As business owners, we know that deciding on the right website builder is difficult. Considering that both eCommerce plans start at a similar price, your choice between Shopify and Squarespace will primarily depend on ease of use, different features, and the specific goals you have for your website.
The best eCommerce tool for online stores is Shopify, thanks to its powerful features. When it comes to content-driven websites, Squarespace has the best design features. You will find an in-depth comparison of both platforms in this article, so you can determine which one is most suitable for you.
Designing a Website for People with Disabilities: Web Design and Web Accessibility
As we proceed to discuss how your website can be made accessible for visually impaired people, we’ll discuss the significance and benefits of web accessibility as a whole.
In addition to being a legal obligation and the right thing to do, designing your website with accessibility in mind improves your website’s performance and business. Consider these reasons for creating your website with accessibility in mind:
Reasons for being ethical
Firstly, ethics plays a role. Accessible websites are the responsibility of businesses. People with disabilities can participate better in society with a handicap-accessible website.
It is vital to have access to the internet to gain full access to information and resources. The ability to do so is not the same for everyone. In addition, for some people with disabilities, online communication and business transactions are more convenient than in person.
Digital technology is not a source of motivational obstacles for people with vision impairment, according to research. More than half of visually impaired individuals believe digital technology makes it easier to live independently in their own homes.
Regulations and Compliance
In many countries, accessible websites are a legal requirement. U.S. federal law requires that technology used by federal agencies be accessible to people with disabilities under the Workforce Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
You could potentially be sued for digital discrimination if disabled people cannot access your website because it’s not accessible. Only in the United States were approximately 2,250 lawsuits filed in 2018.
Improved Brand Reputation
You can display social responsibility and show your company cares about others by making your site accessible. As a result, you’ll create a brand that appeals to a broader audience, thereby increasing sales.
By prioritizing website accessibility, your company will be socially responsible.
A large market at one’s disposal
As of 2016, one in four Americans had a disability. Whether your primary customers are people with disabilities, they are a part of your target audience.
People with disabilities, mainly due to unsatisfactory accessibility, have little trust in companies that provide services. In the U.K., a survey revealed that 4 million consumers abandoned retail websites in 2019 due to accessibility problems, costing the country nearly $24 billion (£17 billion). Are you confident that these consumers would purchase from a difficult-to-use and not easily accessible site?
Additionally, you should consider that internet users using assistive devices have significant purchasing power (about $350 billion in the U.S. alone). You can effectively target this market when you offer products or services which are often willing to pay a premium.
A better user experience and improved SEO
Web accessibility practices match search engine optimization, mobile web design (e.g., speed), and usability (ensuring a user-friendly website).
For example, alt text for images and video transcripts are standard best practices in web accessibility and search engine optimization.
A user-friendly website also involves having a well-organized navigation structure, titles, headings, and content. Your search engine optimization efforts will be enhanced, and your website’s overall usability and user experience will be improved.
In addition, clean code is one of the best practices for web accessibility. This will result in fewer bugs and faster page loading times for the website.
As discussed in this guide, building a website for visually impaired users should keep in mind that web accessibility should target all disability types and support non-disabled users with disabilities. Disability is classified as:
- Auditory (a hearing loss or deafness)
- Cognitive (includes learning disabilities, distractions, and difficulty remembering various information)
- Visual (including low vision, colorblindness, blindness)
- Motor (has difficulty using the mouse, slow response time, and difficulty with fine motor skills)
- Neurological
- Physical
- Speech
It is also vital to design accessible websites for people with disabilities, temporary or situational limitations, slow internet connections, and use different devices such as cell phones or tablets.
Web Tools the Visually Impaired Use
By understanding how people with vision impairments navigate the Web, you’ll be able to make your website more accessible. Tools that the visually impaired typically use to navigate the Web include:
Screen Readers
Using screen readers, users can transform text and other content on a website into spoken words. Rather than reading everything one at a time, the device lets users select one heading, click one link at a time, etc.
JAWS, NVDA, and Voiceover, are among the most popular screen readers. The Braille system device, which converts text into Braille, can also be used by those who are both blind and deaf. Screen readers are built into smartphones and tablets. They are accessed using touch or swipe gestures.
Special Browsers
Browsers such as PnC Net, EIA, and WebbIE are mainly designed for visually impaired clients. A web page structure can be detected, and information passed to users accordingly.
