Overlays refer to a wide range of technologies designed to improve the accessibility features of websites. Application of overlays requires the use of third-party JavaScript codes to realize the enhancements to a website’s front-end code.
An accessibility overlay facilitates effective font choice, rich caption UX, cognitive design, and many more. While WCAG is yet to fully grasp the extent of its benefits, developers are working hard to improve the functionality of overlay software to deliver a product that addresses the need for usability through a designed experience that works for everyone. It is important to stress that these tools are meant to improve, not fix, the accessibility issues of websites.
- Improving existing site architecture for small organizations
Small organizations, including non-profits, schools, charities, and schools requiring online visibility but with budget restrictions, may resort to using overlays. If you do not have the workforce to implement such technologies or the budget to rebuild a website from scratch, you can still use simple accessibility overlays to realize improvements. Minor but significant enhancements include color contrast, link text, alternative text for images, and captioning, to name a few. These overlays are geared towards enhanced core usability for your visitors.
- Ensuring new sites are accessible and functional
If you are building a site from scratch, there are several ways that overlays can help. For small companies, non-profits, local educational institutions, and charities, getting the most of your initiative will only require a few hours of training to improve the usability of your site. Accessibility dramatically enhances all aspects of your site, so do not hesitate to make them. While minor accessibility improvements will not make your website fully compliant, they will make it inclusive in terms of its audience. In addition, implementing a paid user feedback trial to gauge your accessibility will help identify where most problems lie, allowing you to consider the improvements to implement over time.
- Having a temporary solution before a complete rebuild
If accessibility overlays are a relatively new concept to your organization, it will be challenging to sprinkle them towards the end of website creation. It can be challenging to fit accessibility tools effectively as they must be designed and integrated at the onset of website development. Accessibility overlays become useless when poorly managed but extremely useful when implemented and maintained by the right experts. While accessibility overlays may not be the permanent answer to your site, it is an excellent interim solution until your new site goes live.
- Improving legacy content
Accessibility overlays shine brightly when integrated into legacy content. If your site has a long tail of content that cannot be upgraded for accessibility, you can use overlays to improve them as best as you can. Instead of letting legacy content turn into problematic, inaccessible, or unsearchable PDFs, you can use overlays to avoid complicated processes and expensive costs in the long run.
If you genuinely want to improve your customers’ overall experience, accessibility overlays will help you in many ways to achieve this goal.
