Accessibility in Web Development

Accessibility in Web Development refers to the practice of designing and developing websites, tools, and technologies that can be used by people with disabilities. When websites and web tools are properly designed and coded, people with disabilities can use them. However, currently many sites and tools are developed with accessibility barriers that make them difficult…

mfahmy

March 14, 2024

Accessibility in Web Development/design — Photo by fauxels on Pexels.com

Web accessibility encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the Web, including auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech, and visual impairments. It is important for individuals, businesses, and society to make the web accessible. International web standards define what is needed for accessibility.

The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect ¹. When the Web meets this goal, it is accessible to people with a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight, and cognitive ability. Thus the impact of disability is radically changed on the Web because the Web removes barriers to communication and interaction that many people face in the physical world ¹.

For more information on web accessibility and how it benefits individuals, businesses, and society, please visit the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) website.

More about sorts of disabilities on the web

Visual impairment is a term used to describe a range of vision loss that cannot be corrected to a “normal” level ¹. It can be caused by a loss of visual acuity, where the eye does not see objects as clearly as usual, or by a loss of visual field, where the eye cannot see as wide an area as usual without moving the eyes or turning the head ².

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), globally at least 2.2 billion people have a near or distance vision impairment, and in at least 1 billion of these cases, vision impairment could have been prevented or is yet to be addressed ¹. The leading causes of vision impairment and blindness at a global level are refractive errors and cataracts ¹.

People with visual impairments face many challenges when using websites and web tools that are not designed to be accessible. Some common web accessibility barriers include poor color contrast, use of color alone to give information, lack of text alternatives on images, no captions on videos, inaccessible online forms, and mouse-only navigation ¹.

Accessibility equipment - glasses — Photo by Fraser on Pexels.com

To make websites accessible for people with visual impairments, it is important to follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) ¹. These guidelines provide detailed technical standards for making web content more accessible to people with disabilities. Some steps you can take to make your website accessible include using clear and simple language, providing text alternatives for non-text content, ensuring sufficient color contrast, making sure your website is keyboard accessible, providing captions and transcripts for videos, ensuring that your website is compatible with assistive technologies, and using headings and lists to organize your content .

There are many web accessibility evaluation tools available that can help you determine if your website meets accessibility guidelines. Some examples of such tools include WAVE, aXe, Siteimprove, and A11y ¹. For more information on web accessibility and how to make your website accessible, please visit the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) website.

Hearing impairment

Hearing condition is a condition in which an individual cannot completely receive sounds through their ears ¹. It can fluctuate or be permanent, and the amount of loss can vary from being hard of hearing to complete deafness ². Hearing loss can either be conductive, which involves the outer or middle ear, sensorineural, which involves the inner ear, or mixed, which is a combination of the two.

People with hearing impairments face many challenges when using websites and web tools that are not designed to be accessible. Some common web accessibility barriers include lack of captions on videos, lack of transcripts for audio files, and lack of text alternatives on images ¹.

What are some examples of barriers in Accessibility in Web Development?

There are many barriers in barriers in Accessibility in Web Development that people with disabilities commonly experience because of inaccessible websites and web tools. Here are some examples of such barriers ¹:

Poor color contrast: People with limited vision or color blindness cannot read text if there is not enough contrast between the text and background (for example, light gray text on a light-colored background).
Use of color alone to give information: People with color blindness or low vision may not be able to understand information conveyed through color alone.
Lack of text alternatives (“alt text”) on images: People who are blind or have low vision cannot see images, so they rely on alternative text descriptions to understand the content.
No captions on videos: People who are deaf or hard of hearing cannot hear the audio in videos, so they rely on captions to understand the content.
Inaccessible online forms: People with disabilities may have difficulty filling out online forms if they are not designed to be accessible.
Mouse-only navigation (lack of keyboard navigation): People who cannot use a mouse rely on keyboard navigation to access content.

These are just a few examples of web accessibility barriers. For more information on web accessibility and how to make your website accessible, please visit the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) website.

How to make my website accessible?

Making a website accessible involves designing and developing websites, tools, and technologies that can be used by people with disabilities. Here are some steps you can take to make your website accessible ¹² ³:

Use clear and simple language: Use plain language that is easy to understand for everyone.
Provide text alternatives for non-text content: Provide alternative text descriptions for images, videos, and audio files.
Ensure sufficient color contrast: Ensure that there is enough contrast between the text and background colors so that people with limited vision or color blindness can read the text.
Make sure your website is keyboard accessible: Ensure that your website can be navigated using a keyboard alone, as some people cannot use a mouse.
Provide captions and transcripts for videos: Provide captions for videos so that people who are deaf or hard of hearing can understand the content. Provide transcripts for audio files so that people who are deaf or hard of hearing or have cognitive disabilities can read the content.
Ensure that your website is compatible with assistive technologies: Ensure that your website works with assistive technologies such as screen readers, magnifiers, and voice recognition software.
Use headings and lists: Use headings and lists to organize your content so that it is easy to navigate.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide detailed technical standards for making web content more accessible to people with disabilities ¹. For more information on how to make your website accessible, please visit the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) website.

Test of website accessibility

There are many accessibility in web development evaluation tools available that can help you determine if your website meets accessibility guidelines. Here are some examples of such tools ¹:

WAVE: A free web accessibility evaluation tool that checks your website for accessibility issues and provides feedback on how to fix them.
aXe: A free open-source accessibility testing tool that integrates with your browser and provides detailed reports on accessibility issues.
Siteimprove: A paid web accessibility testing tool that checks your website for accessibility issues and provides detailed reports on how to fix them.
A11y: A free web accessibility testing tool that checks your website for accessibility issues and provides detailed reports on how to fix them.

These are just a few examples of web accessibility evaluation tools. For more information on web accessibility and how to make your website accessible, please visit the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) website.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)?

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a set of technical standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to make web content more Accessibility in Web Development to people with disabilities ¹. The guidelines are a shared, international standard developed by many different stakeholders, including industry, disability organizations, government, and accessibility research organizations ².

WCAG 2.0 was published in 2008 and updated to WCAG 2.1 in June 2018 ¹. The guidelines are organized under four principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. Each principle has guidelines and testable success criteria at three levels: A, AA, and AAA ¹. The success criteria are what determine “conformance” to WCAG. That is, in order to meet WCAG, the content needs to meet the success criteria ¹.

Accessibility signs — “Disabled access sign on building“/ CC0 1.0

WCAG is not an introduction to accessibility. It is primarily intended for web content developers (page authors, site designers, etc.), web authoring tool developers, web accessibility evaluation tool developers, and others who want or need a standard for web accessibility ¹. For more information on WCAG and how to make your website accessible, please visit the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) website.