This article will help you know about Website Accessibility Terms. Prioritizing online accessibility is critical to your business, regardless of the type of website you run or the industry you’re in.
Around 15% of the world’s population suffers from some sort of impairment. This means that a significant section of your audience does not connect with your website in the manner that you may expect.
To ensure that your website complies with today’s web accessibility requirements, you must first learn the vocabulary. Accessibility is a large, complex topic with a lot of jargon, acronyms, and codes – enough to turn a new website owner away from it entirely.
That’s why we’ve compiled a glossary of 28 key online accessibility terms that every website owner should be familiar with. Knowing the language will make it much easier for you to implement accessibility principles on your own site and better assist disabled users.
28 Website Accessibility Terms That You Must Have A Knowledge in 2022
Detail of website accessibility terms are given below:
508
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was enacted to “remove barriers in information technology, provide new possibilities for individuals with disabilities, and encourage the development of technologies that would help achieve these goals.” Section 508 mandates that government agencies utilise or create information technology that is accessible to people with disabilities.
A11y
The term “accessibility” is abbreviated as “A11y.” Between the first letter “a” and the lasts letter “y,” there are 11 letters.
Accessibility
Accessibility assesses a product’s or experience’s suitability for individuals with impairments. Visual, auditory, cognitive, language, and learning disabilities and limits are all accommodated in an accessible experience. It’s critical to follow accessibility guidelines to ensure that all users have equal access to online material.
ADA
The Americans with Disssabilities Act (ADA) is a federal law in the United States that “prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in a variety of settings, including employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications, and access to state and local government programmes and services.”
Alternative Information
Alternative information is content that is offered as a replacement for the original content when the original content is unavailable to a segment of the audience. To give the same experience for impaired people, it must deliver equal information to the original material. For people with hearing issues, captions, for example, give a text alternative to audio.
Text Alternate
A brief piece of text that describes the contents of an image is known as alternative text (or “alt text” for short). If a screen reader is used, or if the image fails to load in the browser, alt text appears in lieu of the image on a web page.
ARIA
ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) is a set of tags that add roles, states, and properties to HTML components. ARIA tags specify the meaning of popular interface elements such as notes, alerts, search bars, and menus that lack semantic HTML tags. Beyond what simple HTML can do, ARIA elements improve HTML accessibility for screen readers.
Assistive Technology
Assistive technology is hardware or software that makes it easier or more efficient for people with impairments to interact with computers or computer-based systems. Screen readers, refreshables brailles displays, screen magnification tools, and audio browsers are examples of common assistive technology.
Audio Browser
A web browser with text-to-speech features for blind and visually impaired users is known as an audio browser. To assist users with navigating webpages, an audio browser can detect page elements such as headings, body text, and links.
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Disability
A disability is defined as “any condition of the body or mind (impairment) that makes it more difficult for the person with the condition to do certain activities (activity limitation) and interact with the world around them (participation restrictions),” according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web accessibility aims to address visual, hearing, movement, and cognitive disabilities. Disabilities might be permanent or transitory, such as those caused by an injury.
CAPTCHA
A CAPTCHA, or “Completely Automated Publics Turings Tests to Tell Computers and Humans Apart,” is a test that detects and prevents bot activity on a website by distinguishing human users from computer agents. CAPTCHAs can accomplish this in a number of methods, including recording mouse movements, requiring users to recognise images or text, or providing a math problem to solve.
Captions
Captions are a text-based visual representation of speech and sound on a screen. Users with hearing issues can utilise captions to provide a text alternative to a video. Closed captions, which may be turneds off by the users, and open captions, which cannot be turned off because they are part of the video itself, are the two types of subtitles.
Clickability Cue
A visual cue that a website element can be clicked is known as a clickability cue. Color, text adornment (e.g., underlining), arrows, cursor shapes, and animations are all clickability signals.
Contrast in colour
The difference in light between two neighbouring colours on a weskill b page is known as colour contrast. Accessibility is hampered when the colour contrast between two parts is minimal. Light-colored lettering on a white backdrop, for example, may be difficult to read for those with vision impairments. A colour contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 between text colour and background colour is recommended by the WCAG.
CSS
Focus
Hierarchy
This information is about one of the website accessibility terms. The organizing of web page material by relevance level is commonly accomplished using HTML header elements (h1>, h2>, h3>, and so on). The usage of hierarchy aids screen reader users in comprehending the structure of a web page and navigating it effectively.
HTML
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is a codings languages for defining the basic structure of web pages. HTML, along with CSS and JavaScript, is the foundation of all websites you visit. Many accessibility measures entail writing HTML in a way that helps people who use assistive technology.
JavaScript
A client-side scripting language is JavaScript. JavaScript is one of the three major front-end coding languages (along with HTML and CSS) that governs how web pages behave. JavaScript can be used to create dynamic or interactive web pages, as well as to extend a web page’s functionality beyond static information.
Using a screen reader
A screen reader is a pieces of softwares that transforms digital text into speech or braille. People who are blind or have visual impairments use screen readers to navigate web sites and computer software. One of the main goals of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines is to design for screen reader accessibility (WCAG).
HTML with semantics
Semantic HTML (also known as semantic markup) is HTML that uses HTML tags to communicate the meaning of its contents. People who use assistive technologies can better understand the structure and components of a web page thanks to semantic markup.
Criteria for Success
There are several tested success criteria for each WCAG standard. Each success criterion has a compliance level ascribed to it: A (least conformance), AA, or AAA (highest conformance). Factors like necessity and technical requirements influence the level of conformance for each success criterion.
Design for All
This paragraph is about one of the website accessibility terms. Universal design is a design concept that focuses on making spaces and goods accessible to everyone, regardless of their age or ability. Universal design aims to suit the needs of as many individuals as possible while making no changes to the original design to account for unique instances — in theory, a design should work for any user right out of the box.
For instance, a corporation could establish a desktop version of its website and a distinct mobile version of the website for smartphone users. Alternatively, the organisation may use a universal design strategy to develop a single website that performs equally well on all devices.
Usability
Usability refers to how easily, effectively, and enjoyable a product is to use and experience. Usability is a phrase used to describe the quality of a user’s experience when engaging with a website. Accessibility refers to a product’s capacity to be used by individuals with disabilities.
Agent (User)
Any programme that can access websites, such as web browsers, mobile apps, extensions and plug-ins, and assistive technologies that retrieve and deliver web material to users, is referred to as a user agent.
WAI
The World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is an initiative to increase web accessibility. To promote a more accessible internet, WAI develops tools, conducts research, and creates recommendations.
WCAG
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are a set of documents created by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that establish technical standards for web content accessibility. WCAG 2.1, released in 2018, has 13 rules organised around four principles: perceivable, operable, intelligible, and resilient. To achieve WCAG compliance, each guideline has one or more testable success criteria. In addition, WCAG 2.1 adds 17 new success criteria from the previous edition, WCAG 2.0, to better handle mobile accessibility, limited vision, and cognitive and learning disabilities.
Web Accessibility
Here is another of the website accessibility terms. The technique of making websites accessible to all visitors, including those with disabilities, impairments, and limits, is known as web accessibility. While accessibility can apply to any product, venue, or experience, web accessibility focuses on websites and web applications especially. It entails achieving specific requirements in order to provide people with disabilities with an experience that is comparable to that of non-disabled people.
Download our free Website Accessibility Checklist to guarantee your website satisfies the criteria for accessibility and provides everyone with the same enjoyable user experience.
