Having an online presence in the digital world is pivotal to success. Therefore, businesses and individuals must build their websites with web accessibility standards. This will help them ensure everyone can navigate easily and gain value from the digital space.
WordPress Accessibility plays a major role here. It helps people with visual impairments, cognitive disabilities, and physical handicaps access information or services easily from websites created using this content management system.
Not only that, WordPress Accessibility offers businesses and individuals many other benefits. Let’s explore them.
Why Is WordPress Accessibility So Important?
WordPress accessibility helps people with disabilities consume online content easily. If a site cannot meet accessibility requirements, it can not serve a significant chunk of the population. As a consequence, businesses may struggle to receive maximum ROI.
WordPress accessibility is important for the following reasons:
Accessibility
Ensuring people with disabilities can access a website, application’s content, or elements are critical. That’s because it enables those users to utilize the information and services available online.
Without accessibility standards, users with impairments would not be able to benefit from the web. These impairments include visual, auditory, physical, neurological, cognitive, and speech disabilities.
Developers can create accessible web pages for everyone by following WordPress Accessibility standards such as those outlined by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Adherence to these standards ensures maximum access for all users.
Inclusion
Creating an inclusive user experience for everyone involved is important for WordPress Accessibility. Sites should be designed so that users have equal access regardless of device type or disability.
That means providing alternative forms of engaging content, such as videos with captions. This includes:
- Providing images and audio files accompanied by transcripts
- Optimizing web pages for mobile devices
- Configuring keyboards shortcuts; utilizing headings tags properly
- Offering different page layouts when appropriate
- Including labels on each form field/control
This will enable individuals to understand their expectations and provide an enjoyable experience for every user group.
Legal Requirements
Meeting legal accessibility requirements helps businesses avoid lawsuits, as the mistreatment of individuals with disabilities is already a serious issue. For this reason, websites must comply with government regulations to ensure technological access for all.
The court ruled in favor of the disabled person, resulting in fines for companies that failed to abide by disability access guidelines. In addition, this proactive action may be more cost-effective than waiting for a lawsuit so that unavailable funds can be used elsewhere.
Types of Accessibility For WordPress Websites
Since accessibility for websites is so important, you must focus on incorporating the right features in your site. For this purpose, you can use accessibility solutions by Xcom and use suitable accessibility types. Here are a few main types you can use:
Keyboard Accessibility
Keyboard accessibility is essential to creating an inclusive website for people using assistive technologies. It enables users to access and interact with web pages without using a mouse, joystick, or other pointing devices.
By pressing various keys simultaneously on their keyboard, users can tab between interactive elements on a page to browse its content. Those unable to use a mouse or trackpad will benefit greatly from this toggle feature. That’s because it allows them to gain full control over every aspect of a website’s functionality while providing increased independence and freedom.
Screen Reader Accessibility
Screen Reader Compatible websites are great for those with vision impairments or who are blind. They enable users to understand what is written and displayed on the website. Providing accessible HTML elements, such as headings, lists, and links, helps text-to-speech software interpret what’s on the page.
Some of the other benefits of screen reader-compatible websites include the following:
- Easy navigation through menus and links
- Access to audio descriptions on files such as images, videos, or presentations
Creating an inclusive web experience begins with making sure your website is screen reader compatible. This increases usability and encourages traffic from disabled users who are kept out of other digital spaces due to accessibility barriers.
When properly coded into web pages, these readers make it easier for computers to communicate and allow users to more quickly and effectively access the content.
Also read: Why Is ADA Web Accessibility a Legal Requirement? A Full Explanation
Text Resizing Accessibility
Text resizing accessibility ensures that all visitors have a positive user experience when visiting your website. With text resizing, visitors can easily adjust the font size and make it larger or smaller depending on their preferences and requirements. This helps people with visual impairments or low vision easily read the text on your website without straining their eyes.
The ability for users to change the size of the text provides greater convenience. It ensures all users can enjoy an inclusive experience when visiting, no matter what device they use.
High Contrast Colors Accessibility
High contrast color accessibility ensures people with different types of vision impairment can see and interpret content correctly. When developing a WordPress website, choose the right color combinations carefully. That’s because it plays a major role in ensuring visually impaired users can understand your site content easily.
