The success of an online business hinges significantly on website accessibility. With ecommerce retailers rapidly closing the retail sales gap and more users relying on online services for financial, health, and legal assistance, there’s a growing need for websites to provide accessible material to all users.
To ensure your website meets these demands, it’s essential to adhere to Automated Web Accessibility principles during design and rigorously test those design components to ensure they function as intended.
The Importance of Improved Accessibility
Many individuals face disabilities that impact major life activities, falling into six broad categories:
- Mobility: Challenges using stairs, walking, and reaching physical infrastructure.
- Cognition: Problems with focus, memory, or decision-making.
- Hearing: Difficulty hearing digital media and/or conversations.
- Vision: Difficulty viewing videos or reading text.
- Independent Living: Difficulty with basic daily activities necessary for independent living.
- Self-care: Problems with daily activities like dressing or bathing.
By focusing on accessibility and making website modifications for people with such impairments, your company can potentially expand its pool of prospective clients by 25% and enhance customer loyalty.
Understanding Automated Web Accessibility
Web accessibility testing evaluates how readily people with impairments can use a website. It ensures that all users can comprehend, navigate, and engage with a website, providing valuable insights for improving designs for users with and without impairments.
According to the Web Accessibility Initiative (W3C), accessibility evaluation is more formalized than general usability testing.
Effective accessibility testing focuses on four objectives:
- Meeting the needs of all disabled individuals.
- Balancing the demands of various disability groups.
- Identifying the best methods for addressing these demands.
- Expressing those demands and strategies in simple terms.
Testing for universality and usability is crucial:
- Universality: Ensure that all components and features of the website are accessible to all users.
- Usability: Evaluate how straightforward and useful accessible design components are.
Consideration of the six CDC categories is vital for successful online accessibility testing:
- Mobility: Test website accessibility for people with mobility issues, ensuring keyboard support and clear instructions.
- Cognition: Assess the ease of use of menus and forms, ensuring they are relevant and easy to identify.
- Hearing: Provide solutions for those with hearing difficulties, such as transcripts and closed captioning for videos.
- Vision: Support audio descriptions and context-first text for users with visual impairments.
- Independent Living: Focus on simplicity and organization to aid users with independent living challenges.
- Self-care: Ensure text and graphic components are easily scalable for users with self-care difficulties.
Implementing Effective Accessibility Testing
Several accessibility testing tools can assist in organizing the testing process:
- WAVE: Quickly identify accessibility issues, including contrast flaws and structural problems.
- AccessScan: Conduct a thorough audit of your website’s accessibility and receive a detailed report.
- CSS & HTML Validator: Identify CSS, HTML, and other coding errors that may affect accessibility.
- Site improvement: Resolve compliance issues and improve overall website accessibility.
- Tota11y: Visualize accessibility issues and learn best practices for correction.
In Conclusion
Automated Web Accessibility ensures that your website offers customized solutions and enhanced usability for all visitors. By combining manual and automated testing techniques, you can ensure a comprehensive evaluation and provide the best possible experience for all website visitors. For further information, reach out to the Testing Agency!
