A well-designed website can be a powerful tool for sharing discoveries โ through text, images, and interactive content โ yet these formats donโt work for everyone. Some people find them difficult to use or overwhelming to process, while others arenโt able to access them at all. And in terms of reach, this is a problem.ย So how can we make sure everyone who wants to access your website can do so, How can we make sure everyone who wants to access your website can do so however they access it, for example by using assistive technology like screen readers?
Sponsors of WP Accessibility Day
Pixelshrink are proud sponsors of WordPress Accessibility Day, a 24-hour global event which is dedicated to helping designers, developers, and content creators make the web more inclusive. Weโve been thinking a lot about the role that accessibility plays in translating academic work into real-world impact. And one of the most effective ways to do that is by making your website work seamlessly with screen reader technology.
What is a screen reader?
A screen reader is software that reads website content out loud. It allows people with visual impairments โ or those experiencing other barriers to accessing digital content โ to more easily navigate and understand information online. Screen readers interpret headings, links, buttons, and image descriptions, turning them into speech or Braille so users can move around a site independently.
Screen reading technology has become a daily necessity for blind or partially sighted people. It’s also proving to be hugely beneficial for those with dyslexia or ADHD โ who might process spoken language more easily than text โ and for people learning English as a second language.
Even someone who simply prefers to listen to an article while on the go can benefit. In short, designing with reading out loud in mind doesnโt just remove barriers; it helps create a better experience for everyone.
How to make your website screen-reader friendly
Making a website accessible to screen readers doesnโt have to be complicated. While it does require some thoughtful decisions, with the right approach it can be a simple but powerful process.
Here are our top tips:
1. Use a clear heading structure
Heading levels (which are labelled as H1 for the main heading, then H2 and H3 for sub-headings) arenโt just about formatting. They work to create a logical hierarchy and page structure that screen readers use to guide users through your digital content. So a H2 must be within a H1, and a H3 must be within a H2.
2. Write meaningful alternative text
An alt tag is a text description of an image which can be read out by a screen reader, as it won’t be able to describe the image otherwise.
Focus on carefully describing whatโs actually in the image so users can build a clear mental picture. Avoid the temptation to fill alt tags with your keywords purely for SEO purposes (also known as keyword stuffing) – this defeats the accessibility purpose of alt tags and may cause your site to be flagged as spam.
3. Make links descriptive and unique
Screen readers often list links separately, so explicit and descriptive text such as โRead more about our latest dementia projectโ is far more helpful than โClick hereโ. If there are several links with the same name such as ‘Click here’ or ‘Read more’, they will all be listed together with nothing to differentiate between them.
Accessibility in action
One example of making a website easier to use is the Dementia Day-to-Day blog for Trent Dementia โ a fascinating collaboration between the Institute of Mental Health and the University of Nottinghamโs School of English.
Here, we added a โread aloudโ function so visitors could listen to reflective stories and diary entries rather than just read them on the screen. That small feature made the blog more accessible and welcoming to a wider audience.
Accessibility is part of our purpose
We donโt view website accessibility as being an โadd-onโ. Instead, we build it into how we design. Our mission is to help researchers and academic teams share their work beyond academic journals, reaching policymakers, participants, investors, and the general public.
Making sure websites work beautifully with screen readers is one of the most effective ways to make that happen. It goes a long way to ensuring research isnโt just published, itโs understood and used by the people who need it most.
