Having a strong focus on accessibility brings more benefits than many realise
What is web accessibility? Essentially, it is ensuring the web is available to all equally. We at Williams Commerce believe web accessibility should be something each and every organisation cares about when operating in the digital space.
In our view, web accessibility should be something achieved in a complete and uncompromising way. We feel accessibility should not be a tick-box exercise, but a central tenet of a company’s digital presence.
The reasons for this go beyond simply making your website more readily available to more users. Having strong accessibility reduces legal risks and strengthens brand presence. Accessibility also enhances the customer experience and can have a positive effect on customer loyalty.
Additionally, having an accessible website is the law. Digital services must meet certain web accessibility guidelines as a minimum – specifically level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) – in order to meet government accessibility requirements.
Our team of experts can educate and inform you on the best practices associated with web accessibility and guide you through the steps required to achieve the best possible accessibility for your website.
Our design and UX experts can create a website with accessibility at its heart. Our development team can then turn this vision into a reality and enable your accessible website to come to life.
We use leading testing tools like Google Lighthouse to review your new website against all the important web accessibility standards and markers.
1
This initial phase sees our team develop a full understanding of your website’s users. This in turn allows us to identify the accessibility needs they have and allows our team to incorporate these into future project stages.
2
We are proud to have a team of leading UX experts within our ranks at Williams Commerce, who can conduct UX workshops with clients and explore user needs and user journeys. Accessibility can be central to these session and steps to enhance accessibility within the UX can be identified.
3
As well as having UX experts, the designers in our ranks can craft exquisite website designs that can incorporate every aspect of accessibility required. This is where we carry out tasks like validating your brand assets, typography and colour palette. Our designers will also look to develop novel interactions that reflect the interests of your audience and ultimately enable exceptional web accessibility design across your website.
4
This is where we switch our focus to the code that underpins your site. We can review the code itself, as well as the editor’s workflow within the content management system, to ensure accessibility is prioritised. This can be achieved by ensuring elements such as alt tags for images and caption fields are present for example.
5
The testing phase helps to make sure that all accessibility markers are operating as they should be. We cover multiple browsers and devices, and we use testing tools such as Google Lighthouse. We also check your website’s performance and SEO as part of the process. Additionally, auditing and reporting are available as standalone services.
Brands around the world entrust Williams Commerce with their website projects. Enhance your ecommerce offering with our expert team in your corner.
Take a look at our case studies to learn more about the projects we have completed to date and get in touch if you would like a free, no obligation consultation.
Contact us today for a free consultation appointment.