WordPress is among the most used Content Management Systems, with over 43% of the websites using it. Sadly, most of these websites are non-compliant with ADA accessibility guidelines, posing a major challenge to its visually impaired users. Therefore, as a WordPress website owner, your focus should be to make it accessible to ensure usability by all people, including those with visual impairment.
Table of Contents
- 1 The Importance of Visual Accessibility
- 2 10 Tips to Make WordPress Accessible for Vision-Impaired Users
- 2.1 1. Use an Accessible WordPress Theme
- 2.2 2. Use Accessible Code
- 2.3 , etc to define content in order of importance. Your headings should also be consistent throughout your website for WordPress accessibility. Contact Forms Online forms are available in all sizes and shapes, from simple contact forms to complex college applications. These forms are your last conversion paths and have to be functional for your user. A user with visual impairment will rely on assistive technology, and inappropriate labeling of your form will create a barrier. Therefore, when designing your site be sure to use accessible WordPress forms, enable keyboard navigation, label the text fields with a descriptive title, and add error messages that accurately explain issues for people relying on screen readers to complete them easily. Making your contact form accessible is as easy as selecting an accessible ready form plugin like Gravity Forms. Your form instructions should be short and clear, and the form should be fully keyboard-operable. Skip Links Your WordPress website features redundant navigation systems across its pages. These navigations include links at the top, down, or left side of the page and can be burdensome for screen reader users as there is no efficient way to skip past them. With a skip link, you can facilitate efficiency among your visually impaired users, allowing them to skip past these links and read the pages' main content. 3. Make WordPress Navigation Accessible
- 2.4 4. Choose Accessible Colors
- 2.5 5. Look for Accessible Fonts
- 2.6 6. Add Captions for Multimedia Content
- 2.7 7. Make Your Content Accessible
- 2.8 8. Provide Audio Descriptions for Videos
- 2.9 9. Don't Use Auto-Playing Videos
- 2.10 10. Test Your Website for Accessibility
The Importance of Visual Accessibility
Visual accessibility ensures that persons with visual impairments can see and understand the information you present on your website. These include persons with low vision, poor eyesight, and different types of color blindness.
By compensating for visual challenges, web accessibility makes browsing much more productive and less frustrating for users with visual impairment. From audio descriptions, images, and font size, an accessible website will help users who rely on assistive technology to get the most from your website.
Besides practicing visual accessibility to capture potential customers, accessibility is a legal requirement. The Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA, protects against discrimination against disabled persons and requires websites to modify their resources and facilities accordingly to meet their needs. The WCAG outlines the accessibility forms that a website should take, including being perceivable, operable, robust, and understandable. WCAG 2.2 gives a detailed list of the do's and don'ts across different categories. For instance, to protect the visually impaired, one of the WCAG rules requires a contrast ratio of 4:5:1 to aid visual accessibility.
10 Tips to Make WordPress Accessible for Vision-Impaired Users
With the above rules and regulations in mind, read on for tips to make WordPress more accessible for vision-impaired users.
1. Use an Accessible WordPress Theme
While you can choose your theme from various designs, some have features that add complexity, making it challenging for disabled persons relying on screen readers to access your content. Therefore, when selecting a theme, consider seeking a theme that specifically states it has an accessible design.
One example is the Total theme that undergoes constant updates in partnership with the University of Hawaii. Another way to find an accessible (and free) WordPress theme is to sort your options using the Accessibility Ready feature filter on WordPress.org. Themes with this filter tag have been tested against WordPress' accessibility ready guidelines and include accessible menus, high color contrast and semantic code.
2. Use Accessible Code
An accessible code will utilize elements for their intended use, giving users who rely on assistive technology a better experience on your website. Accessible codes include the following:
Semantic HTML
Semantic HTML refers to how you use the element to define your web content and multimedia role and meaning. These include
to for your headings,
for paragraphs, and
- for lists. Through semantic HTML, screen readers, search engines, and browsers can understand and navigate your website.
Language Attributes
Using clear and concise language is another aspect of web accessibility. Your language should be easy to follow and understand. Therefore, avoid jargon, idioms, slang, and complex sentences that confuse your readers. To organize your content, use headings, subheadings, paragraphs, and lists, and where you need to add an acronym or technical term, explain them first or provide a glossary.
ARIA Landmarks
Accessible Rich Internet Applications, ARIA, help make your content more accessible by providing information and context about an element to the screen readers and assistive technology. Think of it as a map of general visual and functional regions on your web pages (note – these should be used by and mostly built into your WordPress theme). By adding an ARIA landmark, you can define the application, complementary, banner, form, navigation, main, search, and contentinfo regions of your website. Adding ARIA landmarks, therefore, builds a set of “skip to” links, enabling users to jump to any of the above sections and know their functions.
Image Alt text
Images are a key part of web content but may be inaccessible to persons with visual disabilities. To make your images in WordPress accessible remember to use text descriptions as assistive technologies can read them. Using image alt text requires providing descriptive text of the image in the alt feature. Alternatively, you can use a plugin like Auto Image Attributes to speed up the process with automatic text generation.
Heading Tags
Headings are an important element of WordPress accessibility as they create hierarchy and structure, enabling users to navigate the content easily. Your main page title should use