网页可访问性是指让每个人都能访问相同的信息, regardless of the disabilities users may have.

According to The World Bank, 10亿人(占世界人口的15%)患有某种形式的残疾, with almost 57 million in the US alone. (19% of the US population according to figures released by the US Census Bureau on July 25, 2012.)

There are four loosely grouped types of disabilities, 可能是暂时的，也可能是永久性的:身体上的(如瘫痪或精细运动控制问题), sensory (such as autism, deafness, or blindness), intellectual (such as Down syndrome or developmental delays), and mental illness (including schizophrenia and depression). 许多老年人都有随着年龄增长而出现的问题，这些问题也可以从中受益 accessibility accommodations.

It’s vital not to underestimate the importance of web accessibility. While 20 years ago the internet was a place for tech geeks, it is now a primary source of information, entertainment, and communication. It’s used for everything from shopping to sharing moments with friends, reading the news, watching TV shows, applying for jobs, booking vacations, and more. Yet, for people with disabilities, 有一些障碍使这些东西无法进入, as many websites don’t consider their needs. Much of the internet is not yet treated as a public space and does not ensure access to everyone regardless of ability.

Myths About Web Accessibility

When it’s not simply ignored entirely, accessibility is one of the most neglected aspects of web design. It suffers from inaccurate ideas spread over the past 20 years by unscrupulous digital agencies and their design and development teams. Detractors fail to acknowledge technological innovations, legal changes, and major demographic evolutions because they see accessibility as a restrictive and optional part of creating a website with good UX for all users. Most discussions about why accessibility isn’t really necessary revolve around one or more of the following points:

1. “It’s ugly.”

While it is true that full accessibility requires designers 遵循一些严格的准则，这些准则可能会影响网站或应用程序的整体外观和感觉, some improvements—such as providing alternative text descriptions for images—won’t have a noticeable effect on the user interface. 有了今天的技术，完全有可能创造出一个时尚的、互动的、吸引人的、 and accessible website; therefore, web accessibility should no longer be seen as a burden. Besides, there are plenty of ugly non-accessible websites, too!

2. “It takes too long, costs too much, and has no benefit.”

It’s true that incorporating accessibility is not always an easy thing and will probably increase the time spent on the conception and development phases of a website or application. However, 它将减少花在站点改进和技术维修上的时间:代码更简洁, fewer bugs.

从数字项目开始就考虑可访问性也将有助于控制后期成本, including maintenance and customer support. 从搜索引擎优化的角度来看，一个可访问的网站也将有助于获得更好的排名. 像Google这样的搜索引擎就像盲人使用屏幕阅读器一样. When scanning your pages, robots only understand text, 因此，规划内容架构和标题并为图像提供替代文本非常重要.

3. “No one cares.”

This argument tends to be the main one for companies and design agencies who don’t want to invest time or money in order to make a website accessible. 当查看他们的数据时，似乎残疾人甚至不会访问他们的网站. (Oh, the irony! How could they if it’s not accessible to them?)他们还确信，这个市场太小了，根本无足轻重.

有严重残疾的人可能只占他们用户的一小部分，但是老年用户呢? What about users who have what are considered “minor” disabilities, such as those who are hard-of-hearing or colorblind? What about the average user suffering from a debilitating migraine and unable to stand bright colors or infinitely scrolling pages written in 11px type? Lots of users who wouldn’t be considered “traditionally” disabled may suffer from a non-accessible website.

另一方面，就像在现实生活中一样，让技术触手可及对每个人都有好处. 考虑在嘈杂的酒吧里为电视配字幕，或者为婴儿车配轮椅坡道.

4. “It’s optional.”

Well, actually, it’s not. In many countries, there are laws making it illegal to discriminate against people with disabilities when providing a service or product. So, in theory, 如果一个残障用户因为网站不可访问而无法访问内容, they could legitimately sue for digital discrimination. And these lawsuits are happening with greater frequency every year, often costing companies millions of dollars to settle.

Reasons to Care About Web Accessibility

1. Legal compliance

In the US, 无障碍要求列在《欧博体育app下载》中, enacted in 1990. Back then, it mostly concerned physical stores, 因此，法院在网站和应用程序是否应被纳入保护范围的问题上存在分歧. In 2017, over 800 lawsuits were filed in federal court in the US alone, so the threat of litigation is real.

While Facebook has been praised for its Empathy Lab 至于无障碍政策，其他公司就没有这么幸运了. Netflix已经被不同的盲人和聋哑人协会多次起诉. In the end, they had to provide equal access to its content to all users, including adding subtitles to all of its programs.

2. Improved reputation

Companies who embrace people with disabilities only benefit from it. Efforts to make a website or app fully accessible have a positive impact on a reputation and create an image of social responsibility and care for all users.

In the process of adding accessibility features, Silicon Valley giants don’t hesitate to bring innovation to the game, investing millions in tech and ground-breaking new features. For example, Facebook is now using artificial intelligence to provide its blind users automatic alternative text through object recognition technology. 这个功能现在让他们可以充分享受每天在Facebook上分享的20亿张照片. 这个想法主要来自Matt King，一个与无障碍团队一起工作的盲人软件工程师. Facebook已经承诺成为一家对残疾人友好的公司, both online and in the physical world.

