An accessible website can be used by everyone, including people with visual, hearing, motor or cognitive impairments. Improving accessibility widens your potential market, improves the experience for all visitors and reduces the risk of turning customers away. It is good ethics and good business.
Why accessibility matters commercially
The World Health Organization estimates that roughly one in six people worldwide lives with a significant disability. Many more have temporary or situational limits: a broken arm, bright sunlight on a phone screen, a noisy bus or slow eyesight with age. If your site cannot be used by these people, they cannot become your customers.
Accessibility improvements also tend to help everyone. Clear structure, readable text and keyboard-friendly navigation make sites faster to use and easier to understand. Many of the same practices support search engine optimisation, since search engines also rely on well-structured content.
Follow recognised guidelines
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), published by the W3C, are the international standard. They are organised around four principles: content should be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. A practical goal for most businesses is to meet WCAG level AA. Check whether laws or regulations in your market refer to these guidelines.
Make content perceivable
- Alternative text. Add short, descriptive alt text to meaningful images so screen readers can describe them. Leave decorative images with empty alt text.
- Contrast. Use sufficient contrast between text and background, at least 4.5 to 1 for normal text.
- Not colour alone. Do not rely only on colour to convey meaning, such as marking errors only in red.
- Captions and transcripts. Provide captions for videos and transcripts for audio.
- Resizable text. Ensure text can be enlarged without breaking the layout.
Make the site operable
Many people navigate without a mouse, using a keyboard, voice control or other assistive devices.
- Ensure every link, button and form field can be reached and used with the keyboard alone
- Keep a visible focus outline so users can see where they are
- Make tap and click targets large enough
- Avoid content that flashes, which can trigger seizures
- Allow users enough time to complete forms and avoid unexpected time limits
- Offer a skip link that lets keyboard users jump past the menu
Make it understandable
Clear language. Use plain wording and short sentences. This helps people with cognitive differences, non-native speakers and anyone in a hurry.
Consistent navigation. Keep menus and layouts predictable across pages.
Helpful forms. Give every field a visible label, not just placeholder text. Explain errors clearly and show how to fix them.
Build it robustly
Use proper HTML structure so assistive technologies can interpret the page. Use real headings in logical order, lists for lists, and buttons and links for their intended purposes. Add ARIA attributes only where standard HTML cannot do the job. Test that the site works across browsers, devices and screen readers.
Do not forget contact methods
Offer more than one way to reach you. A form may be difficult for some users, while a phone call may be difficult for others. Providing a form, an email address, a phone number and a messaging option lets each customer pick what works for them.
Test your site
Automated tools such as WAVE, Lighthouse and axe can quickly catch many issues, but they find only a portion of problems. Complement them with manual checks: navigate with only a keyboard, zoom the page to 200 per cent, and try a screen reader such as NVDA, VoiceOver or TalkBack. Where possible, invite users with disabilities to test key journeys.
Make it ongoing
Accessibility is not a one-off project. Check new pages and features before publishing, train content editors in basics such as alt text, and publish an accessibility statement with a way to report problems. Treat feedback as valuable.
Accessibility widens your audience and improves usability for everyone. Start with the basics, contrast, alt text, keyboard access and clear forms, then keep improving. You will reach customers you might otherwise have lost.