Inclusive Design: Websites for All
People can collaborate on the internet yet still trust each other on a global level. Whenever a person comes to your website you gain their trust, and you must deliver something good enough to meet that trust. What if this experience is delicious, exciting and simply unattainable to a considerable number of your target customers? This is how Inclusive Design comes in. Inclusive Design means designing an object or developing a technology in a way that will be as usable as possible to as many people as possible. When you design your website in a manner that is friendly to everyone including persons with disabilities you are positively contributing towards a friendly space online and your websites will remain trustworthy, hence meeting some of the criteria of trusted website design. In this article, we will extend the idea of access to the entire global population, define what inclusive design is, explain its principles, and show how to design a website that would meet the needs of everyone.
Key principles of inclusive design for websites
Well, if you’re interested in understanding how you can make your website universally accessible, then you’ve come to the right place. Here are some key principles to keep in mind:
Clear and concise content: This is the reason the content on your website must be like a conversation. Do not complicate things and make your writing easily understandable for the reader, as well as avoid using numerous technical terms. This makes it increasingly easier for everyone to follow or even comprehend especially for those suffering from learning difficulties or even do not understand English as their first language.
Meaningful structure: Organise the pages in a specific order to have better navigation. Employ headers and subheaders and utilise bullet-pointed lists to section your content. It enhances the flow of copying text and is particularly useful for those users who rely on the screen reader tool.
Alternative text (Alt Text): But with such images, we can beautify our content and at the same time, share not the entire story of every person. Never forget to use the ‘alt’ tag which is a textual representation of the pictures. This is important, especially for users with physically impaired vision who tend to use screen reader tools.
Keyboard accessibility: It is unlikely that all people navigate through web pages using a mouse. Ensure that you cannot navigate through your website solely relying on a keyboard. This means that the user should be able to navigate the keyboard only through menus, links and buttons.
Colour contrast: Shade is also a useful factor in the implementation of website design, but attention should be paid to the fact that there should be a sufficient number of contrasts between the text and the background. This makes it easier to read and understand for persons with such issues as colour blindness among other disabilities.
Responsive design: The ways through which we come across these websites are very dynamic. At present, Internet users often access the web using handheld gadgets such as mobile phones and tablets. With a responsive design, your website can adapt to the different pages and screens of different devices of various sizes, which is very helpful to all users.
Making your website accessible for different abilities
Any non-design initiative has adopted inclusive design as its new slogan because it is not a universal solution. Here are some specific considerations for catering to different user groups:
Visual impairments: Users with mobility impairments would benefit from having keyboard navigation enabled, and easy tab navigation, amongst other important aspects like good colour contrast, adequate text descriptions for screen readers and a display of alt-text among other characteristics.
Hearing impairments: If there is any video, make sure to provide the captions or if there is any audio, provide the transcripts together with visual alerts for the non-audio alerts such as vibrations for the hard-of-hearing users.
Cognitive disabilities: For users whose cognitive disabilities can affect their understanding of a website’s content and its structure, a simple layout of the website and a regular, established pattern of its navigation can be a boon.
Motor impairments: Inadequate motor skills might prove challenging in operating a mouse or touchpad by some of the users. Make sure the website can be operated with the aid of a keyboard and explore the possibility of using voice commands.
The benefits of inclusive design
Increased user engagement: When all the people can have free and/or no problem accessing and understanding your website this brings more positive results to the users. This leads to more time spent browsing the site, higher conversion ratios and more credibility for the brand.
Improved SEO: It is well understood by search engines and prefers to have websites that are most structured and accessible. In other words, you are already following the steps of SEO when using inclusive design since it is the process of specialising a site for a specific user base.
Enhanced brand reputation: In the present-day context, social responsibility is one essential consideration that a consumer cannot afford to overlook. Proving you have made inclusion when designing is a clear indication that you value every user and are concerned with accessibility. This is desirable because it brings a positive change in brand image and leaves the customer more inclined to the brand.
Reduced legal risk: Various accessibility laws and regulations are implemented in Australia and producers who fail to adhere to these laws may find themselves in legal problems. First, it means you are controlled in a position of unpredictable legal exposure which is minimised by making the website inclusive in advance.
Future-proofing your website: The web environment is dynamic and constantly under an evolution process and the consumer perspective is also dynamic. When you design accessibility into your website right from its inception, you are mobilising for the future so that the website you end up settling on is accessible by everyone now and in the future.
Conclusion
Not only is inclusive design about being trendy in societies – it also means building fair Web for all the population. It is important to maintain the guidelines provided here and use the resources available to guide you in making your website accessible to all individuals with disabilities. In doing so, you will have the opportunity to attract more readers, increase audience participation, and consolidate your brand image. Note that an equally liberal interpretation of ‘equal opportunities’ means a website that is open to all comers.