Ensuring website accessibility is crucial for reaching a diverse audience and fostering inclusivity. As a content manager, your role in creating an accessible online platform is pivotal. Here are six essential tips to optimize website accessibility.
Prioritize Plain Language
When crafting content, prioritize clarity over complexity. Use straightforward language that resonates with a broad audience, avoiding convoluted jargon or technical terminology.
Visit the Plain Language website for more information.
Enhance Image Accessibility
You must provide descriptive alternative text (alt text) for images intended to convey meaning to accommodate users with visual impairments. This text should succinctly convey the image’s content or purpose, ensuring everyone can comprehend the visual elements of your website. Alternative text can negatively impact usability if the wrong text is used, the surrounding content already explains the meaning, the text is added to decorative images, or used solely for search engine optimization.
Tips for alt text
- Alt text should be specific and not overly descriptive.
- Good descriptions are concise but describe what’s in your images accurately enough to understand their context—a good rule of thumb is to limit them to 300 characters.
- Stay clear of repetition.
- Never start your alt text with ‘image of’ as this will be obvious to the user.
- Include any essential text or data that are part of the image.
- Images with a caption describing the image or explained by the surrounding context may not need additional alt text.
- Screen readers will pause and stop when you tell them to, but depending on user settings, they might not annunciate exclamation or question marks.
Optimize Readability and Contrast
Choose legible fonts and ensure sufficient contrast between text and background colors. High contrast facilitates readability, benefiting users with visual impairments or color deficiencies and improving the overall user experience.
Use Descriptive Link Text
When inserting hyperlinks, use descriptive, meaningful text that accurately reflects the linked content. Do not use generic phrases like “click here,” “read more,” or “here,” as descriptive link text aids users in understanding the link’s destination, particularly those relying on screen readers for navigation.
Generally speaking, do not set links to open in a new window or tab. If there is a compelling reason to open new tabs or windows, a warning announcing that the link will open a new window or tab must be included so that users will expect that behavior and know how to go back after clicking the link.
Provide Multimedia Accessibility
To accommodate users with hearing impairments, you must include captions for videos and transcripts for audio content. Videos should also include a descriptive audio version for vision-impaired users. Descriptive audio provides narration of visual elements and actions, enabling blind users to comprehend the content of the video fully.
Minimize Abbreviations
Limit abbreviations, especially initialisms, and acronyms, unless they are widely recognized or commonly used. For instance, commonly used acronyms such as “NASA” (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) or “UNICEF” (United Nations Children’s Fund) may be exempt from explanation. However, less familiar abbreviations should be avoided or, at a minimum, explained upon first use or accompanied by their full meaning to prevent confusion and enhance comprehension for all users.
More on minimizing abbreviations.
Prioritizing inclusivity aligns with our vision of the web and legal requirements and improves the overall user experience of our diverse audience. Following these guidelines can significantly enhance website accessibility, making your content more accessible to users of all abilities.
Additional resources
