Newslaundry makes its platforms accessible to all through NewsAble

Imagine you subscribe to a news app, but you are not able to access its content. It can surely be quite a frustrating experience. That was the experience of a visually-impaired student, who subscribed to the news portal Newslaundry. He then wrote to the publication, setting it on a path to accessibility. As a result, the platform has now launched NewsAble – a set of features and system overhauls that make its website and app accessible to people with disabilities.

Chitranshu Tewari, director- product and revenue, Newslaundry, says the student’s email was a wake-up call. “Around the same time, one of our developers revealed he was colorblind, further highlighting the need for accessibility. This led us to understand that there is a significant market gap in India,” he says.

Tewari says improving accessibility doesn't just benefit disabled users—it enhances the overall user experience for everyone. So it not only fills a market gap, but also ensures a better experience for all users. Many features designed for accessibility are useful across the board. 

What are the features?

• Screen reader compatibility: The structural changes have made the website and app compatible with screen readers used by blind users to access the internet and computers.

• Colour filters and contrast themes: Apart from dark and light modes, the platform now offers colour themes for those with visual impairments.

• Dyslexia font and motion control: This will make text more readable for users with dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

• Transcripts and subtitles: Transcript for podcasts, read-aloud functionality for text stories and closed captions for videos.

• Voice search: The feature allows the user to search by speaking with just a tap.

• Reader mode: It eliminates all distractions in the form of sidebars and banners, presenting stories in a clean format optimised for reading.

Long road to accessibility

It took the team six months to develop NewsAble. In the first few months, it focused on understanding how disabled users interact with the internet, apps, and websites. Apart from consulting disabled users, it also studied existing literature and guidelines on accessibility from sources like the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. 

“We conducted surveys with a cohort of disabled users to gather insights into their preferences and priorities. This helped us understand the practical aspects of accessibility,” he says.

After thorough research, it began engineering work. It tested the updates with a small group of disabled users from mid-January to gather real feedback and make necessary adjustments. 

“Instead of rushing the product to market, we prioritised careful development and testing to ensure it genuinely met users' needs and wasn't just a superficial fix or PR move. I am immensely proud of our small engineering team, comprising Rishabh, Aditya, Danish, and Dhananjai, that they delivered a product that truly adds value,” he shares.

Challenges in becoming accessible

According to the Census 2011, around 2.21% of India’s population have a disability, which is 2.68 crore persons. However, most Indian news websites and apps are not accessible.

“While some Indian websites offer intermittent accessibility, none are fully accessible. In contrast, international news websites like the BBC, New York Times, and Washington Post strictly adhere to accessibility guidelines, ensuring complete accessibility. Considering the nature of the internet and technology today, which should inherently be inclusive, this is a shame,” he says.

The challenges of updating old websites, coupled with insufficient legal incentives have resulted in a lack of fully accessible news websites in India. Primarily, Indian news websites are plagued by technical challenges and the lack of awareness and enforcement.

It's relatively easy to make a new website accessible from the start. However, transforming an existing website with 10-20 years of content and legacy code into an accessible one requires significant engineering and design efforts. 

“Newsrooms often prioritise ad delivery over technical improvements, focusing their engineering talent on optimising ad performance rather than accessibility,” he says. 

In countries like the US and Europe, there are stringent penalties for inaccessible websites, which drives compliance. In India, despite having a Disability Act, the penalties for non-compliance are minimal and not strictly enforced. This lack of serious consequences leads to lower implementation rates.

“Accessibility is an ongoing approach, not a one-time fix. Many organisations misstep by making only superficial changes rather than thoroughly updating their code to ensure full compatibility,” he shares.

Tewari hopes that other publications will follow its example and work towards making themselves accessible. “As a small publisher, if we can achieve this, larger legacy news organisations with far more resources certainly can too,” he says.