Accessibility: three practical tips!

Every resident has the right to live like everyone else and participate in society. Using the possibilities that the Internet, computers and smartphones offer us is of course part of this. This is precisely why it is important that digital services are accessible to everyone. We offer three practical tips to make text accessible to your residents.

1. Use Alt text correctly

The Alt text is placed with an image to inform the visually impaired visitor what the image is about. If you apply this guideline by the book, you place an Alt text neatly with every image. Right? The question is whether this helps the visually impaired visitor. Frankly, it often does not. The person in question gets too much information, which does not improve clarity.

Why an Alt text?

Among other things, visitors with visual impairments make extensive use of screen readers. This additive technology ensures that all elements on a Web page are read aloud. In addition to text, screen readers also read out elements on the page such as images, form fields, tables, headings and links. In practice, for an image, the screen reader reads out the Alt text of the image followed by the name of the element. For example, for an image of a man on a horse, the screen reader will first read out the Alt text "man on horse" followed by the name of the element, image in question.

How does a screen reader read aloud?

Images, as a rule, always convey information. Only in most cases, this information that is conveyed is often already in the text, headline or link.

Stel: de tekst 'Wegwerkzaamheden' in het hierboven genoemde voorbeeld is een link <a> en de afbeelding <img> krijgt de alt tekst 'bord wegwerkzaamheden '. De screenreader zal de afbeelding met tekst dan als volgt voorlezen: bord wegwerkzaamheden (Alt-tekst) - afbeelding vervolgens wegwerkzaamheden - link. Wanneer je nu de Alt-tekst bij de afbeelding leeg laat, zal de screenreader de afbeelding negeren en wordt de afbeelding met link voorgelezen als: Wegwerkzaamheden - link. Dit laatste is voor je bezoeker met een visuele beperking veel duidelijker. Laat de 'Alt-tekst' bij afbeeldingen daarom leeg, tenzij de afbeelding informatie bevat welke niet in tekst, kop of link staat.

2. Left alignment is a must!

Text is itself accessible. For readability, in addition to the use of clear headings and titles, the way text is presented (line length and alignment) is essential.

Alignment determines the appearance and orientation of the edges of the text block. Right alignment, text centering or text padding is not an option when it comes to accessibility. Left alignment is the clearest. With left alignment, the front of the text lines forms a vertical line. This so-called fixed starting point makes reading more effective and less tiring. Especially for people with cognitive disabilities, think of people with attention problems or dyslexia, left-aligning text gives a calm image. For the visually impaired, left alignment is a must because it is used here as a landmark when scrolling horizontally.

Line length is also very important. The ideal line length for desktop is estimated to be a maximum of 120 text, including spaces. Spreading text over two columns is not an option; this makes the page difficult to scan. This is also highlighted in the Nielsen Norman Group's study "Improving usability for low-literates".

3. Create understandable links

Even without context, it should be clear what links refer to. A link text like "click here" or "read more" is not clear if you don't see the surrounding text or visual presentation. It is a well-known pitfall, for example, on the news page to add more information to the posts of the 'read more' link. For visitors without disabilities, this is a quick read back; they can quickly see what to expect when they click the 'read more' link. For people who use a screen reader, this is more difficult to understand.