How to Make Your Website More Inclusive and Accessible for All Users

Creating an accessible and inclusive website isn’t just about meeting legal requirements—it’s about making sure that every user, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, can have a positive experience on your site. More than just a trend, web accessibility is a necessary component of modern web design that ensures equal access for all users. By improving the accessibility of your website, you not only make it easier to use for people with disabilities but also enhance user experience, improve SEO, and ensure compliance with laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In today’s digital landscape, accessibility is an essential aspect of web design. Websites must be inclusive for all users, regardless of their abilities or disabilities. Accessibility ensures that everyone, including people with visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive disabilities, can access and navigate your site effectively. A fully accessible website not only enhances the user experience but also broadens your reach, improves SEO.

In this post, we’ll walk you through how to make your website more inclusive and accessible, so you can reach and serve a broader audience.

Use Clear and Simple Language

A key part of accessibility is making sure that everyone can understand the content on your website, regardless of their reading level or language proficiency. Here are a few ways to make your text more accessible:

• Avoid jargon: Use straightforward, simple language that’s easy for all users to understand.
• Shorter sentences: Break down complex ideas into smaller, digestible chunks.
• Headings and subheadings: Organize content with descriptive headings to help users quickly find relevant information.

Ensure Your Website is Keyboard-Navigable

Many users with disabilities rely on keyboard navigation rather than a mouse. To make your website more accessible, ensure that users can navigate through all of your site’s features using just a keyboard.

• Tab navigation: Users should be able to tab through all links, buttons, and forms.
• Skip to content links: Offer a “skip to main content” link for users with screen readers or keyboard users to bypass repetitive navigation.
• Focus indicators: Ensure that interactive elements (like buttons and links) are visually highlighted when they receive focus, allowing keyboard users to see where they are on the page.

Provide Text Alternatives for Images and Videos

Many users with visual impairments rely on screen readers to access the content of your website. Therefore, it’s essential to provide text alternatives for all images, videos, and other non-text content.

• Alt text for images: Describe the content of the image in a clear, concise way. This helps screen reader users understand the context of the image.
• Video captions and transcripts: Offer captions for videos and transcripts for audio content to make multimedia accessible to users who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Ensure Color Contrast and Readability

For users with color blindness or low vision, the contrast between text and its background plays a significant role in readability. Here are a few ways to improve contrast:

• High contrast: Ensure a high contrast between text and background. For example, black text on a white background is much easier to read than light gray text on a white background.
• Avoid color-dependent information: Don’t rely solely on color to convey important information. If you highlight text with a color, also use text labels or icons to provide additional context.

Make Forms and Buttons Easy to Use

Forms are often essential for gathering user information (like contact forms, sign-ups, etc.), but they can be challenging for some users to navigate. Here’s how to make them more accessible:

• Clear labels: Ensure each form field has a clear and descriptive label.
• Error handling: If a user submits a form incorrectly, provide clear and helpful error messages that explain how to correct the issue.
• Accessible buttons: Make buttons large enough to be easily clicked and ensure they’re clearly labeled with action words like “Submit” or “Send.”

Key Accessibility Features to Implement

Now let’s dive deeper into specific features and tools you can implement to make your website more inclusive and accessible.

Accessible Forms

Forms are essential on many websites, but they can be a major barrier for people with disabilities. To make forms more accessible:

• Labeling fields: Ensure all form fields have clearly associated labels. Use the label HTML tag to associate a text label with an input field.
• Error handling: Provide error messages that are easy to understand and describe what the user needs to do to correct the error.
• Form validation: Use clear and accessible validation messages to inform users of required fields or invalid entries.
• Keyboard navigation: Ensure that users can easily tab through form fields without jumping or skipping fields.

Color and Contrast Accessibility

People with color blindness or low vision often struggle with websites that don’t provide sufficient contrast or rely too heavily on color. To improve color accessibility:

• Use high contrast: Text should have high contrast against its background. Avoid using color as the sole means of conveying information.
• Avoid color-only cues: If you use color to convey information (e.g., red for errors), supplement it with text or icons to ensure everyone can understand.
• Test contrast: Use online contrast checkers like the WebAIM Contrast Checker to ensure your color choices meet accessibility standards.

Accessible Navigation

Navigation is one of the most important aspects of accessibility. It should be easy to use and intuitive, regardless of the user’s abilities.

• Logical structure: Organize your site’s navigation in a logical hierarchy, and ensure that links are descriptive.
• Sticky navigation: Consider using sticky or fixed navigation to ensure the menu is always available to users as they scroll through content.
• Mobile optimization: Make sure your navigation is optimized for smaller screens and touchscreen devices.

Test Your Website with Accessibility Tools

After implementing accessibility features, it’s essential to test how well your website functions for users with disabilities. There are a number of free tools available to help with this:

• WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool): A browser extension that can analyze your website for common accessibility issues. This tool helps you identify common accessibility issues on your website. It provides feedback on elements like alt text, form labels, and color contrast
• Google Lighthouse: An open-source tool that audits web pages for performance, accessibility, and SEO. Lighthouse is an open-source, automated tool for improving the quality of web pages. It audits for performance, accessibility, and SEO.
• Voiceover & NVDA: Screen readers for testing how your site works for blind users. Test how your website works with screen readers by using Voiceover (for macOS/iOS) or NVDA (for Windows). This will help you identify any usability issues.

Testing your site with these tools can help you identify and fix any remaining accessibility issues.

Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly

A significant percentage of internet users access websites via mobile devices, so it’s crucial to ensure that your site is mobile-friendly and accessible. Make sure:

• Responsive design: Your site should adapt to different screen sizes, from desktop computers to smartphones and tablets.
• Touchscreen-friendly: Ensure buttons and links are large enough to be easily tapped on small screens.
• Mobile-friendly forms: Make sure forms are easy to fill out on mobile devices.

Offer Language Options and Multi-Language Support

For users who speak different languages or have limited English proficiency, offering multi-language options can greatly enhance accessibility. This allows users to interact with your site in their preferred language.

• Language switcher: Include an option for users to switch between languages on your website.
• Translation tools: Integrate translation tools like Google Translate to make content available to a broader audience.

Creating an Inclusive Experience for All Users

Accessibility isn’t just about meeting legal standards or technical specifications—it’s about creating an inclusive experience for all users. Here are some additional ways to ensure that your website is welcoming to everyone:

• Multilingual support: If you serve a global audience, consider adding multilingual support. Offer language options so users can navigate your site in their preferred language.
• Cognitive accessibility: Include features like adjustable text size and font styles, along with simplified content for users with cognitive disabilities.
• Community involvement: Engage with the disability community to gather feedback on how to improve your website’s inclusivity.

In conclusion, creating an inclusive and accessible website not only benefits users with disabilities but also enhances the experience for all visitors. By following the best practices outlined in this guide—such as ensuring clear content, providing keyboard navigation, offering alternative text, and improving contrast—you can build a website that is truly accessible to everyone.

If you’re looking to make your website more inclusive and accessible, Insly Digital can help. Our team of web design experts specializes in creating accessible, user-friendly websites that meet legal requirements and improve user experience. Contact Insly Digital today to ensure your website is inclusive for all users.