Using unique browsers has the disadvantage of not being as advanced as popular browsers (like Chrome or Safari), so you might not use some features, like integration with apps and extensions and device compatibility.
Screen Magnifiers
Accessing the internet doesn’t require a speech device for everyone who is visually impaired. People with low vision, for example, use screen magnifiers (30% of users use assistive devices) or built-in functions to improve readability.
There is one drawback to these: if the website structure is not appropriate, users will only see parts of the screen at once, and the relationships between items will be lost.
Navigating the Web can be challenging for visually impaired people
It’s important to know who visually impaired people are before understanding the issues they face online. The three main categories of visual impairments are:
- Blindness is an irreversible condition and is considered permanent for those who are unable to see. Even legally blind individuals (with a visual field smaller than 20 degrees) have a degree of vision.
- Typically, cataracts lead to low vision in older adults.
- A person who is colorblind cannot see colors clearly, resulting in their inability to see them in a usual manner.
In an accessibility assessment of 1,000,000 homepages, WebAIM found that 98.1% of them did not meet WCAG 2.0 guidelines (for example, low contrast text and images with no alt text), lacked form input labels, lacked buttons, and lacked document language.
Those who are visually impaired frequently experience the following problems when visiting websites:
Accessibility Issues with the Screen Reader
Screen readers do not have easy access to some types of content, such as graphics, tables, and visuals. As an example, consider data tables. The screen reader won’t be able to understand the relationships between elements on rows and columns unless it is given specific HTML tags.
Images work the same way. Even though screen readers are potent tools for individuals with disabilities, they cannot understand images. They need alternative text to comprehend visual content.
The page content is not organized with headings.
Screen readers cannot comprehend the page layout, proximity, or visual design such as a user without vision disabilities can do. A comparable web experience for visually impaired people depends on the proper structure, headings, and code associations.
An absence of structure in the headings
To use screen readers, headings must flow logically and semantically.
Using screen readers, visually impaired users will be able to locate pertinent information on the website. Screen readers list headings out this way with a function. This is why making sure to use logical and ordered titles are essential.
Buttons and links with no accessible descriptions
Screen reader users can use a function to display all links on a page. An example is when users are searching for a specific resource.
A user who is blind will find that including general anchor text on links and buttons (like “click here”) is of little use to them and can be very frustrating. An even more frustrating case is when there are no links or buttons or invalid URLs. Your readers will feel confused if you have broken links on your website. You should also make sure that all your call-to-action buttons lead to the right landing pages.
No labels associated with inputs
User interface controls, such as list boxes, option buttons, and command buttons, work as links between the user and the server, and labels allow users to understand any required input.
When you don’t assign labels to your boxes correctly, it becomes impossible for a visually impaired user to complete the form (if the name, last name, email address, etc., aren’t logically organized).
Access to content is not possible with keyboards.
Users of screen readers prefer to use a keyboard as their primary tool for accessing the internet. Clicking or tapping on links on a website is not possible in this case since the features only work with a mouse or touch screen.
There is a lack of language information.
A website’s content is viewed as it is in the default language of the user. Using English pronunciation rules to read content in a foreign language can cause issues when the software reads the content.
Accessible Websites for the Blind and Partially Sighted
As far as web accessibility for visually impaired people is concerned, there are some key considerations. Following requirements needs to be compiled by websites.
- A website must first be accessible to people so that they can understand the information it contains. Web development often ignores this principle as evident as it seems. Blind individuals cannot perceive visual details such as graphics and layout.
- Users can’t be asked to take actions they can’t complete when interacting with a website’s interface. Consequently, your website shouldn’t require users to use a mouse since some visually impaired people use adaptive devices that emulate a keyboard’s functionality. This means keyboard-accessible content is essential.
- Last but not least, content must be compatible with assistive technologies and devices used by visually impaired individuals.
Some websites may create a screen-reader-friendly and blind-friendly version of a website; however, the content on this version is rarely updated, in which case it may not be regarded as a good idea.
The best practices listed below are usually enough to make your website accessible to blind or partially sighted people.
Ensure there is necessary contrast between colors
Text and background colors should have high contrast. Those with color blindness need this feature the most. The contrast ratio for large text must be at least 3.1; standard text should be 4.5:1. A large or bold font is a font with a point size of 14 or 18.
Colorzilla is a helpful tool for checking any element’s value. Many color contrast checkers also verify that the deal is within this standard.
