What is accessibility?

Accessibility is used to improve the quality of web pages for people with disabilities.

What is accessibility?

Accessibility is making websites usable for as many people as possible. So you do not only focus on the primary target group, but also on other, specific target groups. When we talk about as many people as possible and therefore a large target group, people with disabilities are often thought of. This includes, for example, a motor disability, audiovisual disability or an intellectual disability. But in addition to people with disabilities, it also benefits other people. Think of people who use mobile devices or have a slow network connection.

By using accessibility functions, a website can become more accessible.

How can you improve the accessibility of a website?

Below you will find some ways to improve the accessibility of a web page:

• You can optimize the texts for screen readers. They then read the text to people with a visual impairment.
• Process alternative texts in the HTML for images.
• For people with a hearing impairment, you can subtitle the audio or provide it with alternative text.
• Offering translations of the text, so that visitors with another language can also read it.
• Set the font size so that people can adjust it.
• Provide a responsive design with different settings that can be used on different devices

A number of functions may already be present in a website’s operating system. In that case, it is important that a website developer tests the functioning of a website with different settings. In this way you test the usability of a website.

Accessibility for SEO

Website accessibility is very important for public benefit pages, such as government websites. It seems to be less important for commercial companies that do not specifically aim at a target group with a disability. Yet there are many potential customers who are not addressed. In addition, there are also a number of optimizations useful for the general public. This includes simple language use for non-native speakers and people with intellectual disabilities. It can be concluded from this that readability is an advantage for every visitor.

Readability also influences the SEO of a page. It is important that you use clear titles, alternative texts, descriptive texts and translations. Optimizing website accessibility can therefore also have a positive influence on the ranking in search engines such as Google and Bing.