02 July 2019
The Texthelp Team
Have you POURed enough into website compliance?
Every organization strives to provide excellence in customer service and we know that your customers are at the heart of everything you do, but does your website live up to your standards?
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 individuals with learning or cognitive difficulties.
Being inclusive creates a brighter future, for everyone
1 in 10 people have neurodiverse traits, such as dyslexia, ADHD, aspergers and this means that content is accessed and processed in various different ways. Making sure your web content can be accessed using assistive technologies such as computer readers and screen magnifiers, can help remove some of the barriers neurodiverse individuals face in accessing online information.
It can also mean that you’re one step ahead with legal compliance - equality initiatives protect individuals from barriers they would otherwise face in everyday life. Whilst the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act don’t yet stipulate digital access specifically, our increasingly digital world is calling for updates in law compliance, so being digitally inclusive should be on everybody’s mind.
An accessible website also helps to attract a wider and more diverse audience, including those where English is not their native language. This accounts for more than 65 million US residents who speak a foreign language at home.
So what can you do to become more accessible?
Web accessibility standards exist to help organizations become more inclusive. Existing guidelines such as WCAG 2.1 utilize 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.
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Your Action
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Our Solution
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Use metadata to provide text alternatives to images
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Browsealoud reads alt-tags behind images, to provide oral description to the visually impaired
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Minimise visual overload
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Simplify feature removes distracting content, so users can focus on what’s important
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Ensure downloadable content is accessible too
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MP3 generator converts text to audio files for offline listening
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Operable
Web users with limited movement or tremors may use adaptive devices instead of a keyboard and mouse to access web content.
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Your Action
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Our Solution
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Optimize web code to ensure that all functionality is available from a keyboard
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Browsealoud is fully keyboard accessible
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Help users navigate and find content
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Dual colour highlighting shows users where they are on the page
Screen mask helps users to create a focal point
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Do not use content that causes seizures
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A screen mask can be applied to ‘dim’ the screen
Simplify mode removes distracting content
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Understandable
Content that someone can access is not necessarily accessible. The language used can impact whether or not a user can understand the information.
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Your Action
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Our Solution
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Give users enough time to read and use content
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Audio speed and voice can be changed to suit user needs
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Ensure text is readable
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Magnifier feature enlarges text size specified by the user
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Use language that can be understood by all site visitors
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Translate option with 99 languages
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Be transparent, so visitors understand what actions to take on the site
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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
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Help users to avoid and correct mistakes
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Audio feature reads text aloud, including information typed into forms, so visitors can identify spelling mistakes
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Robust
Each individual accesses the web using technology which suits their needs and preferences. This includes different devices and browsers.
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Your Action
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Our Solution
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Optimize your website for use with assistive technologies
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The actions on this checklist will help your website to be accessed by screen readers such as Browsealoud
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Maximize compatibility with current and future user tools
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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
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If you would like more information on how technology can reduce barriers to online content, or to try our smart tools for yourself with a free trial, just get in touch!