“Every user deserves a first-rate digital experience on the Web,” says the GAAD Foundation. “Someone with a disability must be able to experience Web-based services, content and other digital products with the same successful outcome as those without disabilities.” In recent decades the world has made measurable progress toward that ideal, but work remains.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), celebrated today, May 18, highlights the critical importance of digital access and inclusion for people with disabilities. Carpenter Group is proud to mark the occasion with this website accessibility checklist:

• Provide meaningful and descriptive text alternatives for non-text content, such as images, videos, and audio.
• Ensure that all users can navigate the website using only a keyboard. All interactive elements should be keyboard accessible, with the order of focusable elements following a logical and intuitive sequence.
• Establish sufficient color contrast between foreground and background elements to make text and other content easily readable for people with low vision.
• Include captions and transcripts for audio and video content.
• Use clear and simple language.
• Properly label form elements like text inputs, checkboxes, and radio buttons.
• Ensure that the website is compatible with assistive technologies, such as screen readers and magnifiers.
• Make visual elements scalable and flexible, so that users can adjust font sizes, zoom levels, and other layout options to meet their individual needs.
• Design the website to work on a variety of different devices and platforms, including mobile devices and desktop computers.
• Include people with disabilities in user testing to identify and address any accessibility issues that may have been missed during the design and development process.

Learn more about accessibility and digital strategies.