Making your blog or website more “accessible” can seem like a big job, but
you don’t have to be an IT expert or do a website redesign to make a big difference. Accessibility is not an absolute but a continuum, says Glenda Watson Hyatt, and a few simple changes will allow more people to engage with your web content, regardless of their personal capabilities or the technology they’re using.
Glenda
combines a down-to-earth approach to web accessibility with first-hand
expertise that comes from living with cerebral palsy — she’s known as
the Left Thumb Blogger — in her (free) instructional ebook, How POUR is Your Blog? Tips for Increasing Your Blog Accessibility.
In
general, an accessible blog or website is one that follows the
principles of P.OU.R. — the foundation of the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0:
Perceivable
One of the main keys to accessibility is ensuring that content is
transformable from one format into another, enabling your blog readers
to perceive it in multiple ways.
Operable
If the content and other blog features are operable by the keyboard, chances are they are also operable by other input methods.
Understandable
Content and navigation must be understandable by your readers. This
means writing the content in plain language, and using consistent and
intuitive navigation.
Robust
Robust content works across operating systems, different browsers, and even on mobile devices.
How POUR is Your Blog? will walk you through 3 ways that you can quickly and easily increase the accessibility of your blog or website —
- Provide text equivalents for images
- Expand acronyms the first time they’re used
- Make hyperlinks distinct and distinguishable
— with screenshots and step-by-step instructions, extra tips and
resources, and a clear explanation of why all this matters and who can
benefit.
Three small items that can make a big difference to how accessible
your site content will be. That’s do-able, right? (Yes, I'm working on it too!) And, conveniently enough,
better web content accessibility will not only bring your message more
easily to more people, but it makes your site easier for search engines
to explore, too.
Win-win, all around.
