New Year’s Resolution – An Accessible Website

A new year feels like a fresh start for many of us.  It’s a time for breaking old habits or starting new ones.  And, it’s an opportunity to commit to doing things better.  Has making your website accessible been added to your list of resolutions?

An accessible website can be an easy resolution to knock off your list.  You don’t necessarily need to commit to an overhaul of your website.  You just need to take a look at what you’ve done well and what you need to fix.

If you do nothing else to your website this year, do at least these 3 things.

  1. Make sure all your images have an alt attribute, even if it’s an empty one.  alt=”” is perfectly fine if the image doesn’t convey any meaning.
  2. Add labels to your form controls.  Make your forms meaningful to screen reader users by using label for = “” matched to the appropriate id.
  3. Add a skip link to your page.  Make it easier for visitors to get to the main content on your site with a skip link.  Helpful for screen reader users and keyboard users alike.

Many New Year’s resolutions fall by the way side. Make this one resolution you’re going to keep.