The document provides top 10 tips for making a website accessible, including selecting an accessible content management system (CMS) and theme, using descriptive headings, providing alt text for images, writing descriptive links, maintaining sufficient color contrast, using accessible forms and tables, ensuring keyboard navigation, following rules for ARIA labels, and making dynamic content accessible. Accessible design benefits people with disabilities and also others by creating a better experience for all users.

1. Top 10 Tips for Making Your Website Accessible
Accessibility isn’t just about accommodating people with disabilities. It’s all about
making the Internet accessible and free to everyone.
98% percent of websites are not completely accessible from a legal standpoint and this
is just from the U.S. This is bad news considering that everything from ordering pizza to
voting news is now done online. Therefore, web accessibility is an essential part of the
digital world and it benefits everyone. Before we jump into the main topic, let us cover
the basics first.

2. What is Web Accessibility?
Web accessibility is the practice of removing barriers that prevent users from accessing
your website. In a nutshell, it is making your website available to everyone. Web
accessibility involves all disabilities that affect access the web, including:
● Auditory
● Cognitive
● Neurological
● Physical
● Speech
● Visual
It also benefits people without disabilities such as people:
● Using devices of different screen sizes and OS such as mobile phones,
smartwatches, smart TVs, etc.
● With changing abilities because of old age
● With situational limitations such as bright sunlight where visibility is low or a
crowded atmosphere where they can’t listen to audio
● With slow or unstable internet connection
Making your website accessible is a vital step, so reading through a business case for
accessibility will help you learn more about it and the benefits it may provide for your
organization.
Now let us dive deep into a few tips to help you make your website accessible.

3. Top 10 Tips To Help You Make Your Website Accessible
1. Selecting the Right CMS
The advent of technology has provided us with many Content Management Systems
(CMS) such as WordPress, Joomla, etc. WordPress is one of the most popular CMS in
the mix and the good news is that it is well-equipped to handle accessibility. However,
other CMS like Joomla and Drupal, are also doing a great job when it comes to
accessibility.
After you zero in on a CMS that meets all your website requirements, the next step is to
choose a theme or design that is accessible. To learn more about the accessibility
features and tips in the theme or design, refer to the documentation on theme and
decide your layout and content. Make sure you stick to the same rules when choosing
modules, plugins, or widgets.
Take steps to ensure that editing toolbars and video players offer support while creating
accessible content. For example, headers and accessible tables should be available in
editing toolbars and closed captioning should be available in video players. Lastly,
check out the options that are provided in the CMS admin menu (for example: publish
blog post) are accessible.
2. Maintaining Heading Hierarchy
Always focus on readability when writing for a large audience. Make sure that the text is
simple and has a good flow so as to not confuse users. Maintain the heading hierarchy
(H1 to H6) as screen reader users depend on them to navigate the web page. Jumping
the heading levels will not convey the information to users as intended by the author.
Lastly, don’t use stylish fonts as they are difficult to read and understand for people with
low vision.
3. Using Alt-Text for Images
Alt-text is short for the alternative text that is provided for images, it helps in conveying
the information in the images to users with visual impairments. Search engine robots,
web crawlers, etc. do not read images and instead rely on alt text to understand the
images. Therefore having alt-text will also help in improving your SEO score.
However, care should be taken to exclude alt text from images that are used only as
decoration. In such cases, the alt text should be kept “” and screen readers will
understand that it is a decorative image and move on to the next content.

4. 4. Providing Descriptive Links
Visually impaired people use their screen readers to scan the website for links. It is
impossible for screen reader users to understand the context of links with respect to the
rest of the page.
For example, if you plan on guiding users to the “About Us” page:
Avoid saying: “Click here to know more.”
Instead, try saying: “To learn more about our company, read About Us.”
This helps users to understand the destination of the link without the trouble of going
through the web page to understand the context.
5. Maintaining Color and Contrast
People with color blindness will have a lot of difficulties if the information or response
required is only dependent on the color. Therefore avoid using only color as a means to
convey information to users and provide alternate ways to access that content.
Here is a free chrome extension that simulates information a color-blind person receives
and/or adds a daltonization filter. Check it out to get a brief idea on how users with color
blindness view websites.
6. Using Accessible Forms
Forms should follow the same contrast ratio as explained in the color and contrast
category. Avoid using the placeholder text must be always avoided wherever possible.
Labels and hints should be used outside the boxes for easy understanding. Autofill
should also be enabled for faster filling up of forms which will also help people without
disabilities.
Finally, avoid using CAPTCHA as it is difficult for users with visual and cognitive
impairments to access it. Furthermore, it should also not be used to validate any
submissions.
7. Using Tables in Accessible Format
Avoid using tables as the only means of communicating information to users as it
discourages people with blindness and visual impairment from checking your content.

5. Add them only if they are absolutely necessary and make sure that they follow
accessibility standards for tables.
8. Having a Keyboard-Friendly Website
What if you used only a keyboard to navigate the web for a whole day? In 2018, a BBC
news reporter did exactly that and had a compelling case study to report.
Let us first understand who uses only the keyboard to navigate. We can broadly
classify them into three categories:
● Mobility-impaired users who have difficulties using a mouse
● Vision-impaired users who can’t distinguish clickable elements in the web page
● Users who are more comfortable and prefer using a keyboard over the mouse
Here are some tips to ensure your website is keyboard-friendly:
● Web pages with a lot of content should be broken up with anchor links that assist
users to navigate to their desired part of the web page and skip content that is
not useful to them.
● Provide the “Skip to main content” option at the top of each page so that users
can directly land on the main content using the keyboard.
● Avoid using elements that can only be activated when you hover the mouse over
them as keyboard and screen reader users can’t access them.
● Keyboard users use the tab key to navigate web pages, therefore the tab order
should match the visual order so as to not confuse users.
9. Following Rules for ARIA Labels Usage
Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) is an acronym for Accessible Rich Internet
Applications. The ARIA principles describe how to make a website accessible to
persons who use assistive technology.
Here are some examples of using the ARIA label in the right way:

6. ● Adding alerts or notifications to screen reader users to notify them of dynamic
page changes like stock tickers and search filters.
● Providing screen reader users with access to complicated, interactive widgets
like date pickers.
10. Making your Dynamic Content Accessible
Sometimes, websites have content that automatically updates and that might not be
noticed by screen reader users.
Here are some examples:
● Screen overlays
● Lightboxes
● In-page updates
● Modal dialogs
This content should also be made accessible to users as it is an integral part of a
website. Make sure that video players should not automatically play videos as it might
cause panic to visually impaired users as they did not activate them. Furthermore,
closed captions and transcripts should be available for all videos as it helps users with
auditory impairments.
Wrapping up
Imagine you are in a crowded place and you receive a video link on Facebook from your
friend. It will be a herculean task for you to understand that video, but if it has captions,
you can easily view the video on mute and enjoy the video. Transcripts and closed
captions give an easy workaround for watching multimedia irrespective of the
environment that you are in.
One of the internet’s core ideals is freedom, and accessibility is one of the most effective
instruments for achieving that aim. Now is your chance to make a difference and participate
actively in this noble path of making the web accessible to everyone.