eBay is calling on sellers in the UK to change how they list and describe their items to make them more accessible to people with disabilities. Advice included the following: avoid small font sizes, use plain but descriptive language, avoid light colors in text, and consider avoiding animations or keeping them simple.
The announcement came in the form of a press release today about an initiative called Purple Tuesday.
eBay UK explained, “Purple Tuesday 2021 is an international call to action focused on changing the customer experience for disabled people. It calls on organisations from all sectors and sizes, to take decisive practical actions to meet the needs of disabled customers.” According to PurpleTuesday.org.uk, Purple Tuesday was created by Purple, a disability organization that supports businesses putting into action disability inclusion activities.
eBay UK said it strives to ensure the following on its platform:
- Keyboard-only access throughout the site to help people who prefer not to, or can’t, use a mouse. For instance, people with an injury or a motor impairment.
- Alternative text for icons and images, which provide a textual description of images for people with sight loss.
- Clearly labelled form elements to ensure they’re easily understood for those cognitive disabilities and those using assistive technology such as a screen reader.
- Adequate colour contrast across the site and apps for people with colour deficiencies or low-vision.
- Issuing advice to eBay’s 300,000 small business sellers to avoid small font sizes, use plain but descriptive language, avoid light colours in text and keep animations simple or ditch them altogether.
eBay UK’s Chief Marketing Officer Eve Williams said in today’s press release, “Purple Tuesday is important to eBay because our purpose as a business is to create economic opportunity for all, and accessibility is a fundamental pillar of that. We’ve made great progress over the last 10 years or so, and through partnering with Purple we’re committing to continually adapt and evolve our site as we progress on this journey with them.”
