*This article is an English translation of a Japanese article.
The “On-Demand Adjustments” principle in web accessibility is a key guideline aimed at allowing users to customize content display and interface interactions according to their needs. This flexibility enables individuals with visual, auditory, or motor impairments to access web content more comfortably and effectively, ensuring a more inclusive online experience. In this article, we’ll discuss the importance of on-demand adjustments and provide practical steps for implementation.
What are “On-Demand Adjustments”?
“On-Demand Adjustments” refer to the ability to dynamically adjust content and interface settings to suit user preferences. This includes allowing users to modify the following elements:
- Font size and color schemes
- Contrast settings
- Keyboard navigation and screen reader support
- Adjustable playback speed and captioning for audio and video content
Why Are On-Demand Adjustments Important?
Users have varying needs for visual, auditory, and operational accessibility. Therefore, enabling on-demand adjustments helps to address the following challenges:
- Users with visual impairments or color blindness: Adjusting contrast and font size improves readability.
- Users with hearing impairments: Providing captions on videos and transcripts for audio content enables information access.
- Users with limited mobility: Supporting keyboard navigation and screen readers enhances usability and site navigation.
How to Implement On-Demand Adjustments
1. Allow Users to Change Font Size and Color Schemes
Provide users with buttons or options to adjust font size and choose different color themes, particularly for controlling text-to-background contrast.
Example: Buttons for Font Size Adjustment
<button onclick="document.body.style.fontSize='larger'">Increase Font Size</button>
<button onclick="document.body.style.fontSize='smaller'">Decrease Font Size</button>
2. Offer Captions and Transcripts for Video and Audio Content
Add subtitles or transcripts to multimedia content to ensure users with hearing impairments can access information. Use the <track> element to include captions in videos.
Example: Adding Captions to Video Content
<video controls>
<source src="movie.mp4" type="video/mp4">
<track src="subtitles.vtt" kind="subtitles" srclang="en" label="English Subtitles">
</video>
3. Support for Keyboard Navigation
Ensure that all functionality is accessible using only the keyboard, and that users can navigate with the Tab key and activate buttons with Enter or Space keys. Provide a visual focus indicator for keyboard navigation.
Example: Button Accessible by Keyboard
<button>Submit</button>
4. Screen Reader Compatibility
For visually impaired users, provide additional information via ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attributes, enabling screen readers to interpret elements correctly.
Example: Using ARIA Attributes
<button aria-label="Search">🔍</button>
Key Considerations for Implementing On-Demand Adjustments
- Make the adjustment options easy to access: Place customization options (e.g., font size or color adjustment) prominently.
- Ensure layout stability: Use responsive design and relative font sizing to maintain layout consistency when elements are resized.
- Test with assistive technologies: Confirm functionality with keyboard-only navigation, screen readers, and other assistive tools to verify accessibility.
Conclusion
On-demand adjustments are essential for providing an inclusive web experience where all users can interact with and access content with ease. By offering features such as font size customization, captioning, keyboard accessibility, and contrast control, websites can meet a diverse range of user needs. Prioritizing accessibility in web design promotes a fair and engaging digital environment for everyone.
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.