3. Acquisition of new customers

More than 80% of people with disabilities have decided not to trust a service provider because of barriers, poor web accessibility being one of the top reasons. As they are often ignored by most brands, users with disabilities are willing to spend more of their money with companies who provide them with a well-thought-out user experience. The purchasing power of this particular market is enormous.

Accessibility improvements won’t turn away your current customers but will attract new customers and improve your conversions. By acknowledging users with disabilities, you’re letting them know that their rights matter, and that their business is valued.

Types of Disabilities and How to Improve Accessibility

There are many different permanent and temporary disabilities, 用户面对不同的挑战，寻求不同的解决方案. 为了向每个人提供相同的内容，你需要满足每个人的需求.

1. Sensory disabilities

Sight and hearing problems are the most common sensory disabilities, 但是还有一些其他的残疾人也受到了影响:老年人, those who are color blind or hard of hearing, and many autistic users.

For users with hearing disabilities, one step toward making your website or app accessible would be to implement text transcripts and video captioning. 它们不仅是聋哑人的必需品，而且对听力正常的人也很有用.

A study on accessibility by Ofcom found out that 80% of people who use closed captions are neither deaf nor hard of hearing. It’s a typical example of an accessible feature benefiting everyone.

关于视觉障碍，大多数指南也帮助每一种类型的用户. Whether you are colorblind or suffering from a migraine, 你会感谢设计师使用对比色(文本和背景). Everyone will benefit from bigger, relative font sizes (em, not pixels) and the option to adjust the size, a feature particularly appreciated by senior users.

As for blind users, though they may not see a website they’ll hear it, thanks to screen readers like JAWS and Window-Eyes for Windows and VoiceOver for Mac. Such programs read content aloud…and they read it ALL.

To make it easier to navigate through your pages, be sure to use “Skip to main content选项，以防止连续多次阅读整个导航菜单.

Correctly structure your page using different headings (only one

, then do not skip levels), include text descriptions for every image, avoid complex tables, and carefully pick your text hyperlinks. They should properly describe where the link will go: Using just “click here” is ineffective for a screen reader user as it doesn’t give any relevant information.

2. Motor disabilities

有些用户可能会永久或暂时无法使用鼠标或触控板. 因此，他们只能使用键盘浏览网站，按“标签”或“箭头”键.

Ensuring that a website can be fully experienced only using a keyboard is one of the easiest and cheapest features to implement in web accessibility: It requires little work and can be checked by simply unplugging or turning off your mouse. 浏览器将通过按TAB键自动选择网页上可点击的项目, which greatly helps accessibility, so be sure the development team does not turn it off.

3. Cognitive disabilities

Users with learning disabilities, Down syndrome, ADHD, dyslexia, and other cognitive disabilities, including those that sometimes happen as users get older, will benefit greatly from clear content and a consistent UI. Therefore, try to build a logical interface (similar colors for similar actions, a combination of fonts, simple animations, visual hints when asked to participate, etc.)，并使用标题来组织内容，以快速识别其不同部分.

Setting rules and patterns and following defined design principles will help users get around faster and avoid surprises in the navigation experience, thus making it smoother and more understandable overall. Simplifying and standardizing the UI of a site or application tends to lead to a better user experience for all users.

Tips for Web Accessibility Testing

1. Follow guidelines

There are international guidelines for creating accessible websites readily available: the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Developed through the W3C process, the WCAG (currently WCAG 2.0) provides a single shared standard for web content accessibility.

Primarily intended for developers, designers, and accessibility experts, all WCAG documents explain how to make a website more accessible and are organized under four principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. 这组建议允许您达到一致性级别(a -minimal), AA-satisfying or AAA-excellent).

Implementing all of the WCAG standards will take time but starting with the basics can make a huge impact on making your website more friendly to users with a variety of disabilities.

2. Check it online or with an assistive technology

网上有一些工具可以检查一个网站是否符合可访问性准则，比如 the official validator from W3c. Be aware that online tools may not find all accessibility issues, as they primarily check the technical aspects of a website. Using assistive technology, 使用屏幕阅读器来测试网站是确保网站真正可访问的重要一步. However, while these are both affordable places to start, they will never replace actual user feedback. It’s important to have users with various disabilities included in the user testing process if accessibility is sincerely considered a priority.

3. User testing

Including people with disabilities in the UX testing process for any new website or app before launch is key. 他们会就用户体验是否令人愉快给出最相关的反馈. Work hand in hand with a trusted UX designer who will prepare testing scenarios depending on different disabilities.

Gaining Accessibility Compliance Is No Longer an Option

Accessibility is a major issue that looms larger as more of everyday life happens online and as the world’s population grows and ages. By 2050, the aging world population is expected to double. 人口结构的转变意味着，随着年龄增长，许多残疾将会增加.

It’s not a simple task, but companies who continue to ignore accessibility need to understand that they are already losing customers and that they’ll end up losing even more in the coming years, considerably reducing their revenues as a consequence. In a world that has made progress recognizing other minorities, 否认无障碍权利是人权，也会损害其公众形象和声誉.

With that in mind, 公司越早将可访问性作为创建网站或应用程序的关键价值, 他们就会越早被认为是一家不会忽视残疾用户的公司. They’ll get more traffic and, in turn, likely more conversions. 认识到网页可访问性的重要性是一个双赢的局面.