There are several reasons why a number of users are not able to access your website. Improving the accessibility of your website means you should consider those users specifically. A report by World Bank says that more than 15% of the global population has a disability. This clearly shows that if your website is not accessible, you are missing a big chunk of prospects, and you have an unreachable digital product.
Unfortunately, 70% of websites are inaccessible to vision-impaired people, and the market value is as big as $6.9 Billion.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 come in help on this, by directing the efforts at making web content handier for a wider range of people with disabilities.
What is WCAG 2.2, and what is it for?
WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and 2.2 is the latest version of this guideline. Published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), It aims to make web contents more accessible to a wider group of people with disabilities. This newest version, WCAG 2.2, is an extension of the earlier WCAG 2.1, and the goal is to improve guidance for three groups of users:
- users with cognitive or learning disabilities
- users with visual impairments
- users with disabilities on mobile devices.
To meet the varying requirements of these users, many layers of guidance were proposed and evaluated while preparing the latest version. The working group has selected and stabilized the overall principles, general guidelines, and testable success criteria of WCAG 2.2 with new features like Accessible Authentication (No Exception), Consistent Help, Dragging Movements, and more. The working group believes that WCAG 2.2 gradually improves the web content accessibility guidelines in all segments.
Check your website accessibility with crowdtesting
It is now imperative to know how to improve the accessibility of digital products to get maximum benefits and meet the regulatory criteria of WCAG 2.2. In Italy, the Agency for the Digital Agenda has just published new requirements for public companies and privates with more than 500M € revenue, that from now on have to publish an accessibility assessment or might face fines for up to 5% of their revenue.
There are four simple techniques that can help improve the website’s accessibility.
1 - Training design and UX team on new accessibility guidelines
It is always better to do the right things first rather than fix errors. It requires less effort and saves a lot of money. Training the design and UX team and making them understand the benefits of accessibility inclusion from the design stage help them develop a future-ready digital product.
2 - Assess the accessibility levels of your website
Nowadays, it is essential to comply with the WCAG 2.2 guidelines to avoid legal complexities. Therefore, assessing the accessibility level of the websites helps judge the loopholes and make the necessary adjustments. ICT accessibility expert of UNGUESS can help you identify and knit the missing parts.
3 - Make data-driven decisions about accessibility thanks to Crowdtesting
It is now essential to test the performance of the digital product, and crowdtesting is the best process to assess it. Modern organizations like UNGUESS use cutting-edge technologies, skilled ICT accessibility experts, and real users with a disability to assess the website’s accessibility and help taking the right decisions. This helps to check the critical user experience and ensure that the product is in line with the guidelines of WCAG 2.2. Book a free demo at this link.
4 - Fix accessibility issues
Acting on the remedy part is the next vital step where the digital product is made handy for people with disabilities.
What are the advantages of crowdtesting for testing accessibility
Enhanced UX:
Crowdtesting helps capture the loopholes of the digital product by testing it through real users with disabilities. This ensures close-to-real results, which are essential to make a digital product for all.
Boost business growth:
Accessibility inclusion indeed captures a big chunk of the global population. Assessing your website’s convenience through crowdtesting surely helps you to stay ahead of your competitors, and it has an immediate ROI on your activities.
Minimize legal complications:
With more stringent rules and guidelines across the globe for the accessibility of digital products, it is now mandatory to check the accessibility of your website. For instance, AGID, a Digital Italy Agency, oversees the violation of accessibility and takes robust actions for the same. Therefore, it's better to take preventive measures from the initial stage.