Streamlined and appealing web design is a must for every business in 2021, not just online companies. The average internet user takes only a few seconds to decide whether they stick around to check out your services, so making a great first impression with an intuitive design that anyone can use is vital.
These are the key areas where we can expect web design to change in order to become more accessible:
Introduction of chatbots
Chatbots have seen major advances over the last few years. AI-powered chatbots are capable of understanding and responding in natural language, making them easier and more comfortable for people to use. Integrating a chatbot assistant with your services can both improve the customer experience and reduce your incoming support queries, as chatbots can carry out many basic customer service tasks as well as direct users around your site and services. In fact, they could reduce your support costs by up to 30%. These benefits are why 80% of businesses plan to implement a chatbot on their website by the end of 2021.
Chatbots are also an important website design feature to make your business more accessible. If someone with a visual impairment or mobility issue has trouble with anything needed to navigate your site, they can quickly interact with a chatbot with the aid of text-to-speech and speech-to-text. Of course, you will want to be sure that you use a chatbot that is completely accessible also.
Improvement in voice user interface
It is not just chatbots that have benefited from improvements to conversational AIs. Voice-based UX has also been another major product of the growing influence of machine learning on web development. The next generation of web design will feature sites that can be navigated and used fully hands-free through voice, the same way we already interact with platforms like Alexa, Home, and Siri.
These eliminate the need to teach users how to use a user interface or find the section of a site they are looking for. The current methods of getting around a website are not going away any time soon, but there will be other options too.
Increase in internet usage & better
UX About half of all shopping now happens online, and 63% of all purchasing decisions begin online, with online shopping already being the main way that many people purchase everything from their luxury goods and services to their weekly groceries. The ADA compliance requirements to follow the web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) in the U.S. and elsewhere allows these conveniences to be accessible to everyone. WCAG serves to ensure that people with disabilities are able to use the full functionality of your website. This
includes things like testing your site for usability with a screen reader, captioning all images and video, and sticking to readable fonts, layouts, and color schemes.
A new version of WCAG is scheduled for release in 2021. Besides the major points such as providing text-only alternatives to all content and making sites keyboard accessible, there are a lot of technical aspects to consider in terms of maintaining compatibility with software such as screen readers and other accessibility apps.
Advancement in touch for all devices
Many people have already made the switch to using solely touch-based devices at home, replacing traditional mouse and keyboard setups with simpler and more intuitive touch tablets. In addition to homes, this switch is also happening in businesses. Implementing touch devices can greatly reduce the amount of training your workforce needs to operate business systems enabling them to work with the types of devices they are already familiar with from using at home and can help them work more efficiently.
However, there is a lot of room for improvement with touch screen accessibility. Most apps and websites do not meet the current WCAG compliance checklist when it comes to touch inputs, particularly with regard to allowing the user enough leeway with the timing and precision of inputs.
Conclusion
Accessibility in web design is increasingly important as more of our essential goods and services move online. Artificial intelligence is set to be the most influential development in accessible web design in the near future, thanks to its capacity to eliminate any need for users to learn how to operate a manual user interface.
Improvements in text-to-speech availability are still somewhat lagging behind, however, although most modern website building platforms such as WordPress now support features like screen reading by default.
Author Bio
David Gevorkian David started Be Accessible because of his passion for website accessibility and ADA compliance. He spent much of his career working for financial institutions creating websites and mobile applications. He earned his Master’s in Business Administration from Salve Regina University in Rhode Island. David is an advocate for creating web interfaces usable by all people. He enjoys recording music and playing soccer with friends.
