Who accessibility helps
The W3C's introduction to accessibility covers people with visual, hearing, physical, speech, cognitive and neurological disabilities. It also helps people with temporary injuries, older visitors and anyone using a phone in bright sun or a noisy room. Accessible sites tend to work better for everyone.
The basics every site needs
| Area | What it means |
|---|---|
| Text alternatives | Alt text on images, captions on videos |
| Contrast | Text readable against its background |
| Keyboard use | Every link, menu and form works without a mouse |
| Clear forms | Visible labels and helpful error messages |
| Structure | Real headings, lists and link text that make sense |
| Zoom | Pages that still work at 200% text size |
These come from WCAG, the W3C standard. Its current version, WCAG 2.2, became a W3C Recommendation in October 2023.
Overlays do not fix it
Accessibility widgets and overlays promise compliance with one line of code. They cannot fix missing labels, poor structure or inaccessible forms in the underlying site. Accessibility comes from how you design and build the site.
Good example. A credit union tests its site with a keyboard and a screen reader before launch. It fixes unlabeled form fields and a menu that trapped keyboard focus.
Bad example. A dental office installs an accessibility overlay and stops there. Nobody can finish its booking form without a mouse.
How to check your site
- Tab through a page and watch where focus goes.
- Run an automated checker like WAVE or Lighthouse.
- Zoom text to 200% and look for broken layouts.
- Try your main form with a screen reader.
Automated tools catch only part of the problems, so manual checks matter. Read what ADA and WCAG compliance means. Our web design team builds to WCAG from the first template.