Beyond the Scroll: Implementing Effective Accessibility Standards on Your Website
Web accessibility ensures your site is usable by everyone, including people with disabilities. Learn the key standards and why they matter for your Kenyan business.
When we build a website, we often think about how it looks and feels to the average user. But what about users with disabilities? Web accessibility (often abbreviated as "a11y") is the practice of ensuring that your website is usable by everyone, regardless of their physical or cognitive abilities. This is not just a matter of social responsibility; it's also good for business.
Why is Web Accessibility Important?
- Ethical Responsibility: The internet should be for everyone. Making your site accessible is the right thing to do.
- Expanded Market: According to the World Health Organization, over 1 billion people live with some form of disability. An accessible site allows you to reach a wider audience.
- Legal Compliance: In many countries, web accessibility is a legal requirement. Kenya's Persons with Disabilities Act promotes non-discrimination, and accessible websites are a part of this. We touch on similar legal responsibilities in our Data Protection Act guide.
- SEO Benefits: Many accessibility best practices overlap with SEO best practices. For example, using proper headings and alt text helps both screen readers and search engine crawlers understand your content.
Key Accessibility Standards to Implement
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the global standard. Here are some of the most important and achievable principles for any business website:
1. Provide Text Alternatives for Images (Alt Text)
Every image that conveys information must have "alt text"—a short, descriptive text alternative that screen readers can announce to visually impaired users. For example, an image of our team should have alt text like "The Elite Designs Kenya team collaborating in their office."
2. Ensure Sufficient Color Contrast
Text must have sufficient contrast against its background to be readable for users with low vision. Tools like the "WCAG Color Contrast Checker" can help you verify that your brand colors are compliant. Light grey text on a white background is a common failure.
3. Make it Keyboard-Navigable
Some users cannot use a mouse and rely on a keyboard to navigate. Your entire website—including menus, buttons, and forms—should be fully usable with only the Tab, Enter, and arrow keys.
4. Use Proper Heading Structure
Use headings (H1, H2, H3, etc.) to structure your content logically. This is crucial for screen reader users to understand the layout of the page and navigate through it. Don't just make text bold and large to look like a heading; use the actual heading tags.
5. Design Forms for Accessibility
Every field in your contact form must have a properly associated label. This tells screen reader users what information is required in each input box.
"Accessibility is not a feature or an add-on. It's a fundamental aspect of quality web design that should be considered from the very beginning of any project."
Building an Inclusive Web
At Elite Designs Kenya, we are committed to building an inclusive web. We integrate accessibility best practices into our development process to ensure the websites we create are usable by the widest possible audience.
An accessible website is a better website for everyone. It's more user-friendly, better for SEO, and it demonstrates your company's commitment to social responsibility. If you'd like to improve your website's accessibility, please reach out to us.