Accessibility in Experience Cloud
Practical Tips
Two great Arkus team members — Jennifer Olson and Ashlee Donahey collaborated to create this post, so 2x the expertise is packed into the 9 tips below.
Let’s explore various aspects of accessibility within Salesforce Experience Cloud and provide practical tips to enhance your website’s inclusivity.
1. Know Your Audience
Accessibility isn't just about meeting legal requirements; it's about serving your entire audience effectively. While accessibility benefits everyone, it's especially important for users of all abilities. Consider the unique needs of these users when designing your Experience Cloud site.
2. Contrast and Branding Sets
A cornerstone of web accessibility lies in ensuring that there's enough contrast between text and background colors. While Salesforce Experience Cloud provides the flexibility to create branding sets, which simplifies the task of maintaining uniform and accessible color schemes across your site, it's important to remember that branding sets are just one part of the equation.
To truly ensure accessibility, take a moment to assess the colors you've chosen and verify if they meet the required contrasting ratios. For a comprehensive guide on how to check and enhance color contrast, we recommend the contrast checker at Accessibleweb.com.
3. Imagery and Text
When integrating images into your Experience Cloud pages, be mindful of how text is positioned within them. For users with cognitive disabilities, cluttered or busy images can pose challenges. To ensure accessibility, aim for clarity and simplicity in your imagery.
Avoid placing text over intricate or chaotic backgrounds, as this can hinder readability. Instead, opt for solid-colored images when incorporating text. In cases where text needs to be added to a busy image, consider using a solid-colored overlay to highlight and enhance the legibility of the text.
4. HTML Components and Alt Tags
When using HTML components, don't forget to include descriptive alt tags for images. Alt tags serve as alternative text for screen readers, enabling visually impaired users to understand the content.
5. Navigation and Buttons
Salesforce Experience Cloud empowers you to craft accessible digital experiences. Among its attributes are the built-in accessibility features designed for navigation menus and buttons. These features include Aria Tags and structural elements and help ensure that your digital solutions are readily accessible to a wide range of users.
6. Rich Text and Alt Text
After inserting images into rich text components, take the extra step of adding alt text. Alt text ensures that screen reader users can access essential image content. Here's a useful tip: To add alt text to an image in a rich text component, right-click on the image after you add it. A pop-up window will appear, allowing you to effortlessly add alt text. This small yet impactful step contributes to a more inclusive and accessible digital experience for users of all abilities.
7. Page Structure and Headers
One of the key aspects of web accessibility is ensuring that your web pages are structured in a way that benefits all users, including those who rely on screen readers.
When using HTML and rich text components, it's important to make use of header tags like <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, and so on. These tags define the hierarchy and importance of your content. For instance, <h1> denotes the main heading, while <h2> represents subheadings, creating a clear and organized structure.
By utilizing header tags and establishing a logical hierarchy within your content, you not only enhance the readability for all users but also make it significantly easier for screen readers to interpret and convey the page's structure. This approach fosters a more inclusive and user-friendly web experience, catering to a diverse audience.
8. Simplicity and Avoiding Overwhelm
When designing web pages on Salesforce Experience Cloud, it's essential to strike a balance between providing valuable information and avoiding content overload. Excessive content, especially when presented all at once, can be overwhelming and may impact users' ability to access and comprehend your content effectively. This issue can be particularly concerning for individuals with sensory sensitivities or cognitive disabilities.
9. Mobile Optimization
Salesforce Experience Cloud is designed to provide an excellent user experience on various devices, including mobile phones and tablets. However, when you introduce custom code and HTML elements, it's important to consider mobile optimization to ensure your content looks and functions well on smaller screens.
Accessibility Tools
Salesforce Knowledge Articles
Salesforce Knowledge articles come with accessibility features, including alt text for images and indicators for links that open in new tabs. Utilize these built-in features to improve the accessibility of your content.
3rd Party Tools
Not all users have access to assistive technologies like screen readers. To bridge this gap, consider integrating accessibility tools like UserWay, which offers free accessibility options such as screen reader support, contrast adjustment.
Enable your Accessibility
By implementing these best practices, you can create a web experience that's truly inclusive and user-friendly for individuals of all abilities. Prioritizing accessibility isn't just about compliance; it's about providing equal access to information and services for everyone.
At Arkus, we are dedicated to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) not only within our organization but also in the services we provide. We understand the importance of web accessibility and its impact on ensuring equal access for all individuals. Our experienced team is here to assist you in making your website accessible, taking into account the diverse needs of your audience. We prioritize accessibility in every step of our process to ensure that your Salesforce Experience Cloud is not only functional and visually appealing but also inclusive for all users. Let us help you create an accessible online presence that reflects your commitment to DEI.
Arkus is in the process of rebuilding our website as we speak and plan to implement this functionality ourselves. We understand you too might have a period of time while you’re working to put something like this in place, just like we are at Arkus. Change takes time and planning. It is important to start somewhere, even if that starts with just researching what you plan to implement.
If this blog has you wishing your content was more accessible or looking for confirmation that you are doing all the right things, let us help you with an accessibility audit. We are happy to review your latest emails or your Experience Cloud site to provide valuable feedback to reach all of your readers as you well know that each and every one of them matter!
What would you like to hear more about in the world of email marketing & digital experiences? Tell us on the Salesforce Trailblazer Community, or message us directly at LinkedIn@olsonjenn05 or LinkedIn@akdonahey.
