Web Site Accessibility Blog

Andy Hagans published an excellent article recently, “High Accessibility Is Effective Search Engine Optimization.” I would highly recommend that anyone wanting to optimize their site read this article first to get a sense of how important search engine optimization can be for accessibility, and how important accessibility is to search engine optimization.

My take on this:
Is I’ll always say, search engine optimization (SEO) is more than just rankings. Those SEO’s that claim that as the goal need to grow and understand that simply gaining rankings does not create a successful web presence. True SEO understands that the user is the most important factor in the web site planning, and accessibility is one method of ensuring that you are taking care of all users, regardless of access level or device.

SEO & Accessibility: friend and foe?
The Priority 1 checkpoints are not only good optimization and necessary accessible elements - they are just pure good practice for any site. “Professional” SEO and accessibility are hand-in-hand partners in meeting the needs of users. Unfortunately, attempts at SEO can render a site unusable for most assistive devices, such as screen readers. SEO’s who rely on stuffing keywords into any available tag or attribute do more to alienate users than help them.

Phase 2 Checkpoints : Marketing
In building on Andy’s fine article, I would like to bring out a group of accessibility checkpoints in the Priority 2 section. These are even more than accessibility and SEO. These checkpoints surround the marketing and presentation of the site’s content. Realizing that users scan pages, both in reading visually or in using a screen reader, these elements are critical in allowing easy scanning of the site’s content:

2.2 Ensure that foreground and background color combinations provide sufficient contrast.

I can’t say enough about high contrast text on the web. I seem to be able to find at least one web site a week using blue text on a light blue background, or even worse, blue or yellow text on a black background. I am also noticing a lot more light grey text on white backgrounds, which maybe seems “artsy”, but gives users headaches. No one will read your content if you make it difficult for a user to focus on the content. The text on the site needs to be big enough and contrasting enough to allow for easy reading. Unless you want to hide your message, make it easy to read.

10.1 Do not cause POP-ups or other windows to appear.

‘Nuff said.

12.3 Divide large blocks of information into more manageable groups where natural and appropriate.

Most of what I learned about web design, I learned from my past life of being a Journalism student. When I decided to make my first website back in 1996, I had no specific web design training, so I did what I knew, which was using cues from newspaper layouts and implementing that into my designs. Fortunately, newspapers make good use (well, most) of headlines subheadings, and paragraph headings in order to allow readers to scan an article quickly. These same elements allow a user to scan the page quickly in order to find relevant information, without having to read word-for-word.

13.1 Clearly identify the target of each link.

Don’t use “Click Here” and “More Info” in your links. I don’t want to rant about usable anchor text again.

13.2 Provide metadata to add semantic information to pages and sites.

While metadata is not the SEO technique it once was, it still provides the search engines with semantic information to determine relevance, not rankings. The keywords can help the engines better classify your site’s content. The description can also help with building relevant data, but is also sometimes used for the snippet of information contained in the search engine results pages. A well-written description can result in a very positive marketing message in the snippet, which can help attract click-thru’s to your site.

13.3 Provide information about the general layout of a site (e.g., a site map or table of contents).

This technique is very helpful to both users and search engines. For users it provides the “index” to the site’s contents. Anyone can quickly get a layout of the pages in the site within a click and see if the information they need is available. This also gives search engine spiders the ability to quickly access the most internal links within the site.

13.4 Use navigation mechanisms in a consistent manner.

Accessibility requires consistent navigation for users that may have a cognitive disorder, but consistency of navigation is something that should be maintained at any level. Navigating a web site should never be a game for the user; it should be an intuitive process, as clear labels and consistent placement provide security for any user, regardless of access or device.

What have we learned?
More than just accessibility and search engine optimization, the accessibility checkpoints also provide a comprehensive outline for marketing a website. A consistent, easy to read layout of the content and navigation can help a site in building conversions, not just rankings. Ultimately the measure of any website is the number of conversions, be it sales, leads, ad clicks, etc. When site owners and managers start to realize this, the emphasis will be where it counts - on the bottom line and how to improve it.

Fortunately, the means of improving the conversion-ability of a web site is contained in the WCAG guidelines and can be expanded upon with basic usability principles and good advice. My goal is that designers and programmers or anyone with an interest in a web site would print out the WCAG guidelines and post them near their computer. They are not difficult to follow, and in most cases, it’s just common sense.