10 golden rules of web accessibility

The golden rules of web accessibility. Why? As a goal, bridging the digital gap seems to be gaining more salience with digital technology now a ubiquitous presence in our lives –and thanks to the present health crisis we have seen how this has abruptly intensified.

At this time, investing in web accessibility is a decision that sets organisations apart from the rest, not only because they can avoid fines or legal penalties as a result of the various accessibility regulations, but also because they will eliminate the barriers that impede people from getting the information, services, and products they need from the Internet.

Web accessibility means that people in vulnerable situations will be able to enjoy a better quality of life (the elderly and people with disabilities) which in turn fosters greater productivity for all.

That is why it is paramount that we join the web accessibility movement. To help you, we would like to share the 10 golden rules of web accessibility. These will help you become an agent of change, but which will also help you capitalise on this segment which has been excluded from society for much too long.

The 10 Golden Rules of Web Accessibility

What steps do we need to follow to create an accessible website? Pay attention and make a note of the 10 rules below to make your website accessible and usable.

Establish the accessibility level you desire for your website and follow these best practices to succeed:

Here, we recommend that you take full advantage of the inSuit platform which will help you enrich your website with semantic information following the WAI-ARIA standard and improve upon many of the accessibility guidelines regarding web content set forth in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). This is where you will find custom solutions offered by experts in accessibility and usability.
Use HTML semantic elements:

This is a fundamental point if you wish to ensure accessibility and functionality when using assistive technology such as content readers. This is the case of our inSuit Aloud® tool, which reads the content and available options from websites, enabling access to content and navigation without needing to see the screen.

To perform this task, inSuit optimises HTML semantic elements, exploiting this opportunity in order to provide extra information using HTML elements or tags which in turn allows us to define or describe website content, functions, or sections. This information is needed to properly examine documents.
Remember that some users can only use keyboard navigation:

inSuit’s engine places the keyboard focus on all elements of the page to enable navigation. It does so regardless of how website was developed, modifying its programming in real time, so that any element not meeting web accessibility guidelines that could impede navigation is corrected. As a result, users have access to page content in its entirety and will be able to navigate using the keyboard alone.

Use simple language:

Keeping content simple and understandable and having a straightforward design are crucial. inSuit vKeyboard® is the ideal solution as it allows users to navigate using all highlighted visual elements. When simplified in this manner, their concentration and focus is enhanced.

This will make your website more attractive to users, and as a result it will be more accessible to those with learning difficulties or cognitive disabilities.
Consider improving colour contrast:

Choosing colours that ensure a good contrast for better navigation, reading, and interaction is a plus for all websites. Along these lines, we offer inSuit Visual®, which enables users to combine contrast and colour settings to make text cleaner and even larger if needed.

Ensuring good contrast between foreground and background colours makes it easier to discern texts, images, links, icons, and buttons. This is very important as it helps users process the information on the website.
Use alternative text:

Always bear in mind that alternative text (used in the description of images) is crucial to improving accessibility for people who cannot see the images on the website. Screen readers are therefore able to describe what cannot be seen in the images.

Given the importance of alternative text, inSuit has found a way to detect all the images with information that do not have descriptive text; the aim being to generate this information. This guarantees that there are no images on the website without an Alt tag.
Try to always guide users navigating around the website:

The inSuit engine automatically includes the WAI-ARIA protocol; these technical specifications from W3C describe how to add semantic content and metadata to HTML content, which provides web browsers with information on interface behaviour and its structure. With this information, inSuit is able to incorporate technical beacons that will guide users around the webpage in an accessible manner.

For instance, the use of tags to describe input fields and position markers on a form through its tags. This is useful and practical for users.
Make web links understandable at all times:

Make sure your users do not miss additional information that is important and relevant to the page. Every link must always have a meaningful reason for being there and that’s why it must be accessible. To do this, inSuit tags and marks the links, enumerating each and therefore making them accessible to all users.
Use large buttons:

This will clarify options for interaction requiring action on the part of the user.

Regardless of the size of the button on the original web page, inSuit will tag and mark it to make it more visible and accessible. In addition, through the functions of inSuit Senior® (for the elderly) and inSuit Visual® (for the vision-impaired), the size of all the web page elements is increased to make them easier to see.
Use subtitles in videos:

Subtitles make videos accessible for people who are hearing impaired. They are also useful if you want to overcome language barriers or for people viewing videos in noisy environments or in situations where they must be silent.

inSuit will help you solve this issue! We offer another service that will help you automatically generate subtitles live.

Follow all of the golden rules for web accessibility with inSuit

By taking care when ensuring web accessibility and good web usability, you will be able to reach more people interested in the information you offer on your web page.

Join the web accessibility movement and ensure you comply with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Guidelines on Web Accessibility. This is how you can help people with disabilities navigate around the Web freely and independently, thereby enhancing their quality of life and their opportunities for greater productivity.

inSuit makes it easy for you! We offer the ideal solution, helping you capitalise on this segment and guarantee web accessibility standards without needing to make any complicated changes to your original webpage.