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Our world is surrounded by tools designed to promote accessibility. Every time you see a ramp, automatic door button, shower, elevator, or braille sign, you’re seeing accessibility in action. And while accessibility needs may be temporary, like for someone with a broken leg, or linked to a permanent disability, we’ve built our cities, buildings, and lives to make sure everyone can reach the things they need to reach. So why can’t your website be accessible too?

The landscape of web accessibility.

Web accessibility is the practice of making your website usable by as many people as possible. And when we talk about accessibility, we’re not just focusing on people with disabilities: providing a more accessible site makes it easier for everyone to use. This includes both those with permanent conditions, such as a degenerative disease, and those with temporary disabilities, such as someone with a broken arm or vision problems.
With this in mind, it is not surprising that there is a market around measuring and improving accessibility. Because websites are built using a standardized language, it is easy to make broad, general assumptions about the accessibility of the site (and its ability to be understood by assistive devices such as screen readers or magnification tools) through automated services. For example, there have been a recent series of tools and subscription services that have emerged to offer a quick fix for accessibility. Many of these function as Javascript components that are quickly installed on a site, providing an interface for adjusting font size, contrast, and other elements. While simply subscribing to a tool sounds like an attractive way to provide a quick fix, it’s important to understand that this won’t magically make your site compliant with accessibility standards like WCAG, it often provides a dubious benefit to users, and won’t protect of the legal risk if your site does not comply with the requirements. Simply put, there are grey areas that an automated service simply won’t detect.

Getting the job done: accessibility audits.

What this means is combining structure within an automated tool with an actual in-person review of common accessibility solutions. At Austin Marketing Company., we call this an accessibility audit: a process that makes recommendations and requirements in accordance with the requirements of the Amendment to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which correspond to the WCAG. Accessibility to Web Content) 2.1 Conformity with an AA level. This balance between manual and automated is important. An automated test will uncover common structural issues and are invaluable as a starting point for an audit. However, understanding accessibility requires an understanding of human context and syntax, things that a browser script or automated test will never fully understand. For example, the WCAG 2.0 AA guidelines recommend that every image on a site include alt text, designated by an <alt=””> label. This tag basically describes the image to anyone using a screen reader or other assistive device. An automated tool could call each and every empty or missing <alt=””> tags, and here’s where things get tricky: not all images require an alt tag. A hero image that’s meant to be entirely decorative? The alternative text in this case would be more distracting to the user. A photo of a person on a biography page? Since the name is close, naming the image would create duplicate content. In both cases, simply filling in the alt text is actually worse for accessibility. As we said: there are many gray areas.

First steps in site accessibility.

You may be wondering, how do we help and provide guidance to make a site more accessible? These are just a few tools/plugins we use to help us show areas for improvement.
  • WAVE (Web Accessibility Assessment Tool) – This tool uses icons and indicators to flag issues that can range from text that is too small, poor contrast, to missing alt text .
  • VoiceOver – A screen reading tool used for Apple devices. This screen reader can read us headings, links and subtitles without being able to look at the screen.
  • JAWS (Voice Work Access) or NVDA: Similar to VoiceOver but for Windows
  • Screaming Frog – This tool is used to audit and scan a site which may report missing title pages, H1 & H2 and alt text missing.
Now that we’ve got you thinking about your site and how accessible it is, we’ve got a couple of action items you can take today that will help make your site more accessible.
  • Make sure your images have alt text. Why? Providing alt text conveys the necessary information at a level that could be obtained by someone who can see the image. Try to remember that you are creating an experience that mirrors the visual experience.
  • Check the levels of omitted titles. Headings provide structure to the document and facilitate keyboard navigation. These users may become confused or have difficulty navigating when heading levels are skipped. Have you ever read a book without knowing the name of the book?
  • Make sure your site is keyboard accessible. The website must be usable without using a mouse. You can easily test this by starting at the top and trying to use tabs and arrows throughout your site.
We take accessibility very seriously here, and there’s more to it than editorial corrections and the use of tools and plugins, but more importantly making changes that are good for your site and users in the long run. Stay tuned for Part 2 on how we’re going to address accessibility issues that break down into fixing your technology, your content, and your process.