Let's take a look

For most of us, we can see the artistic qualities that come from a photograph that uses a bokeh effect. Smart phone cameras can produce this effect. A common scene is a person who is in clear focus in the foreground with lights blurred in the background. People who have severe vision problems may see a blending of colors.

A similar challenge can occur when people try to read words. Some folks are able to use corrective lenses to adjust how the light focuses in the eye; bringing what they see into focus. Some cannot get enough correction to make their world clear.

Even people who have, generally, perfect vision can have difficulty reading text. Some reasons for this may include poor contrast, small fonts, or skinny fonts. There can even be contraindications from certain medications that can cause blurry vision.

These challenges can happen in many different forms. It could be a sign along side a road. The printed text in a story in a magazine or book. And, of course, the warnings and instructions that are included — in teeny tiny print — with medications. Our primary purpose at Make A Better Web is related to websites.

Becoming Clear

When you are working on your website — whether the initial build or a redesign — consider the fonts you choose.  They should have sufficient weight so the words can be easily read and should be of sufficient size that they are also readable.  

Contrast is important also and is a common reason why websites do not conform with accessibility tests. Depending on the level of conformance you are trying to achieve, the level will dictate what amount of contrast must be achieved.  Generally speaking, you want to avoid having lighter colored text on light to medium colored backgrounds.

How To Fix

First thing to do is determine where your website stands in relation to accessibility tests. There are many tools that can provide you with some technical aspects of where your site may not conform to accessibility guidelines. 

Second is to take the findings of those tests and implement corrections. If you do not know how to make the changes, be sure to speak with a web designer who knows about making accessible websites and makes this a part of their standard of practice. This kind of a web designer will be able to make these changes.

Thirdly, repeat the accessibility testing to see if the changes produced other non-conformance issues.  This is something that can happen.  That is why we test, make corrections, and repeat.