Are some people missing out on your message? Making your documents or webpages accessible to the vision-impaired is not just a good idea – it’s essential under Australia’s Anti-Discrimination Act.

At Ideaseed, we already make sure accessibility is a natural part of our design. This is especially important if you’re communicating on behalf of government, or explain important legal or financial information.

Imagine the issues that could arise if some customers are unable to understand the process involved in applying for your service, the terms and conditions, or the deadline for action. Let alone the frustration they might feel as a result.

Yet it seems these days we spend more energy worrying about what the Googlebot needs than the structure and technical details that make all the difference to a significant proportion of our human readers.

Here are a few tips to bear in mind:

1.    Structure is everything: Automatic readers can only speak your message if it’s structured coherently, with clear instructions and all the key information in the main part of the page.

2.    Explain your images: Alt-tags on images can also be spoken, bringing your message to life for vision-impaired readers.

3.    Colours, fonts and style consistency: Legibility is even more important for people with vision impairment – including older readers. For example, simple typefaces, expanded letter and line spacing and larger point size can make a difference.

If you’re not sure what’s required for your specific documents, why not give us a call?