What are Some of the Leading Accessibility Obstacles?
Understanding the challenges faced by individuals with different disabilities is essential for creating websites that are truly accessible to everyone. So, let's explore the various types of disabilities and the common problems people encounter while navigating digital spaces. By recognizing these issues, you can design better, more accessible experiences for all users.
Fixing Accessibility Barriers
When it comes to web accessibility, the bread and butter are the WCAG guidelines. If you’re not familiar, it’s a set of recommendations provided for making websites more accessible to everyone, especially people with disabilities. They’re built on four core principles that help ensure websites are usable by a wide range of users with different needs:
Perceivable - Content must be available to different senses (sight, hearing, etc.)
Operable - Users must be able to navigate the site using different input methods
Understandable - Information and interactions should be easy to understand
Robust - The site should work well with current and future technologies
Missing or Incorrect Alt Text: A Simple Fix That’s Often Ignored
As a developer, you might forget to add the alt
attribute to images or provide some unhelpful descriptions like "image.jpg". Some developers even overload the alt
text with irrelevant keywords, thinking it will improve SEO. Unfortunately, this can make screen readers frustrating to use because the content doesn’t provide meaningful information.
Keyboard Navigation: Making Every Interactive Element Accessible
A common mistake is creating interactive elements such as modals, dropdowns, carousels, or custom buttons that aren’t natively keyboard navigable. Users who rely on keyboards or other assistive devices will have a hard time interacting with these elements, which can cause confusion or unintended behavior.