Talia Asghar’s Post

Last night I watched Zone of Interest a German movie with English subtitles that were, at times, illegible with white text on a light background. This low contrast made it hard to read (and the subject matter made it hard to watch). It made me think of a post that Lawrence Shaw sent me this week - WebAIM's latest report looking at 1 million website homepages for the most common accessibility issues. In her post Laurie says “96% of errors fall into six categories. These common errors have been the same for the last 5 years” For more than 20 years at Bowen Craggs accessibility has been one of the important factors we look at in our annual ranking of corporate websites. We are not accessibility experts but strongly believe good accessibility is vital for success. We originally based our scoring on WebAIM’s WAVE tool which, as well as the WCAG standard, have been around for years. How can it be that a huge number of simple errors persist & have shown no sign of changing over the years? We have standards, we have tools & we have the moral motivation to do the right thing for society.  But that aside, why would you let down a big chunk of your customers, employees, job seekers, partners, investors visiting your website? And it’s a bigger chunk than you think. Val Ashton digital engagement manager at Unilever told me “1 in 7 people have a disability” that’s 15% of your audience! The WebAIM report says low contrast text is the biggest failure of WCAG guidelines. I assume this is for the same reason that movie subtitles are hard to read on some backgrounds - aesthetics 😡 I asked my designer friend Lydia Thornley what she thought & she agreed this was most likely a misguided design choice. I went on to suggest that the other common failures: missing alt text, missing form labels and empty links were a technical failure rather than the fault of designers. She disagreed “Design is there to get people to read the words”. Good design makes a product useful and understandable as well as looking good. She added “If you get information right for someone with ADHD, you might also get it right for someone who is time-poor like a journalist” (or a sleepy movie-watcher on a Saturday evening). So the failure to describe images, transcribe video, make forms easy to understand and label links with text that makes you click them is a failure of the organisation to take communications seriously. It's the responsibility of the copywriters, user experience designers AND of their colleagues, managers and board members to think and act inclusively. The online world must be available to all regardless of their ability, age, cultural or socioeconomic background. “This is for everyone” as Tim Berners-Lee once said. Developing digital services for a wide range of human diversity, ensures that everyone can participate fully and equally. It includes creating content and communities that support diverse voices and perspectives. #Inclusive #digitalaccessibility  

This accessibility study needs more visibility! WebAim’s annual accessibility report. They analyze the top 1 million websites for accessibility. https://lnkd.in/dbXZZM6G To me this is a really impactful insight from the study: “96.4% of all errors detected fall into these six categories. These most common errors have been the same for the last 5 years. Addressing just these few types of issues would significantly improve accessibility across the web.” The 6 Categories are low contrast text, missing alt text, missing form labels, empty links, empty buttons, missing document language. Y’all… these are the basics!! We can make significant impacts to accessibility and the user experience by addressing these top 6 errors. Accessibility is possible! Building accessibility into the content creation process is the solution. Share this post for reach! We can do this together! #accessibility #DEI #AccessibilityMatters

WebAIM Accessibility study - extract on internet homepages “96.4% of all errors detected fall into these six categories. These most common errors have been the same for the last 5 years. Addressing just these few types of issues would significantly improve accessibility across the web.” #Basics #Accessibility #DigitalAccessibility #UniversalDesign #InclusiveDesign

Interesting data, but as one comment noted it's based only on what a specific tool can measure. I find it interesting that we're still only looking at low contrast text. Icons, radio buttons, and other parts of the UI are important too! Text from the image: Chart title: How pages with most common WCAG features (% of home pages) - Low contrast text: 80% - Missing alt text: 55% - Missing form labels: about 48% - Empty links: about 45% - Empty buttons: about 28% - Missing document language: abotu 18%

Important to read this study and understand that YOUR website might be missing the BASIC accessibility needs.