Contrastive colors also provide broader access to different groups of users. For instance, seniors often suffer from low vision due to aging or may be color blind.
The highly contrasting colors imply that all visitors will benefit from high visibility. Thus, it creates a user-friendly experience for everyone across the board.
Implications Of Not Adhering To Web Accessibility Requirements On Your WordPress Website
Not updating your websites with accessibility features can undoubtedly get you in trouble. It will significantly reduce your traffic, sales, and profit in the longer run.
Here are a few implications you can face due to the lack of accessibility requirements on your website:
Lower Search Engine Rankings
Search engine rankings are critical for the overall success of any website. They can determine a website’s visibility and how many visitors it gets each day.
Websites that lack web accessibility can suffer from lower search engine rankings as they are harder to index by search engines. Moreover, poor web accessibility can also impact a website’s overall performance.
When search engine algorithms scan a website, they look for criteria such as meta descriptions or page title length to give it an appropriate ranking among other websites.
If your WordPress website fails to meet accessibility standards, its visibility within searches could be hindered, resulting in fewer visitors and possibly lower overall revenue from visits to the site.
Lower Traffic
Having low traffic to your WordPress website can be extremely detrimental to its chances of being successful. It can significantly decrease the number of potential customers visiting your website, thus leading to fewer conversions and revenue for your business.
Improving web accessibility standards on a website can go a long way in making it more user-friendly by improving navigation, readability, and overall experience for visitors.
Additionally, making sure the content on the site is accessible to those with impairments or disabilities increases its chances of getting found easily on search engine results which should lead to increased traffic over time.
Loss of Revenue
Failing to adhere to web accessibility requirements for your WordPress website can significantly reduce the revenue you generate. Having accessible content is essential to ensure that all users can use and access information on your website. However, if your content is incompatible with assistive technologies, it can prevent disabled users from accessing your site.
This limitation can also cause you to miss out on potential customers who would have otherwise converted or purchased something on your website resulting in lost revenue. Investing in an accessible content management system when building a WordPress website can boost sales and improve user experience. Proper maintenance of the system is also important to ensure its effectiveness.
Legal Issues & Complaints
In some countries, there is a legal requirement to provide equal access for those with disabilities or impairments, as stipulated in the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) in the United States. Not providing this minimal measure of access can leave your business vulnerable to legal action from disability rights groups.
This could result in costly fines or fees which can be avoided altogether by simply adhering to web accessibility standards before launching your WordPress website. Thus, you should note that even if there aren’t any legal repercussions, user experience can still suffer due to accessibility issues.
Not only that, they may be prompted enough to file a complaint against you regardless, resulting in a bad reputation for both yourself and your business.
Tips for an Effective WordPress Accessibility Strategy
To implement WordPress accessibility features effectively, you can use the following useful tips:
- Make sure your text and background have sufficient contrast. This makes it easier for people with impaired vision or color blindness to read your content.
- Utilize headings to mark sections of your post. This allows people with a Screen Reader to effectively skim through your post.
- Use descriptive, keyword rich ALT text for all images so people with vision impairments can benefit from a satisfactory experience.
- Don’t use only images for important content. Screen readers are unable to read an image and it may cause accessibility issues.
- Use HTML Tables to display tabular data and not to create website layouts. This ensures that Screen Readers can interpret the tabular data properly and with accuracy.
- Include keyboard shortcuts such as tab / shift + tab to assist people who cannot use the mouse.
- Validate the code of your WordPress Theme and Plugin with W3C’s HTML and CSS validators to ensure the code is compliant and accessible.
- Use audio descriptions for videos and podcasts. This allows people with vision impairments to understand the contents of the video/podcast.
Final Thoughts
WordPress Accessibility has many benefits for businesses and individuals. It helps users with disabilities gain access to content or services offered on web pages created using a WordPress CMS.
Additionally, adhering to web accessibility standards can help businesses avoid costly legal issues, increase their search engine visibility, and improve overall customer experience.
Therefore, websites must be built properly with all relevant accessibility requirements to provide everyone with an inclusive user experience online.
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