5 Quick Fixes to Improve Your Website’s Accessibility Today
You don’t need to rebuild your entire site to start making a difference. Here are five high-impact changes you can implement right now. They’re the same fixes we use to make sure our clients reach their audiences with maximum accessibility and optimised SEO:
- Add Descriptive Alt-Text to Images: Screen readers can’t “see” images. By adding a short, descriptive sentence to the
altattribute of your images, you allow visually impaired users to understand the context of your visuals.- Bad: “image123.jpg”
- Good: “A person using a laptop at a coffee shop.”
- Check Your Colour Contrast: Text that is too light (like light grey on a white background) is nearly impossible for people with low vision to read. Use a free contrast checker tool to ensure your text pops against its background. Aim for a ratio of at least 4.5:1 for standard text.
- Use Descriptive Link Text: Links like “Click Here” or “Read More” provide zero context for someone using a screen reader to jump between links. Instead, use descriptive phrases that tell the user exactly where they are going.
- Bad: “To see our pricing, [click here].”
- Good: “[View our web design pricing plans].”
- Organise content with proper Header Tags (H1, H2, H3): Headers aren’t just for making text big and bold; they create a roadmap of your content. Ensure you only have one H1 per page and that sub-headers follow a logical nesting order. This helps users, and search engines such as Google, to understand the hierarchy of your information.
- Make Your Site Keyboard-Friendly: Many users navigate the web using only a keyboard (the Tab key). Try it yourself: can you move through your menus and click buttons without using a mouse? If a user gets “trapped” in a menu or can’t reach a checkout button, they’ll simply leave your site.