Enhancing User Experience for Everyone: How WCAG Makes the Web More Accessible
Enhancing User Experience for Everyone: How WCAG Makes the Web More Accessible
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Explore how WCAG guidelines improve the user experience for everyone, no matter their abilities. Below, we’ll explore how these guidelines help you create a more accessible, inclusive online experience for all users.
One of the primary goals of user experience (UX)/user interface (UI) designers is to create digital content with an intuitive and seamless user experience. While elements like buttons and breadcrumbs enhance UX, there’s another element that can take your site to the next level: accessibility.
Making your digital content accessible to individuals is a legal requirement under laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the European Accessibility Act (EAA), and the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). However, implementing accessibility standards included in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) doesn’t just improve the experience for users with disabilities but those without as well.
Below, we’ll explore how implementing the digital accessibility best practices outlined in WCAG improves the UX for all —not just those with disabilities. We’ll also discuss how implementing accessibility features helps create an inclusive design that resonates with everyone.
The Role of Accessibility in UX Design
Accessibility plays a key role in how users interact with your digital content.
First and foremost, consider the data: Approximately 1.3 billion people worldwide have a disability — whether visual, auditory, cognitive, neurological, or motor. That’s a huge percentage of the world who may struggle to use your digital content if it’s not accessible. Following accessibility standards opens your digital doors to this audience, allowing you to expand the reach of your brand. Research has actually found that companies with accessible websites can see a 25% or more increase in their conversion rates.
And as we’ve mentioned above (and will discuss in more detail below), accessible design benefits everyone. Features like clear navigation, readable fonts, and good color contrast enhance usability for individuals without disabilities. Each of these can help to improve overall user satisfaction and engagement levels.
What is WCAG?
Created by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), WCAG is an internationally recognized set of accessibility standards that are designed to provide accessible content to individuals with disabilities. Essentially, they provide a framework for creating websites or mobile applications that can be used by individuals with varying abilities and disabilities.
WCAG is structured around four principles — the POUR principles—which require content to be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. Each principle contains guidelines (called success criteria) that further define the requirements for accessibility.
For example, under the ‘Perceivable’ principle, WCAG requires content to be presented in a way that all users can recognize and understand. This includes adding alt text to images, captions to videos, and having a minimum color contrast ratio of 3:1. Each of these features ensures that information is not invisible to any of the senses and can be interacted with by users of varying abilities.
Each category is also organized into three levels of conformance: Level A (minimum level of conformance), Level AA, and Level AAA (highest level). Level AA is considered the baseline for accessibility as it removes most barriers that hinder the experience for those with disabilities. Level AA conformance is also the standard level for conformance with accessibility laws, including the ADA, EAA, and AODA.
How WCAG Improves the UX for All Users
While WCAG is specifically designed to ensure users with disabilities have equal access to digital content, the guidelines can also improve the experience for those without disabilities. Below, we’ll take a closer look at just some of the WCAG success criteria that enhance UX.
Good Color Contrast
Have you ever tried reading text against a background that was too dark? What about text that was barely darker than the background? It’s likely this was difficult and put unnecessary strain on your eyes.
Good color contrast prevents this from happening, ensuring users can easily distinguish between text and background elements. For individuals with low vision or color blindness, contrast ratios can make the difference between seeing the entirety of digital content and seeing nothing at all.
WCAG recommends a color contrast ratio of 4.5:1 for normal text and 7:1 for larger text. These ratio levels create a stark contrast between background and web elements, ensuring users with disabilities — and those without — can easily distinguish between elements and find what they’re looking for. Using a color contrast checker — like this one from AudioEye — can help you achieve a good contrast ratio.
Video Captions
Captions are hugely beneficial for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. They ensure vital information portrayed through audio — like dialogue, sound effects, or other auditory cues — is accessible, allowing them to fully engage with the material.
In addition to being beneficial to those with disabilities, captions improve UX for those with situational disabilities. Think about it this way: Have you ever been in an environment (maybe a noisy train or a quiet space) where you either couldn’t hear or listen to audio? Captions allow you to interact with the video without distributing others. Plus, it’s hugely beneficial for non-native English speakers as it gives them a text-based reference that helps reinforce their understanding of the language.
