The essence of accessibility is making web content available to as many people as possible. It means ensuring that all users, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, can access and navigate your WordPress website.
5 Ways To Improve The Accessibility Of Your WordPress Website
Although WordPress is an excellent platform for developing accessible websites, certain steps must be taken to ensure that your site complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines. You can find the best ADA tools on hostadvice.com, but here are a few more ideas to make your WordPress site more accessible:
1. Use Simple Language
When creating content for your website, you must use clear and concise language that your audience can understand. Using technical jargon or abbreviations that may confuse or alienate readers who are unfamiliar with the terminology is discouraged.
You can create content that is both informative and engaging for your readers by using clear and concise language and explaining any technical terms that you mention. If you must use specialized terms, make sure to explain them in plain English so that readers understand what you mean. It is also a good idea to define any technical terms or abbreviations that are used on your website for the first time. This will aid in the development of trust and credibility with your audience and encourage them to return to your website in the future.
Make sure that the headings and labels are clear and descriptive. This not only helps users navigate your content but also helps search engines in interpreting your website. This will improve your site's accessibility as well as its SEO ranking.
2. Include Image Alt Text
To explain the image to visually impaired users, screen readers use alt text, which is basically a brief description of an image. Alt text is also used by search engines to understand the content of an image. Adding alt text to your images can improve your site's accessibility and SEO ranking.
This simple adjustment will be beneficial for both you as a website owner as well as your readers.
3. Make Sure That The Formatting is Correct
Properly formatted content is more understandable and readable. Consider using headings and subheadings to separate content, short paragraphs, and bulleted and numbered lists to make web pages easier to scan and navigate. Correct formatting can improve the user experience of all visitors to your site, not just the ones with disabilities. Everybody likes an organized site that is easy to navigate.
4. Use Captions For Videos
Captions act as a transcription of a video's audio, allowing those with hearing impairments to comprehend the video's content. Captions are also used by search engines to index video content.
There are a lot of tools that can transcribe audio into text, so this can be easily done without little to no effort, yet the accessibility of your website will be greatly improved.
5. Avoid Making Common WordPress Mistakes
There are some common mistakes to avoid when creating an accessible WordPress site. One of them is the use of tables in layout. Tables should only be used for tabular data. When using tables for layout, users with disabilities may find it difficult to navigate your content.
Furthermore, you should:
- Avoid using text images because they can be difficult to read for some users and may be difficult to index by search engines.
- Avoid relying on JavaScript for functionality because it can be difficult for some users to understand it. It can also be disabled on some browsers. If you must use JavaScript, make sure you provide alternatives.
- Color alone should not be used to convey information because colorblind users may not be able to perceive the message. Instead, use other visual cues such as shape, size, or position to effectively communicate the information.
- Avoid relying solely on audio or video to convey critical information because not all users have access to them. For those users, include transcripts or descriptions of the audio or video content.
Conclusion
Improving the accessibility of your WordPress site can improve the user experience for people with disabilities and all users in general. It can also improve the SEO ranking of your website. Therefore, it is safe to say that implementing the suggestions above will help you create an accessible WordPress website that will bring more readers your way.