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Internal Vs External Accessibility

Internal vs. External Accessibility

Web accessibility is the practice of ensuring that people with certain impairments and/or disabilities can use the web, whether that's internal usage (digital workplace), or external (audience-facing public website). Whilst internal accessibility refers to the needs of those within your organisation, external accessibility refers to the needs of external users, often through your website.

More specifically, web accessibility ensures that everyone can 'perceive, understand, navigate and interact with the web, and that they can contribute to the web' (W3C).

16 million people in the UK have a disability; if web accessibility is not a priority for your business, you may be excluding these people and limiting your reach without realising it.

 

Why Internal Accessibility is Important

Internal accessibility should be a core part of your organisation. Your company has a duty to acknowledge, understand and accommodate every employee's needs. Digital workplaces enable greater collaboration, communication and efficiency between employees and team members. If these platforms are difficult to use for some employees, it could negatively affect overall productivity. Creating an inclusive digital workplace environment is a fundamental part of setting up a positive experience for all staff.

There are several benefits to an accessible intranet: 

  • The intranet is often used as a base for other internal systems. If your base is accessible, not only does it make other systems and sites easier to reach, but it also sets best practices and standards for all secondary systems and sites.
  • Overall user experience will improve as every member of staff will be able to access all of the information and perform tasks to the best of their abilities.
  • Productivity will increase as a result of your staff feeling listened to, understood, and those members with different access requirements being able to input and collaborate more effectively. 

How to Achieve Internal Accessibility

According to W3C, four main areas of disability should be considered for accessibility. These are:

Vision: Including reduced contrast sensitivity, colour perception, and near-focus, making it difficult to read web pages

Physical: Including reduced dexterity and fine motor control, making it difficult to use a mouse and click small targets

Hearing: Including difficult hearing higher-pitched sounds and separating sounds, making it difficult to hear podcasts and other audio, especially when there is background music

Cognitive: Including reduced short-term memory, difficulty concentrating, and being easily distracted, making it difficult to follow navigation and complete online tasks.

If your intranet is built using Modern SharePoint, it will automatically ingrained with best practice, WCAG 2.2 accessibility. Microsoft front-facing technologies are designed to be accessible to 'people around the globe with different abilities'. 

If you're unsure whether your intranet is accessible, here's our little checklist:

  • Make sure your content publishers are trained in accessibility to minimise any issues;
    • Build understanding by demonstrating how difficult inaccessible pages are to use for some people
    • Create simple cheat sheets for your CMS and explain best practices for content
    • Attend workshops and seminars to build expertise
    • Limit the use of poorly designed attachments and PDFs
  • Research third party tools such as screen reader and narrator capabilities to go above and beyond for your staff
  • Look out for content-specific accessibility flags, such as alt-text, colour contrast and keyboard accessibility for all functions.

Why External Accessibility is Important 

External accessibility is similar to internal accessibility but focuses more on websites and public-facing digital spaces. Public-facing websites drive engagement and initiate future points of contact, sales, and business. Due to this, they have higher rates of interaction. Your website must have optimal accessibility standards, to ensure you are not limiting your engagement drastically.

External accessibility is important because it improves overall user experience and satisfaction, across different devices, and for users of all age groups/backgrounds. The web is crucial for education, government, health care, recreation and more. Good accessibility can enhance your brand, drive innovation and extend your reach. If that isn't convincing enough, equal access and opportunity to a diverse range of people is defined as a basic human right in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 

"The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect."

-Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web

How to Achieve External Accessibility

Some aspects of external accessibility are fairly simple to understand and implement, however, some solutions are complex and require expertise. No wonder only 10% of websites meet accessibility standards!

We recommend cross-examining your website against the WCAG as a first step. These guidelines are recognised internationally as a standard for building and maintaining external accessibility.

At ClerksWell, we cross-examine our client’s websites against WCAG 2.2 AA principles, and several other third party tools to develop an accessibility review. This is always a good place to start, as it alludes to current errors and future improvements.

Here are our top tips for quick fixes:

  • Identify and fix formatting issues (create page templates and structures for clarity)
  • Ensure your accessibility does not negatively impact your usability (keep updating your IA and site navigation)
  • Integrate third party accessibility tools to provide:
    1. Screen reader
    2. Styling customisability (text, font, size, colour etc.)
    3. Automatic translation
  • Ensure that your content is accessible to keyboard-only users
  • Make sure your developers are using valid HTML and best practices in code

Summary & Our Services

The benefits of both internal and external accessibility are clear to see. Your brand will reach wider audiences, your business will be inclusive, your employees more productive, and your customers more engaged. Both are equally important, and both are achievable with our help.

At ClerksWell, accessibility is a priority, and we’ve become somewhat experts in it (check out our work with Smart Energy GB). We put our knowledge of building and designing accessible and user-friendly websites into four key services:

  • Assess and Review
  • Content fixes
  • Developer fixes
  • Web Accessibility Software

Not convinced? Check out our accessibility statement here, and get in touch to start the journey to inclusivity here.

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