Accessibility improves whether people can understand, navigate and complete a digital task. It is relevant to permanent disabilities, temporary impairments and everyday situations such as glare, poor connectivity or using a phone with one hand.
Start with high-value journeys
Audit the tasks that matter most: finding service information, completing a form, purchasing, booking or accessing an account. A site can pass automated checks while still blocking these journeys.
Combine automated and human testing
Automated tools identify useful classes of issue, including missing labels and some contrast failures, but they cannot judge whether content is understandable or focus order makes sense. Keyboard and screen-reader testing are essential.
- Keyboard-only navigation
- Visible focus state
- Form labels and useful errors
- Heading and landmark structure
- Zoom and responsive reflow
- Alternative text based on image purpose
Design content accessibly
Use meaningful headings, short paragraphs and links that explain their destination. Error messages should state what happened and how to correct it. Instructions should not rely only on colour or position.
Build accessibility into components
Reusable navigation, modal, form and table components prevent the same barrier being recreated across the site. Include accessibility in design review and definition of done rather than leaving it to a final audit.
Maintain it after launch
Editors need guidance for headings, link text, images and embedded media. Periodic checks should cover new templates and the actual journeys users complete, not only the home page.