Is Web Accessibility Difficult?

*This article is an English translation of a Japanese article.

Is Web Accessibility Compliance Challenging?

Web accessibility compliance can often be a significant burden for content creators. To meet the requirements of WCAG 2.2, several complex adjustments must be made.

Example 1: Alternative Text for Images

To ensure that screen reader users can understand the content of images, it is necessary to add appropriate alternative text (the alt attribute) to all images.

<img src="example.jpg" alt="A landscape with mountains and a clear blue sky">

Example 2: Accessibility for Forms

Forms need to have labels correctly associated with input fields so that screen reader users can understand them, and they must be fully operable with only a keyboard.

<label for="username">Username:</label>
<input type="text" id="username" name="username" aria-required="true">

Example 3: Keyboard Navigation Support

All interactive elements must be operable using a keyboard. For instance, when a modal window opens, focus must be properly managed to ensure seamless keyboard navigation.

<div role="dialog" aria-labelledby="dialog-title">
  <h2 id="dialog-title">Modal Window</h2>
  <button aria-label="Close">×</button>
</div>

These tasks are extremely labor-intensive to perform manually, and implementing them correctly requires a deep understanding of standards and advanced technical skills.

Web Accessibility is Beneficial for SEO!

In recent years, search engines have increasingly shifted toward prioritizing usability, and HTML that complies with web accessibility standards can significantly boost SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

1. Accurate Information for Search Engines

HTML that follows web accessibility guidelines allows search engines to accurately understand the structure of your content. For example, adding appropriate alternative text (alt attributes) to images makes it easier for search engines to interpret and index the image content, increasing the likelihood that the image will appear in relevant search results.

2. Improved Structured Data

Using proper **heading structures (h1, h2, h3, etc.) **and correctly associating labels with form fields makes your content more logically organized and easier to understand. This improves the efficiency of search engine crawling and indexing, which can positively impact your ranking in search results.

3. Optimized Page Load Speed

Accessibility enhancements often result in cleaner code, as unnecessary scripts or hidden elements are removed. This leads to faster page load times, which is a crucial SEO factor. The faster your page loads, the higher search engines like Google will rank it.

4. Mobile-Friendly Design

Web accessibility improvements also lead to the creation of mobile-friendly designs. With the growing number of users accessing websites from mobile devices, having an easy-to-use site is advantageous for SEO. Google’s “mobile-first indexing” prioritizes mobile usability, meaning that enhancing the mobile experience can boost your rankings.

5. Enhanced User Experience (UX)

Accessible content encourages users to stay longer on your site, which can lead to a decrease in bounce rates and an increase in time spent on your site. These are key factors in Google’s ranking algorithm and can significantly influence your SEO performance.

Simplify Accessibility Compliance with UUU’s HTML Support Feature!

For content creators who find these complex manual tasks overwhelming, there’s good news!

With the HTML support feature from UUU, you can automate the process of making your content accessible. For instance, UUU can automatically add alternative text to images and assign necessary WAI-ARIA attributes to forms and navigation elements.

Here’s How Simple the Conversion Is!

Original HTML (Before Conversion):

• No alt attributes for images
• No labels for forms

<img src="example.jpg">
<form>
  <input type="text" name="username">
</form>

Accessible HTML (After Conversion): Appropriate alt attributes are added to images Labels and necessary ARIA attributes are automatically applied to forms

<img src="example.jpg" alt="Description of example image">
<form>
  <label for="username">Username</label>
  <input type="text" id="username" name="username" aria-required="true">
</form>stments must be made.

Example 1: Alternative Text for Images

To ensure that screen reader users can understand the content of images, it is necessary to add appropriate alternative text (the alt attribute) to all images.

<img src="example.jpg" alt="A landscape with mountains and a clear blue sky">

We have released the UUU Web Accessibility Widget Tool, designed to make web accessibility easy to implement. This tool helps improve the accessibility of websites quickly and efficiently, even without specialized knowledge.

If you’re interested in enhancing your website’s accessibility, please check out the details. We are here to support you in making your website more user-friendly and accessible to a wider audience.