Design for Humans: Accessibility in Action

Roughly 7.5 million Americans use screen readers or other tools to make the internet a more accessible, friendly place. From applications to websites, from reading the news to shopping online, devices like screen readers are opening doors for people with disabilities and visual impairments, and making it possible for them to experience the digital world like never before.

So, the time has come to ask yourself: How accessible is my website?

If you're not sure, or if you're pretty sure that the answer isn't too good, then this is one's for you.

Why should I care?

Before we discuss how to make your website or digital property more accessible, it's important that we all understand why it matters.

Sure, some companies make their sites accessible to avoid lawsuits and remain legally compliant. And that's fine. But the thing about accessibility is that it reaches farther and matters more than any legal checkbox. It has a direct impact on how real people experience your site. Whether you're selling them a new pair of pants or offering them a new service, if real people can't easily and intuitively navigate your digital property, they will simply move on.

You've probably done this yourself on more than one occasion, because bad design makes for bad experiences for everyone.

At the end of the day, good design is inherently accessible. It's optimized for the user's experience, regardless of factors like disability, age, and native language. The captions on your video provide context for the visually impaired, but they also support non-native speakers who want to interact with your content. The thoughtful navigation on your site helps audiences who are less familiar with the internet access your site with ease, while also providing wayfinding for a screen reader user.

Accessible design is simply better.

How do I start?

If your website or digital property wasn't designed with accessibility in mind, now is the time to start making small, simple changes to improve your strategy and your design. Here are a few quick and easy ways to up the ante on your accessibility:

• Check Your Images for Alt Text: Every visual on your website should have simple, clear alt text to describe what is being depicted for screen readers.
• Update Contrast & Colors: Make sure your text is readable for low vision or color-blind users.
• Enable Keyboard Navigation: Some users need to navigate your site without the use of a mouse or track pad.
• Create Clear Headings & Structure: Screen readers and scanners need proper headings and an intuitive structure so they can follow the text.
• Provide Captions & Transcripts: For both hearing and visually impaired visitors, as well as non-native speakers, all video and audio assets should be equipped with captions and transcripts.
• Use Descriptive Links: Links that say things like "Click Here" don't provide screen readers with enough information about the utility of the link.

Most importantly, don't get overwhelmed and give up on the initiative. We know that it's a lot to take on, but remember that there are real people who are getting a real benefit out of your efforts, so it's truly a valuable undertaking.

What if I need help?

Prolific Digital is proud to be long-time advocates for accessibility online. Not only is every website we design created with accessibility in mind, but we took the commitment one step further to create an innovative tool called Altly.

Altly is an AI-powered alt text generator that assesses images and creates accurate descriptions, breaking down barriers to accessible design and improving compliance for new builds and existing sites alike. It was also nominated for a Webby, which we have to admit was pretty damn cool.

In addition, we are also pioneering new technologies and forging new partnerships with old friends to create the gold standard in website accessibility audits.

Our auditing process begins with an innovative site scanning tool that we developed in-house to review full websites, leveraging Axe-Core technology. Our tool catches up to 57% of all accessibility issues, providing a launch pad for refinements and finessing.

For the second phase of our auditing process, we've teamed up with our friends and neighbors, the American Printing House for the Blind. As the world's largest nonprofit organization creating accessible experiences for people who are blind and low vision, APH was the obvious choice for our manual auditing partner. Their human reviewers, including those who are blind or low vision, manually review our websites to help us perfect our designs before they ever go live.

Whether you're refreshing your existing site or building a new digital property from the ground up, we strongly recommend accessibility audits to all our clients—not just for legal compliance, but also for superior UX/UI.

If all this is feeling a little overwhelming, we get it. Finding the right agency can make all the difference when it comes to something as detailed and important as accessibility. That's why we exist—to help support your efforts, breathe life into your design, and create new audiences for your brand.

We are your accessibility guides. We are Prolific.