Inclusive Design and Your Business
Part of being a sustainable and inclusive brand means making the information on your website more accessible to differently-abled people. Consider including well-worded descriptions for images, captions for video and audio content and a contrasting color palette in your website.
Ways to Evaluate the Accessibility of a Website:
· Check your website using a screen reader
· Use a website evaluation tool to improve your sites accessibility
· Evaluate your current website color palette based on the WCAG Guidelines
· Checking alt text for images and other non-test content
· Check for closed captions and transcripts on videos
· Verify that your site is keyboard-friendly
· Verify that your site can be zoomed without loss of content or functionality
Resources to make your website accessible:
SCREEN READERS
A screen reader is an essential piece of software used be people with different types of challenges. These programs allow people who are blind, have low vision, illiterate or have a learning disability to read the text that is displayed on a digital device with a speech synthesizer or braille display.
Screen Reader Tools
Apple Accessibility Tools
ChromeVox Classic Edition
Spoken Web
WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY EVALUATION
Website evaluation tools are online services or software programs that help you determine if web content is accessible to people with disabilities. These tools can help you understand web accessibility as well as identify errors on a website.
Website Evaluation Tools:
WCAG Guidelines
WAVE
Web Accessibility
WEBSITE COLOR GUIDANCE
Website colors, contrast and readability should be created intentionally and sensitively. According to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), colors should meet a contrast ratio between text and background on a website. The tools below allow you to check your brand or website’s color and can provide suggestions on accessible color palettes.
Color Palette Tools:
USWDS Color Guidance
Accessible Brand Colors
Color Safe
Color Cube