Create A Website For Everyone And Increase Sales!
People are not always just like you. Even though this is a simple logistics, business owners don’t remember this when they set out to build a website. Everyone has varying needs, their visual aptitude varies, they want a particular software preferably, they have physical handicaps to consider and other things that make us all unique. Everyone is not the same and we should be sure not to be so narrow in our options that we bypass whole groups of people who might like to use our products or services.
Think about somebody who is getting older. Somebody that is older should have the first choice from a sales perspective because somebody who is older probably has had enough time to save money and create wealth. But, older people are beginning to have decreased eye sight. This is not a problem because the words of the text can be adjusted to a bigger size. Or, could they? If you don’t consider this function when you build a website, people who need a bigger text size won’t be able to use important features of the website.
The color scheme is an important part of the process when you make a website. Color blindness, in varying degrees, is quite a common problem, despite belief to the contrary. Color blindness commonly allows people to see colors, but not be able to properly distinguish between them. Try to avoid the use of colors to delineate meaning on your website, avoiding such things as ‘items marked in red out of stock’, while utilizing contrast.
Now consider mobility restraints. At any time, the number of people who can’t operate a mouse may actually be higher than you think. Perhaps an accident restricts their coordination or agility? For several reasons, you should always consider that your users may not be using a mouse when you make a website.
To create a website that can function with the keyboard alone takes minimal effort. It’s encouraged to simulate keyboard navigation by, simply, using a keyboard to navigate! Try it for an hour. Visit your daily sites, except try it without using the mouse. Without a doubt you’ll find that some sites are easy to work with, and other sites which are infuriating. How does your site stack up?
Be sure to consider the type of software visitors to your website might be using. There are over a thousand combinations of operating systems/browsers/preference combinations. Are you unintentionally excluding any of them? Think about a site that uses JavaScript to create links in a fancy drop-down menu. Did you know it’s common in many workplaces to disable JavaScript for security reasons? What that means is that anyone browsing the web at their workplace won’t be able to follow your links to the checkout page! When you create a website, try to create one that doesn’t exclude users because of their software.
Sight, mobility, and software are the three major issues facing web developers as far as accessibility. Pay attention to those issues, and you will be rewarded. Keeping best practices in mind, go forth and create a website which will exceed expectations. The only way to run a winning business is to win more customers, while keeping them happy and coming back for more.
When a company sets out to build a website, accessibility is an important factor that is often overlooked. Two important things to take into consideration are possible sight and mobility issues that potential visitors may be faced with. Color-blindness is an issue more often than you might think. Therefore, you want to make a website that does not rely on color to direct a site visitor. Another problem is mobility. Many people must navigate through a page relying on keyboard commands rather than a mouse, so you should create a website that allows easy keyboard navigation. Finally, you want to make sure that your site is accessible through a variety of browsers.
- Tem Balanco
