Create A Website For Everyone And Increase Sales!
Not everybody is the same as you. A straight-forward concept, but the reality is that many business owners forget this when they build a website. We all have different vision requirements, software, mobility constraints, and many more idiosyncrasies that define us as individual web users. We’re all unique and it’s important to not to make the mistake of denying someone access to your information, products, or services.
Consider someone who is slightly aging. An older person should be given priority from a sales perspective because older people have had more time to accumulate wealth. However, with elders, their eye sight starts to diminish. This is usually not a problem because our operating systems and web browsers can just “bump up” the text size. Or, can they? If you don’t account for this functionality when you build a website, important features will not be usable for those with increased text size.
When you make a website, it is important to consider what colors to use. Color blindness, in one way or another, is quite common in contrast to what most people think. With the average types of color blindness most people can see colors, but they can’t see the difference between the shades of colors that look somewhat alike. When you design a website, you should use contrast and stay away from colors that symbolize a concept. For example the words “items marked in red are not available” is a concept that you should not use.
Let us think for a moment about mobility restraints. Whether due to an accident or other medical issue, there are many people who access the web, and use a keyboard, but whom can not operate a mouse. Therefore, it is important to consider other navigation options when you are ready to make a website.
It does not take much effort to create a website that is fully accessible using just the keyboard. In order to get a feel for it, try simulating keyboard navigation by using just the keyboard, without the mouse, to navigate your favorite web sites for an hour or two. You will find that some sites are far easier than others to work with and to navigate. Now, how does your site compare?
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.
To recap, the three big issues are mobility, software, and sight. Cater to them, and they will cater to you. With these best practices in mind, you can confidently create a website that will maximize its intent. You’ll get more visitors, more repeat visitors, and happier visitors. This is a great way to run a successful business.
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
