Accessibility has always had a core value in software development projects. Gone are the days, when visual operating systems had to do just the job right, but now in this software-driven world, software applications should be intuitive, easy to use, and user-friendly.
In this fast-paced marketplace, user experience and easy accessibility are considered the major factors while building software. Even it is impossible to develop custom software without understanding the user personas, challenges, goals, and future impact. But it is not enough, an accessibility software engineer should create the software inclusive while ensuring the user flow that complies with the unmatched UX practices.
What Is Accessibility In Custom Software Development?
Accessibility refers to the set of practices used by developers while building custom software to deliver a great user experience. During custom software development, certain factors are considered apart from discriminatory aspects of every need. These practical factors involve extending the user base. Nowadays, more and more enterprises are focusing on making their business software highly accessible to reach their targeted audience.
Requirements To Be Fulfilled For Making The Custom Software Accessible:
To make custom software accessible, businesses should consider the 4 accessibility principles right from the beginning of the software development as it can affect the overall user interface and user experience. Developers need to start from scratch if any of the principles are neglected during the design & development plan.
The 4 accessibility principles in custom software development define the software should be-
- Perceivable
- Operable
- Understandable
- Robust
Perceivable:
It is not possible to retrieve the user interface. Thus, there should be no such hidden information or data and all the non-text data should be received through text alternatives such as pictograms, icons, and so on. If the software contains pre-recorded video or audio, it must offer the accessibility of the script for those recordings.
Operable:
One of the important software accessibility principles says that the software should be operable in terms of navigation and UI components. For businesses, the software should not be bound by navigation options such as layout-limited, device limited, or time-limited. It is important to make sure that the navigation is available even when the device orientation is changed. It is a good option to specify the location of the user in the software application only.
Understandable:
The operational information and data of the user interface should be understandable. It is recommended to an accessibility software engineer not overload the user interface with complex vocabulary and abbreviations. All the data and instructions should be concise and clear for all sorts of users.
Robust:
Software should be robust so that it can be interpreted by various user agents, which include, assistive technologies. In addition, the technology used by the custom software should support various assistive technologies without affecting the user experience. In other words, the software should be accessible for screen readers, browsers, external keyboards, plugins, and so on.
Points to Remember:
To test the accessibility of your software, the following factors should be checked by the custom software development solutions provider-
Page Titles:
It is important to check if all the page titles describe each web page accurately.
Headings:
All the pages have a meaningful heading hierarchy.
Navigation:
Software must have easy navigation options that show the site architecture.
Alt Tags:
All the images on the web pages must have distinct alt tags (Alternative Texts).
Highlighted Links:
Highlighting the links in certain contract colors to discern them on the entire page.
Forms Accessibility:
Make sure all the forms and requests are accessible through the keyboard option or any other input technology.
Summarizing this, accessibility in custom software development ensures successful implementation. Considering the first language of people, studying the inclusive development guides, and opting for product evaluation as per the different perspectives of the business helps to gain accessibility compliance.
