The Impact of Website Accessibility on Page Speed
Everybody’s been there; you do a quick search for information, click on one of the top search results, and wait for the page to load. After a few seconds of a blank page, you move on to the next option on the list. This is a painful reality for a lot of businesses that don’t understand web page speed and how it impacts the user experience. Most users will leave a website in just seconds if the page doesn’t load.
The user experience is just as important as having a good business idea, high-quality products, and a strong brand reputation. Without a simple to use website that loads quickly, your business can’t succeed online. Web accessibility services allow your website to be used by millions of potential clients around the world that may have a disability. From color contrasting options to text-to-speech throughout your website, additional accessibility features promote an internet that’s accessible for all.
But how do all of these features impact your web page speed? Let’s find out.
Why Page Speed is Important
As we’ve already mentioned, page speed is important for creating an enjoyable end user experience. If potential customers have to wait for your page to load, you could be missing out on potential revenue from online sales. Web pages that load quickly allow users to easily navigate your website, review information, subscribe to newsletters, and so much more.
It’s even more important when dealing with your website’s accessibility. Users that have disabilities are often unable to access websites that we find so essential in our day to day lives, simply because they’re not optimized and accessible-ready. If you implement accessibility updates but your web page speed is impacted, you’re not creating a good experience for anyone involved.
What Impacts Web Page Speeds?
There are plenty of things that impact web page speeds. If your website has large files, such as pictures or video, your web page may take a lot longer to load. By optimizing your images and adapting them to a website environment, you can reduce the file size without impacting the quality of the photo or video, all while speeding up your web page.
Plugins and add-ons to your website will also play an important role in your web page speed. Fortunately, most web accessibility services require just a few additional lines of code in the back end of your website in order to start upgrading your website. This code has very little impact on the overall speed of your website. However, if you start adding plugins as a way to make your website accessible, your website may slow down.
Elements of Accessibility Updates
A reputable web accessibility solution should allow your website to be fully adjusted and updated to meet a wide range of needs. Some of the most common web accessibility features include high-contrast pages, text-to-speech, magnification options, hotkey navigation, and various font options, to name a few. While these features, when built into a website on their own, will often hurt the page speed, when implemented via a cloud-based accessibility tool, it should minimal on page speeds.
