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March 08, 2025 • By KWD
Web accessibility ensures websites, tools, and technologies are designed so people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, interact with, and contribute to the Web equally.
Key Takeaways
- Poor web design creates barriers preventing people with disabilities from accessing websites, apps, and services.
- Accessible design overlaps with SEO, UX, usability, and modern web design best practices.
- Alt tags, ARIA attributes, keyboard navigation, and semantic HTML structure are essential accessibility implementations.
- Color contrast testing, closed captions for videos, and focus states improve accessibility for all users.
- Multiple testing tools like WAVE, Lighthouse, and Chrome DevTools help evaluate and ensure compliance.
Most often websites, web tools, or apps are not designed properly and as a result, they can create barriers that make it difficult for people with disabilities from using the Web.
Web Accessibility is an important aspect of design as things increasingly move to the cloud. Whether it be SaaS or regular websites, removing blocks that prevent people with disabilities to access such products and services is a critical consideration.
What is Web Accessibility?
Web accessibility means that websites, tools, and technologies are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them. More specifically, people can: perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and contribute to the Web - WAI
Why is Web Accessibility Important?
The Internet and applications on it need to be accessible to everyone in order to provide equal access and equal opportunity to people with disabilities. An accessible website can help those with disabilities to engage and take advantage of the Internet.
It is also important to note that the aspects of accessibility overlap with the recommended practices of the current web/mobile design, search engine optimization, user experience, and usability.
Accessibility is a standard feature recommended in the best practices of the web/mobile design.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has a complete section dedicated to accessibility named Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).
It provides a wide range of resources on different aspects of web accessibility standards, education, testing/evaluation, project management, and policy.
How can one make a website more accessible?
- The most common thing which many website creators miss is the alt tag for the images. Use the alt tag for improved accessibility.
- Use the aria attributes for various tags. You can find more information here.
- Use table headers with scope attribute. Use a caption tag for a table.
- Never forget the title tag for each page.
- Focus on fully smooth keyboard navigation from top to bottom in a cycle, without getting stuck at any element.
- If you post videos, consider closed captions.
- Ensure :focus state for form and anchor tags.
- Use label tags for form elements.
- Use the language attribute for e.g. < html lang="en" >
- Consider a semantic structure for the website
- Always test the color contrast ratio of the background to the foreground color
- Testing, testing and more testing with various devices.
Tools
- Chrome Developers Tools (Check the accessibility tab) Lighthouse
- A11Y Compliance Platform by Bureau of Internet Accessibility
- Accessibility Checklist by Elsevier
- Accessibility Developer Tools by Google Accessibility
- ColorTester by Alfasado Inc.
- Contrast-Finder by Tanaguru
- DYNO Mapper by Indigo Design Company LLC
- WAVE by WebAIM
Check out this GitHub repo and W3C page for more list of web accessibility tools.
Kuwait has its W3C office where you can contact Muhammad Ashkanani, Regional Manager, GCC office, mohd@w3.org.kw, www.w3.org.kw, phone: 22240141/2, fax: 22240143
