The more attractive a design is, the more users it will attract. This is a well-known concept known as the aesthetic-usability effect. Considering this, most businesses curate website designs that primarily focus on icons, fonts, colours, layouts, and animations. Among 1 million websites, a staggering 95.9% of sites have WCAG barriers in their homepages.
This is a significant outcome of not considering web accessibility in sites. Web accessibility is much more than icons, fonts, or animations; it’s ensuring information is accessible to people with disabilities. Neglecting this can lead to legal repercussions and negatively impact your brand’s presence. When your site is accessible, users relying on screen readers, visual keyboards, or any other assistive tools can fully experience your site’s content.
Web accessibility compliance is one of the critical aspects of corporate web design. You must include it to maintain legal compliance, improve user experience, and ensure equal access for all users, even those with disabilities.
What is Accessible Web Design?
It’s a web design practice that prioritises curating digital content and sites everyone can understand, use, and interact with. Compliance with web design accessibility ensures that the site is usable for all visitors, including those with impairments and limitations.
When you include this crucial web design principle/feature in your site, you offer users unhindered access to your content. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) enforces guidelines across the Internet to maintain accessibility standards.
Why Corporate Web Design Must Comply With Accessibility Standards?
Globally, 1 out of 6 web users has a disability. Just imagine how vast a number you would be missing if your corporate website design doesn’t comply with accessibility standards. Indeed, the number is massive, so ensuring your site is usable and accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities, is a smart decision a business can make. Here is a detailed explanation of the importance of accessibility compliance in corporate web design:
- Legal Requirements
In some areas across the globe, websites must be accessible for everyone to surf. Americans with Disability Act (ADA) and Section 508 have regulated that websites (particularly those in the public sector) must include accessibility features/tools. Failure to meet these rules can incur financial penalties.
Similarly, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ensure a site remains usable for every user type. This set of frameworks comes in handy in creating accessible web content while complying with the ADA and Section 508.
- Web Inclusivity
The primary purpose of a business/corporate website is to represent the brand image to customers and allow them an easy and user-friendly experience to engage with the site. Welcoming accessibility adds tools that are handy in improving the inclusivity of a website. This makes a site not only accessible to diverse users but also usable among them by building a welcoming environment for every user type.
- Better Usability Â
Your website serves as your digital presence today, and making it inaccessible can severely impact your goal to reach more customers. Thus, ensuring that your site remains accessible to users, including accessibility tools, can be of significant help. Accessibility features like a virtual keyboard, a screen reader, a contrast modifier, and more provide a path for users with a disability to use your site and read the content.
- Wider Audience Reach
With web design accessibility, the usability of your site is improved. This means more users can access your site and take the correct information as and when required. As a result, it will amplify your website’s reach among a large number of users. The more visitors your site has, the higher the chances of boosting its traffic and conversion goals.
- Brand ReputationÂ
Among the top 1 million websites, more than 95% failed to include an accessibility feature on their homepage. As a result, a negative impression of their brand falls among users with disability.
Hence, ensuring your site is accessibility-ready will positively improve your brand position. Every visitor is gaining information using the relevant tool or feature they require. This demonstrates social responsibility and commitment towards customers, empowering a business to maintain a strong brand reputation. Web design and development, both aspects, must comply with the accessibility standards to showcase that a particular business is forward-thinking and inclusive.
- Improved Device Experience
Making your site accessible can have several benefits, including a better mobile experience. With features like text readability, voice commands, and easy navigation, your website’s content will be translated to different screen sizes (irrespective of the size). This means that by including accessibility-first features in your site, you ensure that your site is optimised for the increased traffic, especially considering the increase in the number of mobile device users.
- Future ProofingÂ
With the constant evolution of technology, the standard requirement to make your site accessible-ready is becoming a growing need. When you prioritise adding accessibility tools/features to your site, it will become adaptable to evolving changes.
Conclusion
Web design is more than making your site visually appealing with fonts, layouts, icons, and animations. Though these count the most, the value of accessibility still lies at the top. Complying with all the accessibility features is a well-thought-out and planned strategy that aids your organisation’s long-term success. Every click on your site counts, so ensure you align with it precisely and perfectly.
With accessibility tools, you can make it possible. However, it can be daunting to include all the tools. It is wise that you work with corporate web designers and developers who have experience in your domain to build a site with accessibility-first features. Conduct in-depth research to find a team that aligns with the needs of your project. This way, you can build a website that is easily accessible by every user, even those with disabilities or limitations.
Guest Post Author Bio
Linda Williams is a skilled web and mobile app developer with hands-on experience building accessibility-first digital solutions. In her spare time, she reads and writes informative blogs and shares value-driven information with users.
