Accessibility to Web content is a concept that allows the users are able to access and interact on web pages regardless of their abilities. It is crucial to consider web accessibility when designing or developing applications and websites.
The correct HTML markup is vital to making sure that your website is accessible. For example using logic-based headers will help screen readers distinguish the page’s structure. It is advised to also use explicit link descriptions and offer sufficient contrast of colors.
WCAG Guidelines
HTML0 — The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are web-based standards that ensure application accessibility. These standards are employed by front-end programmers, QA testers, and others on the web team in order to satisfy basic accessibility requirements for web pages. WCAG includes thirteen guidelines arranged under the four principal principles of easily understood, understandable, perceivable as well as robust. They are referred to in the industry as the POUR. Each guideline includes testable criteria for success that establish the level of compliance.
Unilever is an international company that makes 400 brands sold in over 2 billion homes globally, maintains a website which balances accessibility to the internet with aesthetically appealing design. Its site meets WCAG guidelines regarding colors and contrast in keyboard navigation as well as structuring of headings.
The main feature of the site is its display of visual indicators to show which page element has the focus of a keyboard. This makes it much easier for users to read and navigate the content on a page with no mouse in addition to screen readers and other text-to-speech programmers. This approach is also recommended for various other applications on the web that require solely keyboard navigation.
Semantic HTML
Apart from keeping both style and content separated semantic HTML helps make your website simpler for assistive technology to comprehend web application development service. When a browser process a well-written, semantic HTML, the information it presents is passed to assistive devices like screen readers that interpret and transformed into the formats the users require.
Also to that, using landmarks -a collection of HTML tags used to mark specific areas of your website helps ensure that certain areas can be accessed via keyboard for text-to-speech and screen-reader users. Also, be sure to add short explanations of pictures (also known as alt attributes) for those who cannot read or interpret images.
Keyboard Friendly Web Interfaces
Certain types of users surf on the internet using the keyboard instead of using an actual mouse. They can be expert “power” keyboard users, or may have motor disabilities that stop them from performing the exact motor actions required for operating the mouse. The key is to make interactivity and navigation elements readily accessible through tabbing them and then displaying a visual indicator that indicates the current keyboard focus.
For example, if you have input fields for typing text, a form or drop-down menus ensure that the elements you have can be tabbed to and also provide a clear indication of their current state. Screen readers and screen magnification utilities also employ the focus indicator for determining which object is present at any given time.
It’s crucial for all the text that appears displayed on the page is clear and simple to read. This is an essential aspect of website accessibility, specifically for people who have hearing or vision limitations or who are visually impaired and rely on assistive technology to navigate your site.
Color Contrast
Utilizing color with enough contrast means that every user, including those with color blindness are able to comprehend and navigate through web-based content. Many people with dyslexia benefit from high-contrast text, too.
ARIA roles and properties are used to describe the condition of widgets used to assistive technology, like screens readers. For example, the role “search” is used to identify a field on a form for the search function. Roles are stable and do not change if a widget is upgraded, but properties are dynamic, and they change whenever a user interacts the widget.