Low Effort, High Impact! This WebAim report is a crucial wake-up call. The fact that 96.4% of accessibility errors can be attributed to just six basic issues is startling, yet it provides a clear path forward. Addressing these issues—low contrast text, missing alt text, missing form labels, empty links, empty buttons, and missing document language— are low effort, high impact! Let’s spread the word and work together to make the web accessible for everyone. Thanks for highlighting this important study—sharing now to keep the momentum going!

💡 Why Website Accessibility Matters More Than Ever in 2024! 💡 In today’s digital world, accessibility isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a necessity. Making your website accessible to all users, including those with disabilities, can significantly impact your brand’s success. Here’s why: 1️⃣ 𝗪𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵: By ensuring your site is accessible, you tap into a larger audience, including millions who rely on assistive technologies. 2️⃣ 𝗦𝗘𝗢 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀: Search engines prioritize accessible websites, which means better rankings and more visibility. 3️⃣ 𝗟𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲: Many regions have laws mandating web accessibility. Don’t let non-compliance lead to legal troubles. Accessibility is not an option; it’s a responsibility. How are you making your digital spaces more inclusive? Let’s chat below! ⬇️ Follow Satyapalsinh Jadeja for more tech Insights!.. #WebAccessibility #InclusiveDesign #DigitalInclusion #SEO #UserExperience #WebDevelopment #FutureReady #OnlinePresence

It's Global Accessibility Awareness Day! 🌐 With the need for increased awareness about digital accessibility, Global Accessibility Day was founded in 2012. Let's ensure your website doesn't just look nice but is universally accessible to everyone—it's important to make the web an inclusive space and stay compliant with ADA and WCAG guidelines. Need help with finding how exactly how accessible your website it? Prismo's here to help. Get a FREE Website Accessibility Assessment today: https://hubs.ly/Q02xp9LJ0 #ADA #WebAccessibility #ADACompliance #GAAD #GlobalAccessibilityAwarenessDay

🌍 𝗪𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 - 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗜𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲! 𝘌𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘦𝘣𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 - 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄: 📜 Laws like ADA and WCAG 2.1 set web accessibility standards companies must meet. This includes adding alt text for images, ARIA attributes, color contrast and screen reader testing. 📲 1 in 4 adults live with some form of disability in the US. An accessible site removes barriers to accessing your services. 💰 Failure to comply risks lawsuits and penalties. Inaccessible sites frustrate users and lose business. 🧩 Some best practices for improving accessibility include semantic HTML markup, descriptive link text, captions for audio/video, and using WAVE tool to find issues. Web accessibility should be a priority for every organization. Let me know if you need help auditing and optimizing your website to ensure it works for all! #accessibility #webdesign #digitalmarketing #marketology https://marketology.us

I’m coming out. I want the world to know… I’ve had enough. It is time for a change. Back in 1994, the album Definitely, Maybe by Oasis was released and Lisa Marie Presley married King of Pop Michael Jackson. It was also the year I first built a website and 30 years later I am still actively developing websites. However, that is about to change. Today is the day I become The Accessibility Guy. That’s right. The web is basically a nightmare for anyone with additional needs. Have you ever listened to a website? Trust me, it is a noisy place. I decided now is the right time for me to take these 30 years of experience and attempt to make the web a better place. As The Accessibility Guy, I am going to help businesses, web agencies, web developers and designers place accessibility at the core of what they do. To coincide with Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) founded by Joe Devon and Jennison Asuncion, Digital Accessibility is being born. It is a new UK-based digital accessibility consulting service from Scaramanga Marketing. Yes, we took the Ronseal approach to naming. We provide training to teams through a series of creative workshops and measure progress through accessibility audits. I know everyone ‘knows it is the right thing to do’, but very few do anything. It is time for you to change your approach to inclusivity. Better still, sign up to our charter [https://lnkd.in/eUC4pbaN] and make a commitment to accessibility. Spread the word: https://lnkd.in/ecn4x2Hq #Accessibility #a11y #GAAD #consulting #a11yconsulting #a11ycharter