02 July 2019

The Texthelp Team

Have you POURed enough into website compliance?

Every organisation strives to provide excellence in customer service and we know that your customers and service users are at the heart of everything you do, but does your website live up to your standards?

In this blog, we outline some of the actions you can take to help you comply with WCAG - the international standard for web accessibility.

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Creating a true first impression

First impressions count, and your website gives prospective clients all the information they need to know before deciding if they would like to work with you. It’s important that your content is accessible, so that your welcoming messages are delivered to every single one of your online visitors. Just as you would make adjustments to physical accessibility, the same should be done within your digital presence, to ensure that your content is equally accessible to everyone.
 

Removing barriers and creating inclusive experiences 

1 in 7 people are disabled and this number is expected to double by 2050. With a growing population of individuals with physical, learning, and cognitive difficulties, it's never been more important to adopt an inclusive mindset. That means making sure your digital content can be accessed and understood by all.

As you map out your online customer journeys, create your content, and design your digital assets, it's important to think about the diverse visitors engaging with your website. Some people may use assistive technologies, such as computer readers and screen magnifiers, and they should be able to freely navigate your digital content, without barriers. Similarly those with colour sensitivities, low vision, and reading or processing difficulties should be able to access and understand your online messages.
 

Complying to legislation and international standards

As governments worldwide strive towards a more inclusive world, more and more countries are putting web accessibility into legislation, such as the EU Directive's regulations for web content accessibility.

Equality initiative's protect individuals from barriers they would otherwise face in everyday life, whilst legal regulations for web content accessibility ensures that inclusion within the digital world is not forgotten. It's something that should be on everybody's mind.
 

So what can you do to become more accessible?

Web accessibility standards exist to help organisations become more inclusive. Existing guidelines such as WCAG 2.1 use the POUR guidelines, which outline what it means for a website to be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust - in other words, accessible. Accessible websites allow digital screen readers to read content, so that all site visitors can access the information in a way that suits their needs.

Using the POUR guidelines, we have identified some actions you could take to kickstart your efforts and help you on your way to serve your diverse web visitors. In addition, our digital inclusion software, Browsealoud, can be simply added to your website to offer an on-site screen reader for the convenience of users. 

Perceivable

Every element of every website should be discoverable. This means that content should be transformable between formats i.e. images to text, text to audio etc. so that those with visual impairments, hearing limitations and cognitive disorders can perceive it too. 
 

Your Action	Our Solution
Use metadata to provide text alternatives to images	Browsealoud reads alt-tags behind images, to provide oral description to the visually impaired
Minimise visual overload	Simplify feature removes distracting content, so users can focus on what’s important
Ensure downloadable content is accessible too	MP3 generator converts text to audio files for offline listening

Operable

Web users with limited movement or tremors may use adaptive devices instead of a keyboard and mouse to access web content.

Your Action	Our Solution
Optimise web code to ensure that all functionality is available from a keyboard	Browsealoud is fully keyboard accessible
Help users navigate and find content	Dual colour highlighting shows users where they are on the page Screen mask helps users to create a focal point
Do not use content that causes seizures	A screen mask can be applied to ‘dim’ the screen Simplify mode removes distracting content

Understandable

Content that someone can access is not necessarily accessible. The language used can impact whether or not a user can understand the information. 

Your Action	Our Solution
Give users enough time to read and use content	Audio speed and voice can be changed to suit user needs
Ensure text is readable	Magnifier feature enlarges text size specified by the user
Use language that can be understood by all site visitors	Translate option with 99 languages
Be transparent, so visitors understand what actions to take on the site	Browsealoud communicates content to the user as long as alt-tags are in place Hyperlink feature announces links to the user when content is read aloud
Help users to avoid and correct mistakes	Audio feature reads text aloud, including information typed into forms, so visitors can identify spelling mistakes

Robust

Each individual accesses the web using technology which suits their needs and preferences. This includes different devices and browsers. 

Your Action	Our Solution
Optimise your website for use with assistive technologies	The actions on this checklist will help your website to be accessed by screen readers such as Browsealoud
Maximise compatibility with current and future user tools	Browsealoud works across all common browsers and platforms, and is regularly updated Browsealoud services are hosted on Amazon, to ensure its features are agile, robust and resilient

We're offering organisations the chance to try Browsealoud on their own website for free, for 90 days. Simply sign up and register to receive your personalised Browsealoud code.