An internet for everyone is, above all, an accessible internet. After all, digital inclusion helps people to navigate, search and discover new content online, without any kind of distinction.

However, even though it has been provided for by law since 2016, digital accessibility has not yet lept from theory to practice in Brazil. This is because a survey conducted by BigData Corp, in partnership with the Web for All Movement (Movimento Web para Todos), evaluated about 16.89 million active websites in the country and identified that only 1% of them can be considered accessible. Additionally, out of the total percentage, only 0.89% of the evaluated platforms were successful in all the applied accessibility tests.

These numbers reinforce the importance of encouraging companies and professionals to make their digital products more accessible for people with disabilities and other limitations. Therefore, if you have a presence on the internet, it is important to bear in mind that reflecting on this topic is an urgency.

Want to discover what digital accessibility is actually about and understand how to make your web page more inclusive? Then, continue reading and check out the article that the CodeBlog team has prepared for you.

What is digital accessibility?

According to the W3C - World Wide Web Consortium, digital accessibility is a tool that guarantees elderly people or those with disabilities the right to navigate, understand, perceive, interact and contribute to the web in general.

The concept was developed with the objective of eliminating barriers and helping the internet to actually become accessible for everyone. But, for this, it is necessary to establish a series of resources that ensure the navigation, understanding and interaction of everyone in the digital environment, without the need for assistance from third parties.

Why is digital accessibility so important?

For several reasons. Perhaps the first and most important of them is the sheer proportion that the internet has taken on in recent times.

Especially in the post-pandemic era, the digital environment has come to occupy a prominent position in people's lives, echoing in work, health, consumption, and entertainment.

In parallel to this, the IBGE - Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics recently estimated that about 8.4% of the Brazilian population over 2 years of age has some type of disability – a percentage that represents 7.3 million people.

Many of these people face difficulties navigating the internet and, therefore, are excluded from the opportunities and benefits offered by the digital world.

But, beyond an imminent issue of citizenship, digital accessibility is also a way to help companies open their doors to these thousands of consumers and make their products reach more people and, consequently, new consumers. That is, it can also assist in increasing sales.

What are the benefits offered by digital accessibility?

By now, you have probably realized that digital accessibility is a subject that deserves more attention from companies, right? To make this even clearer, check out the advantages of the practice below, which can be reflected both in society in general and in the specific corporate context.

For society

Digital accessibility promotes democratization in access to information and ensures that relevant content reaches everyone. In addition, it offers more autonomy to those with disabilities and favors inclusion in an amplified way, as it allows these people to work, study, share knowledge, consume, and perform several other activities in the digital environment.

For the company

In the corporate sphere, it is certain that digital accessibility stimulates an organization's competitiveness against the competition. After all, the practice expands and diversifies the audience and humanizes the brand to them. It also optimizes the user experience, allows information to be accessed faster, improves communication with the audience, and reinforces its positioning regarding policies and social causes.

How to make a web page more accessible?

1. Pay attention to textual content

A practical and somewhat simple way to promote digital accessibility on your website and facilitate access for people with visual impairments is to convert texts to audio.

Additionally, there are some practices that can be adopted to simplify the action of software, such as writing texts with clearer and more objective content, applying the active voice directly, and clearly indicating the destinations of hyperlinks applied throughout the paragraphs.

In addition, it is also important to describe, in textual format, any informative elements (such as icons) present in the content.

2. Caption videos and images

Videos with captions and images with descriptions are also relatively simple and very important to make your website more accessible, especially for people with hearing or visual impairments.

However, in addition to captions, it is essential that video content features a digital avatar or a translator-interpreter for sign language (Libras), aimed at deaf people who are not literate in Portuguese.

Regarding images, photos, illustrations or graphics, it is important to describe what or who is appearing. For this, a good tactic is to apply the description formula involving format + subject + image + context + action.

3. Care with site development

Last but not least, it is necessary to highlight that an accessible site must be previously developed. For this, these platforms must use simpler, cleaner codes with appropriate semantics.

Regarding design, the best alternative is to bet on colors that respect contrast rules and facilitate the identification of elements.

It is also valid to avoid centered alignment in text blocks or justified texts. With a few minor adjustments, it is possible to contribute to accessibility and help build a more egalitarian and inclusive environment for everyone.

Conclusion

We hope this article has helped you understand the importance of digital accessibility. If you intend to make your digital solutions more accessible, transform your company's policy and retain more clients in the market, click here, access the CodeBit website and check out all the customized solutions from our team of specialists.

In addition, keep an eye on CodeBlog. Soon, we will have a lot of news here. A big hug and see you in the next post!