Did you know that one in five Norwegians over 18 years of age has a temporary or permanent downturn? It shows figures from the 2019 DFØ Population Survey. People with disabilities often have greater difficulties in using the Internet to obtain information, goods and services than the population otherwise. The reason? Not all websites are equally good at taking universal design into account. When we don't take universal design into account, we risk excluding many potential customers. And nobody wants to? So in this article we will give you 6 specific tips that can help you make your website more accessible and more user-friendly for all users.
What is universal design?
Universal ICT design (communication technology) It is about creating good digital solutions that are adapted to all people in society, regardless of age, functionality and level of education.
In other words, universal ICT design is about facilitating online products, services and content with the idea that they should: include allSo let's say that this is the same thing as that.
It does not matter whether the downturn is temporary, depending on the situation or permanent. Whether you are buying a product, reading something or downloading a document, the website should be organised for you.
Guidelines
In Norway, it is actually a legal requirement that all ICT solutions be universally designed. Yet you experience meeting on websites with bad headlines and missing all-texts.
It is therefore important that you, as a publisher on the Internet, examine whether the content you publish is meeting the guidelines for WCAG 2.1. (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). This is the standard that describes how to make web pages more accessible. See the WCAG guidelines here.
When you follow these guidelines, make sure your content is in accordance with the law, while making your website easier and better use for everyone.
Universal design benefits
There are many good reasons for giving universal design priority:
Better visibility: structured and easy to read content results in higher rankings in search engines
Better user experience: clear language and easy navigation make the web page more effective for all
Satisfied customers: when people find what they are looking for, they are more likely to stay, act or contact
So universal design is not just a legal requirement, but a smart investment that produces results.
Now that we've looked at what universal design is and why it's important, let's look at how you can easily implement it in practice.
6 simple grapps for more accessible content
1. Write simple and comprehensible
Although it is not a legal requirement, clear languages are important to avoid misunderstandings.
If text is difficult to understand, it can lead to confusion and unnecessary e-mail or phone requests. By spending a little extra time writing clearly, you can save both time, money and frustration.
A good text makes it easy for the reader to find, understand and use the information shared. To achieve this, these writing instructions may be useful:
- Think about who you write to and why you write
- Write directly to the reader
- Structure the text logically, first
- Use short sentences and simple words
- Explain a foreign word and a word
See more text on crackradet.com
2. Use headers correctly
The correct use of heading levels may be one of the most important means of creating a structured and transparent text. When the headers are clear and follow a logical order, the text is easier to read for both human and screen reader.
How to code headers?
Headings are coded using the heading items <h1> to <h6>. These break down the text into chapters and sub-chapters at different levels.
- h1 is used for the main title that tells you what the text is about
- h2 is used for headings in the body, h3 is used for middle headings
- h4-h6 is used to further underline the structure of the text
The order of the levels shall also be correct. You're going to move down one level at a time, for example from h1 to h2 and then to h3.
Three. Do not forget all lyrics
The word “an image says more than 1000 words” is in favour of most of us, but it does not always match for all. Not everyone can see pictures, symbols or icons. So we always need a text option -- an all-text.
An all-text is an alternative text that describes the contents or functions of the image. The Alt text allows users to continue to see images with their content.
How do you make all-texts?
The Alt text shall give a brief and concrete description of what is happening on the image, without repeating the content of the text on the website.
If an image shows two marketers who hold a presentation, you can write “two marketers hold a presentation” as an all-text.
Where the picture or illustration is meant to be decorative, the text of the whole text shall be empty. The image does not matter for the message, and a screen reader should ignore the image.
4. Add Text as Text
Graphs, diagrams and other illustrations are often shown as images, and then the text inside becomes invisible for both screen reader and search engine. Therefore, important information must always be inserted as real text outside the image.
The Remembering rule is simple: text should be text, not text image.
5. Visualize Links
A link text should be understood on its own, without the reader having to look at the rest of the sentence. For example, if a link is only called ‘Google’, it is impossible to know whether it points to the front or to a specific subside. For universal design, this is extra important. Users who navigate with screenreader often get the links read up as a list, without the context around. Then indistinct link texts like ‘click here’ or ‘read more’ are simply meaningless. By writing short and precise link texts that clearly describe the purpose, you ensure that all users understand where the link is leading — regardless of the means they use. Here are two examples of how to print a link: Poor
- See the news here
- Click here for images
Good
- See all the harvest news here
- See all photos from E-commerce Day here
6. Video and audio clip subtitles
Video and audio are effective ways to communicate messages, but without subtitles the content becomes inaccessible to many. It is therefore important that the content always appears in the form of text.
Remember this when you are subtitles:
- Text to render speech and important sounds (such as music, laughter and effects)
- Specify who is talking and describe important events
- In order to ensure good legibility, the text must have sufficient contrast with the background
- The text should be encoded as text (not as an image) so that it can be perceived by all
- If direct subtitles are not possible: add a short description next to the video or the audio clip, which explains the message in a simple way.
See more guidelines on video and audio recordings on uuprudentials.com
Make the web page more accessible
With the 6 mentioned features, you can make your website more accessible and create a better user experience for everyone, while strengthening business visibility, trust and results.
We call that a win-win situation.
Do you wonder how you can improve your website? Contact us at INEVO, we will be happy to help you.