Is your website ADA-friendly? If not, it’s important to look into what ADA compliance entails. No matter what your website’s content covers, you’ll want to ensure that it is accessible to those with disabilities or diminished capabilities.

Keep reading to find 4 lessons you can learn from ADA-friendly websites!

1. Make the Layout Clean

What does it mean to work toward ADA compliance? It means taking an approach to web design that accounts for the needs of those with disabilities. Especially for people who have difficulty focusing, a clean design is the best way to go.

Make sure your website design is orderly and predictable. Any areas of text should have a clear and bold header to lead into the content. And you’ll want to organize content in blocks for simple navigation.

When in doubt, ask the professionals for help to determine what needs to change on your website to make the layout clean and accessible.

2. Don’t Forget the Alt Tags in ADA-friendly Design

While it’s easy to assume that everyone can see and make sense of the images on your website, that’s not always the case. It’s a good idea to add alt text for every image on your site. With alt text, anyone who uses a reader or other device because they can’t see well will be able to understand the image’s purpose to the site.

An alt tag will describe what’s in a given picture on your site. You can keep the descriptions simple and to the point!

3. Make Your Website Accessible on Mobile Devices

For anyone with a disability to access a mobile device, the content will need to be bold and clear. Be sure to evaluate how your website translates to mobile screens.

While many people will access the internet from their mobile devices, it’s critical to recognize that not everyone will. Nearly 11 million people deal with macular degeneration, which causes blindness, and the risk goes up with age. As more people enter senior living facilities each year, you’ll need to offer a website that is accessible for an aging population.

4. Pay Attention to How You Use Color

It’s also critical to recognize that not everyone can see the same color range. With that in mind, it’s a good practice to choose colors that meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

When designing your website, avoid pairing red and green to accommodate people who are color blind to those colors. Also, be sure to use other strategies aside from color to highlight the importance of particular elements on your site. Be sure to use enough contrast as well as ADA friendly fonts that are large and clear enough to stand out against colors.

Create a Site For Everyone

With some careful tweaking, you can turn your webpage into an ADA-friendly site. It’s an important step to take so that people with disabilities can find their way around your site. All you have to do is set aside the time and follow a few steps.

When you’re ready to design a website that everyone can appreciate, contact us and we’ll be happy to help!

For further information on ADA Compliance and a tool that will automatically make your site 96% compliant visit ADAEnabled