understand the purpose of the link.
- Use semantic markup: Use semantic markup such as headings and lists to organize content and make it easier to navigate for users with disabilities.
- Provide captions and transcripts for multimedia: Provide captions for videos and transcripts for audio content, which allows users who are deaf or hard of hearing to understand the content.
- Test with users who have disabilities: Conduct user testing with people who have disabilities to ensure that the content and platforms are accessible and usable for all users.
By incorporating these tips into the design, development, and content creation processes, organizations can create digitally accessible content and platforms that are usable for all users, including those with disabilities. It is important to prioritize accessibility throughout the development process to ensure that digital content and platforms are accessible from the start.