What is web accessibility?
Web accessibility is making a website available to people with disabilities. Think of it as the equivalent to putting in a ramp to make your premises accessible to wheelchairs. Who does web accessibility affect (this is not an exhaustive list)?
- Those who can’t see who will use a screen reader to have the contents of the site read to them
- Colour blind - what if you have red text on a green background?
- Other visual impairments - the contrast of the text and background colours might be a problem
- Me. I get a bit of gyp with my right shoulder from using the mouse too much so sometimes I use the keyboard to move around a website. I can choose what I use, but what if you have a mobility problem which means that you really can’t cope with a mouse (they can be quite tricky things sometimes!)?
Why should you worry about web accessibility?
You don’t want to turn any potential visitors/customers away because they can’t use your website. But there are other reasons as well. Think of Google as a visually impaired user - Google gets the same information from a website as someone using a screen reader, so if your site is accessible it is also search-engine friendly. You can’t lose!
Web Accessibility Initiative
The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) provides extensive information about web accessibility and produces guidelines on how to make your website accessible. If you would like to learn more about web accessibility we highly recommend you have a look at the WAI site.
Colour contrast
The Accessible Colour Schemes site is particularly interested in the issue of providing sufficient contrast between foreground and background colours. This is covered by Checkpoint 2.2 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0:
Ensure that foreground and background color combinations provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having color deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen
How can you tell whether your colour scheme is accessible?
There are various tools available on the internet for checking colour contrast. There are two in particular that we use:
- Web Accessibility Tools Consortium (WAT-C) Colour Contrast Analyser. This is a small application that you download and run on your pc. The tool comprises colour pickers for foreground and background colours, and displays a message telling you whether the combination of colours has sufficient contrast.
- Juicy Studio Colour Contrast Analyser. This is an excellent alternative if you prefer not to download a tool or are away from your own pc. You enter the hexadecimal codes for your foreground and background colours into the website and hit the ‘Anaylyse Colours’ button. A message then appears giving information about the contrast of the two colours.
