Why Should Accessibility Be a Key Consideration in WordPress Development?
Do not just focus on the beauty of your WordPress website; you should invest more in the user experience. Today, users prefer websites that are easy to use and function smoothly rather than those that just look attractive.
Your WordPress website should be fast-loading, user-friendly, and accessible to increase user engagement. Whether you create a custom website or use a prebuilt theme, accessibility should be the priority.
It is vital to understand and properly utilize WordPress accessibility for your website’s usability. Accessibility determines the level to which users can access your WordPress website. A professional WordPress development company can create a feature-rich and accessible website for your business.
Let’s Learn a Bit About Website Accessibility
A website is accessible when it is usable by as many users as possible. This is not restricted to users with disabilities but also includes mobile users, slow internet users, and more. All in all, website accessibility covers a wide spectrum of users than you might think.
A highly accessible website is ready for all users, regardless of their physical state and devices. Moreover, an accessible website can help you to achieve web accessibility goals that aim to make a website, software, or app that is accessible to people with disabilities.
So, website accessibility makes people with vision, hearing, motor functions, and other disabilities to access the site’s content. It is crucial to choose the right WordPress development agency to build an accessible website.
Reasons for Creating an Accessible WordPress Website
There are many reasons why you should consider creating an accessible website. Here are some of those reasons.
Compliance to Law
Web accessibility is important for legal compliance, such as with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). It is a civil rights law that prevents businesses from discriminating based on a person’s physical condition or disability.
Make Website User-friendly
Integrating accessibility features into your website will make it user-friendly for all kinds of users. Any user can access your website’s content without physical or non-physical barriers. It is recommended to hire WordPress developers with sufficient experience to build a website as per your requirements.
Improve SEO
Web accessibility will also help you comply with WCAG’s web accessibility guidelines from World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). What’s the benefit? Your website will not only be usable but will also offer an advantage in terms of better SEO.
Hence, there are multiple reasons why you should consider accessibility with WordPress website development. Choosing a reliable WordPress development company is important to ensure that your website meets all the requirements for web accessibility.
Ways to Make Your WordPress Website Accessible
Making a site accessible is one of the skill sets of a web developer. So, you can hire WordPress developers to build a website compatible with WCAG guidelines. Moreover, the following are some common ways to make a WordPress website accessible.
Use Alt-tags
The alternate text or alt attribute is an HTML attribute that provides brief information about an image. It means you can add a description for an image with an alt attribute that will be displayed in case the image doesn’t load.
The following is an example:
<img src=”the URL where image is located” alt=”the description of your image goes here”>
Though the alt attribute can be empty, adding a description will allow screen readers to speak the content. Add a description with enough information to enable a person with a vision disability to understand the image. A Professional WordPress development agency ensures that these attributes are added to all image tags.
Add keyboard navigation
You should allow your users to navigate your site with a keyboard. They should be able to select various menus and links on your site using the tab key. An accessible website is possible to navigate with the tab, arrow, and enter keys. Users can jump from one interactive element to another with the tab key.
Users with disabilities can navigate through Menus, form fields, and links using the tab key. Also, they can activate any menu or link with the enter or spacebar key. This functionality can be improved with better key-based navigation if you hire WordPress developers.
Appropriate color contrast
Appropriate color contrast is crucial for web accessibility and usability. There are lots of people in the world with vision issues. As a result, many people face difficulty distinguishing elements and texts on a website with poor color contrast. As per WCAG 2.0 AA guidelines, a 4.5:1 ratio is the minimum requirement for normal text. Similarly, the ratio is 3:1 for larger text. Hire WordPress developers to create your website with the right combination of colors and contrast.
Use semantic elements
Another important thing you can do to make your website accessible is to use semantic code. Semantic coding is about using semantic HTML tags like the <heading> tag to encase your content’s heading. With proper HTML tags, you can ensure that your website becomes accessible. The semantic markups give a description of the content wrapped in them.
Also Read : Features You Should Consider for Your Next Web App
Final note
Website accessibility is important to ensure that every user can access the site. People with disabilities require additional features to access your website’s content. There are many advantages to making a website accessible, including better SEO and legal compliance. A professional WordPress development agency can help you build an accessible website.
Author Bio
Emily White has expertise in WordPress development, and she works as a senior developer at CSSChopper – a leading WordPress development company. She is curious to learn new technologies and create engaging content in her free time.
