Accessibility
Was this helpful?
Was this helpful?
Web accessibility is about making websites usable for as many people as possible. Accessible websites benefit everyone, including people with disabilities, visitors using mobile devices, or those with slow network connections.
Fluorescent themes aim to meet the highest standards of web accessibility, outlined by the . Our themes and Shopify support these guidelines, and we continue to update our themes to meet these standards as they evolve.
This article focuses on how to keep your online store accessible while customizing its theme. You'll find a couple guidelines to get you started and further resources for testing and learning more about accessibility.
In some cases, there are accessibility guidelines that our themes support but cannot enforce. For instance, because themes allow site colors to be fully customized, it is the store owner’s responsibility to select colors that meet accessibility standards.
When customizing your theme, we recommend following Shopify's guidelines on . You'll find guidelines and recommendations for:
You may also want to use the to make make sure your site complies with the .
We recommend starting with two guidelines that are commonly overlooked:
If the background color is too similar to the text, it can make it difficult to read. This can be especially challenging for people with visual impairments, such as color blindness. You can use free online tools, like , to help you select colors that meet accessibility standards.
Shopify apps may not comply with these guidelines, and using multiple apps can impact accessibility. When installing apps, keep accessibility guidelines in mind and contact app developers if you have any questions.
Alt text, or alternative text, is a text description added to an image’s HTML code. The text description may be read aloud by assistive technology, like screen readers, used by people with visual impairments. Alt text also appears when an image does not load. Learn how to and .
You may want to contact a development company or design firm that specializes in accessibility compliance. One firm that specializes in Shopify work is Diff, but there's a great list of experts available on the .