The Americans with Disabilities Act always plays an active role in improving the lives of those with disabilities. Most notably, by mandating accessible parking spaces and wheelchair ramps. But in modern times, accessibility has also become important in the digital sphere.
But what are the ADA standards for accessible design in 2022? This article will give you a better grasp of ADA for websites.
What Are The ADA Standards For Accessible Design?
Regarding website accessibility, the Department of Justice has always looked toward the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG. Through the help of these guidelines, you can easily ensure that your website meets the ADA’s standards.
However, the WCAG can look complicated at first. Thus, we have broken it down and made it much easier to follow.
1. Use Of Text Alternatives
Websites may often be challenging to navigate, especially for visually impaired people. It is especially true for websites that are heavily reliant on text.
Visually impaired individuals use screen readers for assistance. Thus, they help to better navigate and understand the websites. However, adding non-text or text alternatives for these screen readers would be best.
It is because other forms of media besides text, such as images, can help to tell a coherent story. This makes navigating through your site much easier.
Your website can use these images to add more context to things on your site. Then advertise your products or showcase places. All of these help to make your website more accessible and user-friendly.
Additionally, with the text transcripts for your videos or alt tags for images, you can make your site easier to understand. Lastly, to make it easier for screen readers to guide your users by properly labeling any input fields and forms on your site.
2. An Accessibility Interface
It is an incredible way to add a touch of personalization and accessibility to your site. The interface allows the user to make adjustments to the site’s user interface and design elements to fit their needs. This allows them to make the whole website more accessible for their specific disabilities.
Through the interface, a visually impaired user can adjust the colors, contrast, and size of the font to improve their experience. Similarly, the interface can allow users to decrease the number of distractions on their screen. It makes it easier to absorb content for those with ADHD or other neurodevelopmental disorders.
For those struggling with cognitive disabilities, this interface can be a lifesaver. It is especially true for individuals with dyslexia or autism, allowing them to better understand and focus on the crucial parts of the site.
3. Easy To Navigate
Lastly, when it comes to navigating your site, it may prove to be an issue for those who do not have complete motor function. As a result, you might end up making your site inaccessible to them. So, before anything else, you should carefully evaluate the functionality of your website’s navigation and layout.
It is unfair to deprive individuals with motor impairments of the same access to websites as other individuals. So, to solve this issue, you can implement navigational tools to improve the accessibility of your site.
The first of these tools offers your user an on-screen keyboard for those incapable of using a regular mouse. Furthermore, allowing the use of specific keys. Such as the enter key, shift+tab, and tab to perform functions on the webpage.
And shortcut keys for easy movement on your website. For example, the M key to access the menu. Or H for the homepage and F for forms. These improved navigation methods make your page more accessible.
In addition, make sure that your menus are consistent throughout all your pages. Thus, making it easier for individuals to follow through and providing the proper header tags to maintain the content hierarchy. As a result, you provide a coherent and precise flow of content to your users.
Thus, by following these ADA standards for accessible design for 2022, you will be able to include a vaster array of individuals. However, should you have any other questions relating to ADA or inclusive web design, feel free to contact us. Goodbye and Goodluck.