Making Your Website Accessible: Tips for Reaching a Diverse Audience

Did you know over 15% of the global population comprises specially-abled individuals? 

The crux principle of the internet is to ensure its web accessibility to all kinds of audiences, regardless of their software, hardware, geographical location, or physical and cognitive capabilities. By accomplishing these principles, the web portal becomes a hub where the diverse needs of the individuals are accommodated with varying levels of hearing, vision, mobility, and cognitive abilities.

The website has the power to outstandingly alter the impact of special abilities as it abolishes numerous communication barriers and interaction barriers that people often encounter in the physical world. But, when the websites, technologies, applications, or tools are structured poorly, hurdles can be erected inadvertently that refrain specific individuals from effectively utilizing the web.

So, web accessibility is paramount for the company, developers, and testers for extracting high-quality websites and automated tools. It is crucial to provide individuals with a platform to use their products and services.

Also Read: How To Automate Accessibility Testing

Let us read the meaning of web accessibility in detail:

What does the term “Website Accessibility” mean?

Web accessibility refers to developing websites accessible to all individuals, entailing a specially-abled audience, incorporating a broad category of impairments such as auditory, visual, motor, and cognitive. It involves adhering to the specific WCAG accessibility testing guidelines to make the website user-friendly for the differently abled audience. Websites encompassing different businesses, educational institutions, and online learning must go through web accessibility testing so that the objective of the web portal can be fulfilled.

Evaluating the Web Accessibility of Your Website 

To meet the several WCAG accessibility testing guidelines and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), here are some methods to employ:

• Make the effective use of evaluation tools viz. Axe accessibility, JAWS, NVDA, WAVE, or A11Y accessibility checker for accessibility testing assessments.
• Extract the highest benefits of automated accessibility testing utilities such as WebAIM’s accessibility testing tools or Google Lighthouse to scrutinize the web portal for accessibility issues.
• Adopt manual testing through assistive technologies like screen readers, keyboard-only navigation, and speech recognition software to know the deep problems the actual users or specially-abled audience may face.
• Get an associate with the right accessibility testing services provider that can have a keen insight into the web portal and evaluate the website as per the accessibility guidelines.

Consociating with these approaches can effectively provide access and intensify web accessibility in a user-friendly way, regardless of the abilities of different individuals. 

Key Strategies to Make Your Website Appealing Across a Broad Spectrum of Users 

Now, here’s a list of some critical methods to make your website accessible to a diverse audience:

• Boost your Site’s Storytelling & Navigation

The web content must resonate the story of the products and services with your customers and personas, entailing visuals and context. How the business is conquering the challenges faced by the diverse audience- should be adequately portrayed. Additionally, many visitors need a more precise idea of what they need. The website should be designed with a seamless site navigation that enables users to access the information based on their preferences and suitable solutions to their queries.

• Insert Alt Text for the Images 

There is a renowned tool, i.e., screen readers and other assistive devices that can interpret the alt text inserted in the image. This insertion of alt text and HTML tags can ramp up the accessibility for individuals with visual impairments, allowing the diverse audience to grab the image content.

• Color Contrast

Ensure that the color of the web portal follows the high color contrast mode so that the actual users can activate or deactivate it as per the accessibility requirements.

• Responsive Accessibility

Amplify the website appeal by verifying that the business website or online store is accessible on several devices. Accessibility testing is a crucial step; if taken lightly, it can separate the business from its potential customer base. In the cyber realm, about 70% of actual users access the web portal via smartphones. Here, non-responsive sites can miss exceptional chances of getting traffic and sales.

• Insert Internal Links & Highlight Product Features

Putting internal links to the website content enables visitors to read lengthy web pages without leaving the page. In parallel to this, internal links help the users to swiftly and efficiently navigate to the different product/service pages that might be relevant to them. Furthermore, highlighting the extensive product features can help make the product appealing regardless of its demographic attributes.   

• Concentrate on Cases

Despite going for the generic approach, which doesn’t resonate with anything, use certain cases that closely align with the situation of the diverse audience.

Conclusion 

TFT possesses a profound comprehension of website accessibility testing and implementing strategies such as descriptive headings, multimedia captions, transcripts, and keyboard-friendly navigation that can establish a business’s global presence. Accessibility testing can lead to exceptional outcomes, making the web portal accessible to a diverse range of individuals.

TFT, an exemplary web accessibility testing company, can provide a group of accessibility testers that make your website accessible and user-friendly to all audiences, including specially-abled audiences, at competitive rates.

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