Don’t use presentation that relies solely on colour
Your users with visual impairment need help when you use colour on your website. As many as 1 in 12 men have some degree of colour blindness. That means that somewhere around 8% of your male users will struggle with your website if you don’t use colour correctly.
What
Use more than one sense for instructions
Sensory characteristics is an important but ridiculous-sounding phrase in web accessibility. It’s actually far less complicated than it sounds. The sensory characteristics of your website are things like shape, sound, position and size.
You’ll often come across sensory characteristics in instructions to your users. Saying things like ‘Use the search
Present your website content in a meaningful order
The meaning of content on your website relies on the order you present it. For example, in English we read from left to right and read a left-hand column before a right-hand column. Present the content on your website in an order that your users can understand.
Some of
Structure your website logically
All users benefit when your web page structure is logical. Many of us take things like headings, bullet points, bolding and italics for granted. For your users with disabilities, those elements can make the difference between understanding a website and leaving it. Many forms of assistive technology rely on correct formatting to
Video with audio has a second alternative
An audio description is an edited version of a video’s soundtrack that adds more information than the regular soundtrack offers. This might mean narrating movements that are not audibly explained in the video, or adding context to visual information.
The need for audio description isn’t always clear to website owners
1.2.3 – Audio Description or Media Alternative (Pre-recorded) (Level A)Read more
Provide captions for videos with audio
Closed captioning is perhaps the most well known tool for people with disabilities. Often known as subtitles, or abbreviated as CC, closed captions have been around since the 1970s.13
Multimedia is becoming more and more popular as the average home gets faster and faster internet access. Videos are cropping up everywhere
Provide an alternative to video-only and audio-only content
Some users will find it difficult to use or understand things like podcasts and silent videos or animations.
What to do
Write text transcripts for any audio-only media;
Write text transcripts for any video-only media; or
Record an audio-track for any video-only media;
Place the text transcript, or link to it, close to
1.2.1 – Audio-only and Video-only (Pre-recorded) (Level A)Read more
Provide text alternatives for non-text content
Some users browse websites with images turned off (as do some users with slow internet connections). These must be true alternatives to the content: they must provide the same information.
What to do
Add a text alternative to all of your images.
Add a text alternative to your audio and video (a succinct
As you’ve probably guessed, today is the launch of Wuhcag.com. I thought I’d kick off this new site and blog with the story of how I got Wuhcag up and running and what I want it to do next.
Allow me to introduce myself; I’m Luke, the author of How
