How to Create Websites With Disabilities in Mind

People with disabilities can not always access the web the same way that people without disabilities can. For this reason, the Americans with Disability Act (or ADA for short) requires that websites of companies that have at least 15 employees and operate for at least 20 weeks in a year must properly accommodate people with disabilities, or face a potential fine of as much as $30,000.

A good rule of thumb to follow in order to make sure your website is accessible and compliant is to follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (or WCAG for short). The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines consist of simple and straightforward questions that someone can ask themselves about their website, such as…

• Is the website easy to navigate?
• Is the website easy for different types of impaired people to perceive?
• Is the content easy to understand?
• Is your website compatible with assistive technologies?

These factors can be addressed in the design of the website. Another way to accommodate people is that website designers can create their own software for accommodating those who have special needs, however, it is usually better to purchase premade software from another company. A good example of a company that someone can purchase this software from is accessiBe. A few examples of what programs like accessiBe can do are…

• Change Color in ways that can help colorblind people see the website’s visuals.
• Change the size and shape of the font for people who struggle with reading.
• Provide subtitles to videos for the deaf.
• Provide audio readers for the blind.
• etc.

Responsive Design

When a web page is created, the content being displayed is set up in a certain order for the purpose of keeping the structure organized. It can easily be noticed that the organization of a web page changes when a person is using a tablet or smartphone. This is because every section of a web page contains mark-up and styling telling the browser how to display the site including which section should be shown first, and what should be eliminated, or added depending on the situation. Responsive design takes into consideration data such as screen width then had a variety of displays depending on this data. An example is when on a desktop you may see three or 4 products per row with images appearing to be 2’x2’, but on the phone, instead of seeing a scaled-down version of this, you might see the content re-arranged. The images may still be 2’x2’, but it is likely that they will stack and be arranged in a row of one or two for easier viewing on a phone, or tablet. See images.

Desktop: 

Mobile:

Web pages typically contain more details and sections on a desktop display, and more simply on phones. Responsive design is needed in order to adapt to different forms of common technological devices to make them easy to use for the person visiting the website. For this reason, when a website is being designed it must be designed to adapt and be tested to see if it works on all types of devices so that it can be confirmed that the organization has designed its site to be flexible and responsive, and free from errors or difficulties for the user.

How to reset your password:

We recommend the following steps to help keep your account secure.

1. It will say “reset password” on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. Click “reset password”, the website will prompt you for a code, you will then be sent an email containing that code, that you will enter on the platform’s website. You will then be logged in after you enter the code.

2. Provide a phone number or email address on the platform’s website, where it can be used to recover your account for security purposes, such as if you get locked out of your account, you can enter your phone number or email address to verify that you are the owner of the account. It will say on the site were to enter this information.

3. When entering passwords or other important information on a website, make sure it is the correct address, and not a fake account used for phishing purposes. For example, there may be sites that impersonate Facebook, Twitter, etc, to get your log-in information so they can access your account.

4. When choosing a password, make it the most secure by using a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. Always write your password down and keep it in a safe place, even if you think you will remember it

Relative Vs. Absolute Links

Absolute Links

When a user searches the internet for a specific website, they will often use an absolute link. An absolute link is a link that uses an http request in order to instantly search through the world wide web for a specific (or absolute) address or URL. Absolute links can be used from any webpage across the internet, rather than just stay relative to a specific page.

Example of Absolute Links…

https://website/blog

Relative Links

Most websites use navigation bars at the top, side, or maybe even bottom of their webpages, as well as other buttons on said website. It is not uncommon that some of these buttons are what is called a relative link. Relative links are links that do not make an http request, and therefore do not possess the power to search the world wide web, but rather link to things in nearby directories.

Example of Relative Links…

<a href=”blog.html”>Go to Blog Page!</a>