About Digital Accessibility
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What is Digital Accessibility?
Digital accessibility refers to the intentional design and development of accessible technologies such as websites, mobile applications, digital kiosks, wearables, and connected devices, as well as electronic documents such as PDFs and emails.
Universal design makes these technologies more inclusive and easily navigable by all people, including those with visual, hearing, motor, or cognitive disabilities.
“The power of the web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.”
– Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and Inventor of the World Wide Web
Digital Accessibility Examples
Websites and other technologies that provide digital accessibility typically include thoughtful and intuitive designs along with functionality that helps users with disabilities navigate, understand, and interact with them. Here are some examples:
Providing Alternative Text for Images
Alternative text in your markup code makes images accessible by describing them to people who are blind and using screen readers to browse your content.
Universal Keyboard Navigation
For those who are unable to use a mouse, digital accessibility means a keyboard can be used to access all functionality. It also means compatibility with assistive technologies that mimic the keyboard, such as speech input or eye tracking.
Transcripts and Alternative Media
Just as images must be made accessible to people who can’t see, audio files must be made accessible to people with hearing impairments. Providing a text transcript for audio content (or any content with an audio component, such as video) makes the audio accessible to users who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Inclusive Design
The contrast ratio of your visual designs must meet a certain threshold to be accessible, as people with visual impairments may have difficulty reading text without high contrast against the background. WCAG 2.0 requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text, and at least 3:1 for graphics and UI components.