Using techniques like JavaScript or CSS that prevent users from highlighting will prevent partially sighted users from increasing contrast. Don’t use crowded or watermarked backgrounds because some users might find them distracting or difficult to read.
Don’t overuse color and limit its use.
An excessive amount of color can be both confusing and distracting. The use of too many colors may also make it harder for users to identify the essential items.
It’s crucial for people who are colorblind not to rely on colors alone to convey information. In other words, “click on the red button.” You can avoid colorblind users feeling confused by sticking to just a few colors and avoiding green on red and red on green.
Don’t overwrite background images with text.
Overlaying text over images results in a problem since the text color might not be contrasted sufficiently with the background image. Avoid using text over background images entirely unless you have tested the contrast with online tools.
You should use the right colors and make sure that you have enough contrast if you want to use text over background images.
You can adjust the font size manually.
Partially sighted people typically experience problems with font size when accessing the Web.
On adaptive sites, the font size should be adjustable by users since there’s no ideal font size. To avoid manual font size for most users, make the default font size large enough (at least 10 points).
Make sure that your website’s content layout is not affected if you enable text-only zoom. Overlapping text can lead to illegible text.
Organize information according to the importance
It’s beneficial for people with assistive technology because they can quickly decide if a page offers the information they need.
Ensure the most critical information is at the beginning of a post or product page, no matter the topic.
Keyboard-only accessibility for your website
Users with visual disabilities often use a keyboard alone to navigate the Web, so make your site easier to use by offering keyboard shortcuts and commands. Generally speaking, don’t force users to use devices like a mouse.
In some cases, keyboard users can advance fields by using the tab key. When you want your users to have a good experience, you should use the “tabindex” attribute to specify the order in which fields should be displayed.
Organize Linking in a systematic way
Although you may not have to consider web accessibility on your pages, you should limit the number of links since this can be frustrating for users (and too many outgoing links can adversely impact your search engine rankings).
A site for visually impaired individuals must limit the number of links on a given page. If there are too many links on a page, some screen readers give users the number of links as the first thing they hear when landing on a page.
Anchor text must be relevant.
Users who need specific resources can select the navigation mode on screen readers that read all the page links. A link that states “Click here” is irrelevant and annoying in this situation.
You should use specific words that describe the linked page when choosing the words where you will insert your links (e.g., “learn about the best website builders”).
Alternate content to provide
Providing alternatives for some types of content is crucial for people with visual impairments who use technology to access the content.
Screen readers can’t read the information on visual assets because they only read text and code. Screen readers skip images without alt text. It will automatically read the alt text if it has one (e.g., “image”) and describes the type of content.
Alternate text should accompany images, alternate attributes should accompany graphics, and alternative content should accompany all other media (for example, transcripts and descriptions for videos or moving images). Include these only if the information is important, and keep them brief and to the point.
Put empty alt text on your images.
It might make more sense to skip visual assets that aren’t necessary when trying to access vision-impaired content; certain elements can become irritating to users since screen readers do not just read text.
To avoid screen readers reading code in decorative images that do not add value to visually impaired users, use empty alt text to redirect screen readers.
Streamline Your Page by Reducing the Ads
You may suffer from poor user experience if you have too many ads on your site.
Include a language description
When your website serves an international audience and contains content in multiple languages, adding language information is especially crucial.
Ensure assistive devices can determine and use the correct pronunciation rules by specifying the language with the “lang” attribute. Thus, visually impaired users will be less likely to get confused, and screen readers will have the information they need to encounter foreign-language content.
Make sure you have the right tools.
To ensure a website meets accessibility standards, web designers and developers can use many free online tools. Some of these tools are:
- Using your site’s existing elements, Color Safe suggests A.A. and AAA-compliant colors.
- Color Contrast Analyser detects text elements with insufficient contrast.
- The NVDA application enables individuals with visual impairments to experience websites from their perspective.
- WebAIM’s Wave software detects accessibility issues on your website.
Final Thoughts: Creating an Accessible Website
As one in four American adults has a disability, having a website accessible to all is socially responsible and economically advantageous.
The benefits of an accessible website go beyond the legal advantages it can provide. Besides enhancing your brand reputation, better SEO, and an improved user experience, an accessible website also improves your company’s image.
Create a perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust site for visually impaired users. In addition to providing accessible content to visually impaired people, it’s crucial to make it as straightforward and distraction-free as possible for them.