Website accessibility helps people with disabilities use digital content, including people who use screen readers, keyboard navigation, magnification, captions or other assistive technologies. Accessibility also improves usability for many other visitors.
Practical Accessibility Principles #
- Perceivable: provide text alternatives for meaningful images, captions for relevant video and sufficient contrast.
- Operable: make navigation and controls usable with a keyboard and provide visible focus indicators.
- Understandable: use clear language, consistent navigation and helpful error messages.
- Robust: use semantic HTML and ensure assistive technologies can interpret controls.
Content and Structure #
Use headings in a logical hierarchy, descriptive links, meaningful page titles and appropriate language attributes. Do not convey information by colour alone. Decorative images can have empty alternative text, while informative images need concise text alternatives.
Forms and Controls #
Associate labels with fields, explain required formats, identify errors in text and preserve entered data where possible. Ensure dialogs, menus and interactive widgets can be reached and operated without a mouse.
Testing #
Combine automated checks with manual keyboard testing, zoom, contrast review and screen-reader testing. Automated tools detect only a subset of barriers; human review is necessary. Use WCAG as the primary technical reference and confirm which version or legal requirements apply to the project.
Example #
A form with a visible label, clear instructions, keyboard-accessible controls and a text error summary is easier to complete than a form that relies on placeholder text and red borders alone.