Content Structure
A good content structure — one that’s well-organized and easy to navigate — improves the user experience for all users.
WCAG includes a number of recommendations for content structure, such as using:
- Unique, informative page titles and section headings
- Headings in a hierarchical order (e.g., H1, H2, H3)
- Intuitive keyboard commands and shortcuts
- Different lists to group information
- Descriptive link and/or button text to show where the element goes
For users with disabilities, these elements help to improve compatibility with assistive technologies such as screen readers and improve keyboard navigation. Additionally, for users with cognitive disabilities, such as dyslexia or ADHD, well-organized content can help improve focus and readability.
Users without disabilities benefit from these features as well as they’re able to easily find information and navigate your content, which improves user satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty.
Consistent Components
WCAG success criteria 3.2.4 (Level AA) requires that consistent digital components, such as buttons, navigation menus, and icons, appear consistently across your site. Doing so creates a more predictable experience that helps users easily navigate your site. Consistency is especially beneficial to those with cognitive disabilities as it helps to reduce confusion and build familiarity with your interface, making tasks easier and more manageable.
For users without disabilities, a consistent, cohesive design allows them to focus more on the content rather than trying to understand how your site works. Streamlining your navigation means users can find what they need more quickly, enhancing satisfaction and efficiency.
Put simply, consistent components promote inclusivity by catering to a diverse set of user needs. Features like clear labeling and uniform design elements benefit people with varying levels of tech-savviness, memory challenges, visual impairments, and more.
Responsive Design
One of the core principles of responsive design is its adaptability. Remember, users are interacting with your digital content on a number of different devices, including desktop, mobile devices, and assistive technologies. Content should be optimized for each of these devices and provide the same seamless experience on each one.
For example, individuals with visual impairments (such as low vision) may use screen magnifiers that require adaptable layouts. Responsive design ensures that content is readable and navigable regardless of the user’s settings. For users without disabilities, the more responsive a design is, the more usable it is across various devices, whether it be a smartphone, tablet, or desktop computer.
Alt Text
Alt text (also known as alternative text) is one of the biggest components of web accessibility — but it also benefits users without disabilities. For users who are blind or visually impaired and rely on assistive technologies like screen readers to navigate content, alt text provides a description of non-text content. This allows them to understand the context of content that’s displayed visually, enabling them to fully engage with the content.
For users without disabilities, alt text can add to the overall user experience. For example, if a page fails to load properly due to a poor internet connection, alt text can provide context and information about the missing visual, maintaining the narrative flow. Additionally, alt text can improve your search engine optimization (SEO), making content more discoverable, which benefits all users by increasing the reach and visibility of your web content.
Essentially, alt text can create a richer experience for everyone by providing additional content about your web content which increases understanding.
These are just some of the WCAG success criteria that help enhance your UX. For a more comprehensive list, check out our Essential WCAG Checklist.
Embracing Accessibility for All
Whether you’re looking for ways to enhance your UX or meet accessibility requirements, WCAG guidelines serve as a powerful roadmap for achieving both. Implementing the guidelines in WCAG not only helps you meet accessibility requirements but also lays the groundwork for a seamless, intuitive UX that benefits all users — both with and without disabilities.
That’s where AudioEye comes in. Using our suite of accessibility tools, you can easily create an inclusive UX design that is seamless, intuitive, and engaging for all users. We start by scanning your digital content with our Website Accessibility Scanner, which identifies common accessibility issues that negatively impact your user experience. Our Automated Fixes resolve these common errors while our team of human experts dives deeper into your site, identifying additional UX barriers and WCAG violations. They then provide expert guidance on how to fix them and create a more seamless experience.
With AudioEye, creating digital content that complies with accessibility standards and resonates with every user is easy.
Ready to take the first step toward inclusivity? Use our accessibility scanner below to test the accessibility of your digital content. Or request a demo to see firsthand how AudioEye can help you enhance your UX design and create a welcoming digital space for everyone.
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