Accessibility is often treated as a compliance checkbox—something to worry about at the end of a project when legal gets involved. But this mindset misses the point entirely.
Accessibility isn’t about checking boxes. It’s about making experiences that work for everyone, regardless of their abilities, devices, or circumstances.
The Reality of Disability
Here’s something that might surprise you: over 1 billion people worldwide have some form of disability. That’s about 15% of the global population. And disability isn’t always permanent:
- Permanent: Someone who is blind or has one arm
- Temporary: Someone with a broken arm or eye infection
- Situational: Someone holding a baby, in bright sunlight, or in a loud environment
When you design for accessibility, you’re not designing for a small niche—you’re designing for a significant portion of your potential users, plus improving the experience for everyone else.
The Business Case
Let’s be honest: businesses care about the bottom line. The good news is that accessibility makes business sense:
Larger Market
Why deliberately exclude 15% of potential customers? Accessible design opens your product to a larger audience.
Better SEO
Many accessibility best practices (semantic HTML, descriptive alt text, clear heading structure) improve search engine optimization.
Improved Usability
Accessible design is good design. Features like clear labels, good contrast, and logical navigation benefit everyone.
Legal Protection
In many jurisdictions, digital accessibility is legally required. Designing accessibly from the start is far cheaper than retrofitting or facing lawsuits.
Practical Accessibility Guidelines
1. Color and Contrast
Don’t rely on color alone to convey information. Use multiple visual cues:
- Icons plus color for status indicators
- Labels plus color for form validation
- Patterns plus color in data visualizations
Ensure sufficient contrast:
- Text should have at least 4.5:1 contrast ratio with its background
- Large text can use 3:1 ratio
- Use tools like WebAIM’s contrast checker
2. Keyboard Navigation
Every interactive element must be accessible via keyboard:
- All functionality available without a mouse
- Clear focus indicators (never remove outline without replacement)
- Logical tab order
- Skip links for main content
Test by navigating your entire interface using only the Tab, Enter, and arrow keys.
3. Screen Reader Support
Screen readers are how many blind users experience the web:
- Use semantic HTML (button, nav, main, etc.)
- Provide alt text for images (or mark decorative images as such)
- Use ARIA labels when semantic HTML isn’t enough
- Ensure heading hierarchy makes sense (h1, h2, h3, etc.)
4. Forms
Forms are often the most important—and most frustrating—part of a website:
- Label every form field clearly
- Group related fields with fieldset/legend
- Provide clear error messages near the problematic field
- Don’t use placeholder text as labels
- Make error recovery easy
5. Responsive and Flexible
Accessibility means working across different use cases:
- Allow text to scale up to 200% without breaking
- Support both portrait and landscape orientations
- Don’t disable zoom on mobile
- Avoid horizontal scrolling
6. Clear Content
Content accessibility is just as important as technical accessibility:
- Use clear, simple language
- Break up long paragraphs
- Use descriptive link text (“learn more about accessibility” not “click here”)
- Provide transcripts for audio
- Include captions for video
Testing for Accessibility
Automated Testing
Tools like axe, Lighthouse, and WAVE can catch many issues:
- Missing alt text
- Insufficient contrast
- Missing labels
- Invalid ARIA
But automated testing only catches about 30% of issues. You also need:
Manual Testing
- Navigate with keyboard only
- Test with screen readers (NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver)
- Zoom to 200% and check for usability
- Check in high contrast mode
- Test with different browser/OS accessibility settings
Real User Testing
The best way to ensure accessibility is testing with people who actually use assistive technologies. They’ll catch issues you never thought of and provide insights automation can’t.
Common Misconceptions
”We’ll add accessibility at the end”
Accessibility is much harder and more expensive to retrofit. Build it in from the start.
”Accessible design is ugly”
Poor design is ugly. Good design works for everyone. Look at Apple, Google, or Microsoft—their products are both beautiful and accessible.
”Our users don’t need accessibility”
You don’t know this unless you’re already accessible. Many people with disabilities will simply leave an inaccessible site without telling you why.
”WCAG compliance is enough”
WCAG compliance is a floor, not a ceiling. It’s the legal minimum, not the goal. Aim for genuinely usable, pleasant experiences.
Make It a Priority
Accessibility shouldn’t be an afterthought or a nice-to-have. Make it a core part of your design process:
- Include it in your definition of done: A feature isn’t complete unless it’s accessible
- Educate your team: Everyone should understand basic accessibility principles
- Test early and often: Catch issues when they’re easy to fix
- Get feedback: Work with users who rely on assistive technologies
- Stay current: Accessibility standards and best practices evolve
The Right Thing to Do
Beyond business cases and legal requirements, accessibility is simply the right thing to do. The web is for everyone, and as designers and developers, we have the power to make it truly accessible.
Every time you add alt text, ensure good contrast, or test keyboard navigation, you’re making the web a little bit better for everyone. That’s something worth doing.
