A Complete Web Design Checklist for ADA Compliance
Your site might be cutting edge right now, but that doesn’t mean that it’s going to stay that way forever. Just take a look at what sites looked like a decade ago. A lot of once-impressive sites are incredibly dated by today’s standards. Plus, being ADA compliant is going to prevent potential lawsuits now, or in the future.
All website visitors, including those with special needs (blind, deaf, etc) want to be able to interact with your site and it’s content. A website up to ADA standards is the best place to start to both cater to all your visitors, but also protect yourself from lawsuits.
Keeping An Eye On Trends Will Allow You To Develop A Better Compliant Website
No site design is future proof; you’re going to have to update your site sooner or later. That said, if you look at trends, you’ll be able to create a site that you can use for a long time.
When you’re aware of what the trends are, you’ll be able to design around them. Watching trends will also help you separate design fads from trends that have staying appeal. When you know where web design is going, you can design with the future in mind.
Following Trends Will Let You Know When To Launch A Redesign
Redesigning and updating a site is a ton of work. Because it will take a lot out of you, you’re going to want to make sure you don’t redesign your site any sooner than you have to.
When you’re aware of trends, you’ll be able to notice when your site is out of date. You’ll be able to see exactly when your site is due for a redesign, and you’ll be able to update your old site at the perfect time.
There are plenty of resources that will make it easier for you to look towards the future of web design. From blogs to mailing lists, you’ll be able to keep up with trends and learn more about how web design is developing. When you have your eyes on the future, you’ll be ready for anything to come.
Other Things To Consider with Your Website
1. Clearly defined goal
The most important thing that you will want to do when you are looking to build out a website would be to define its goal. Having a clearly defined website goal is crucial in the initial stages because you want to be able to achieve the intended goal with your design. Every single aspect of your website should be leading towards the goal. Therefore, you want to have a clearly defined goal to have the right call to action and the right design elements that help you achieve it. If your website is to inform, your design elements will be very different than if your goal was to sell.
2. Copy.
Not only is your design imperative to the success of your website, but also the copy. You should be working to craft the best copy for your website.
3. Mobile.
The design of your website and how it looks is very important on desktop browsers. But it is even more so important on its mobile design and optimization. A majority of people are likely to be looking at your website on various sized mobile devices. Therefore, you want to have a mobile responsive design that properly scales. Not only do you want the website itself to scale, but you want the design to have mobile optimization features implemented to make navigating on mobile devices easier.
4. SEO.
Another important thing that you want to focus on with your website design checklist would be the SEO of your website. The design is very important, but it is just as important to have your website optimized to rank well within the search engines. Your website is not going to do you any good if it fails to bring traffic to it. Due to your design playing such an imperative role in the overall ranking of your website, it is important to have SEO on your mind throughout the design process.
5. Social Media Integration.
Another important thing that you want to focus on when you are designing your website would be the social media integration that you are featuring in it. It is important to have a lot of social media integration in your website because it can dictate not only how well your website performs in the search engines, but also how much engagement you are able to drive along with it.
6. Content Management System.
Are you going to be using a content management system? If so, you will want to choose one that will integrate well into your website. There are different options to choose from and one of the best is WordPress.
In the end, there are plenty of things that you should be considering when you are looking to design your website. Having this checklist handy can really help you sort through the process much more effectively and efficiently.
If you already have a website for your business, you might think that you don’t have to think about the future of web design and where it’s going. However, it’s essential for you to think about how web design is going to grow and develop. Here’s why you’re going to want to keep your finger on the pulse of design trends.