How to Make a Website More Accessible

To reach more people and create a better user experience, accessibility should be considered from the start of a website project. An accessible website is easier to use, easier to navigate and more inclusive for people with different needs, devices and browsing habits.

Over the years, Webpop Design has created hundreds of websites with accessibility best practices in mind. This guide explains 10 practical ways to make your website more accessible, covering content, design, development, forms, media and testing.

What Is Website Accessibility?

Website accessibility refers to how easily people can access, understand and interact with your website, including users with visual, hearing, physical, cognitive or neurological disabilities.

An accessible website should not rely on one way of browsing. Someone using a screen reader, keyboard, voice control, captions, zoom settings or assistive technology should still be able to move through the site, understand the content and complete important actions.

Good accessibility also improves the experience for many other users. Clear navigation, readable text, strong contrast, simple forms and logical page structure help everyone, not only disabled visitors.

Why Is Website Accessibility So Important?

In some sectors and countries, website accessibility is linked to legal and regulatory requirements. In the UK, public sector websites are expected to meet recognised accessibility standards, and commercial organisations should also treat accessibility as an important part of responsible website design.

Beyond compliance, accessible websites offer clear business and usability benefits:

• The more accessible your website is, the more people can use it properly.
• An accessible website supports a more professional and inclusive brand image.
• Clear navigation and readable content can reduce friction and improve enquiries.
• Better accessibility often improves mobile usability, form completion and general user experience.
• Accessible content, headings, image descriptions and page structure can also support SEO when handled correctly.

Website Accessibility And WCAG In Plain English

Most professional accessibility work is guided by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, usually known as WCAG. These guidelines explain how to make websites more usable for people with different access needs.

WCAG is based around four core principles. A website should be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. In practical terms, this means users should be able to find your content, use your interface, understand what is happening and access the site reliably with different browsers, devices and assistive technologies.

For many modern websites, WCAG 2.2 AA is the standard most commonly referred to. You do not need to turn every page into a technical document, but your design, content and development decisions should work towards those principles.

How To Design An Accessible Website

There are many ways to improve your website’s accessibility. The most effective approach is to consider accessibility across design, content, development and ongoing maintenance, rather than treating it as a final checklist after the site has already been built.

Some users cannot use a mouse comfortably or at all. A keyboard-accessible website allows users to move through menus, links, buttons, forms and interactive elements using the Tab, Enter, Space and arrow keys.

Keyboard navigation should also include a visible focus state. This shows users where they are on the page as they move through the site. Without it, keyboard users can easily lose their place and may be unable to complete key actions.

A well-structured website helps users find what they need quickly. Clear navigation, consistent layouts, readable content and obvious calls to action all make the site easier to use.

Responsive design is also an accessibility issue. A website should remain usable on mobiles, tablets, laptops and larger screens. Text should not become too small, buttons should be easy to tap and content should not require awkward sideways scrolling.

This also matters for search performance. Google assesses mobile usability, and a site that is difficult to use on smaller screens can create problems for both accessibility and SEO.

GOV.UK uses clear structure, readable content and simple navigation to support accessible browsing.

There are many Content Management Systems available, but accessibility depends on how the CMS is configured, designed and developed. A good CMS should make it easy to manage headings, alt text, captions, links, forms and page content properly.

Once you have selected the right CMS, speak with your website design agency about how accessibility will be handled across templates, components and content editing.

Platforms like WordPress can support accessible websites when built carefully. However, themes, plugins and page builders still need to be checked, because poorly coded components can create accessibility issues even on a strong CMS.

Alt text helps screen reader users understand images that carry meaning. This might include product images, service graphics, charts, diagrams, team photos, portfolio screenshots or any visual that supports the page content.

Good alt text should describe the image clearly and naturally. It should not be stuffed with keywords. Decorative images that do not add meaning may not need descriptive alt text at all, because unnecessary descriptions can make the page harder to use for screen reader users.

When used properly, alt text can also support SEO by helping search engines understand relevant visual content. Accessibility should always come first, with SEO as a secondary benefit.

Users with colour blindness, low vision or tired eyes may struggle to read text when there is not enough contrast between the text and the background. Strong colour contrast helps make content easier to read and interface elements easier to understand.

You can check your current colour scheme using an online colour analysis tool. This is especially useful for buttons, navigation, form labels, small text and text placed over images.

White space also improves accessibility. Clear spacing between headings, paragraphs, buttons and sections helps users scan the page and understand how content is grouped.

If your brand is still in its early stages, consider accessibility when defining your colour palette. This can prevent contrast and readability problems later in the design process.

Screen reader users often rely on headings to understand a page and move between sections. A clear heading hierarchy also helps sighted users scan the page quickly.

Use <h1> for the main page title, <h2> for major sections and <h3> for supporting subsections. Headings should describe the content that follows them, not simply act as visual styling.

A common mistake is using bold text instead of proper headings. This may look acceptable visually, but it does not give assistive technology the same structure. Semantic headings help both accessibility and SEO.

If your website includes video, consider how users will access the information without relying on sound alone. Captions help people who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as users watching in quiet environments or noisy places.

Example video dashboard showing transcript controls, captions and media accessibility options.

For audio content, transcripts give users another way to read the information. For videos where important visual information is not explained in the audio, audio descriptions can help users understand what is happening on screen.

This is especially important for educational content, webinars, product demonstrations, interviews, case studies and service explainer videos.

Dynamic content such as popups, lightboxes, accordions, dropdowns, sliders and overlays can create accessibility problems if they are not developed properly.

For example, a popup may appear visually but fail to notify a screen reader user. A dropdown may open with a mouse but not with a keyboard. An overlay may trap the user or make it difficult to return to the main page.

To avoid these issues, check that your frontend development frameworks support accessible dynamic elements. ARIA roles, landmarks and live regions can help, but they must be used correctly and tested properly.

Forms are often where accessibility issues become conversion issues. If a user cannot understand, complete or submit a form, they may abandon the enquiry, booking or purchase.

Accessible forms should follow the four WCAG principles:

• Perceivable – Users can understand the form fields, instructions and errors.
• Operable – Users can complete the form with a keyboard or assistive technology.
• Understandable – Labels, instructions and error messages are clear and easy to follow.
• Robust – The form works reliably across devices, browsers and assistive technologies.

Use visible labels, clear instructions and helpful error messages. Avoid vague messages such as “invalid input”. Instead, tell users what needs fixing and how to fix it.

Fields should be correctly associated with labels so screen readers can announce them accurately. Required fields should be clearly marked, and users should not lose their progress when correcting errors.

Tables should only be used for genuine tabular data, not for layout or spacing. When tables are used correctly, they should include proper headers and a simple structure that makes the relationship between rows and columns clear.

Misused tables can make content confusing for screen reader users because information may be announced in the wrong order or without enough context.

For complex information, consider whether a simpler content format would be easier to understand. Not every comparison or list needs to be presented as a table.

How To Test Website Accessibility

Accessibility should be tested before launch and reviewed regularly afterwards. Automated tools can help find common issues such as missing alt text, contrast problems, empty buttons, heading errors and form label issues.

Tools such as Lighthouse, WAVE and colour contrast checkers can be useful starting points, but automated testing is not enough on its own. Some issues can only be found through manual testing, such as whether a page makes sense when read aloud, whether keyboard navigation feels logical and whether dynamic content behaves correctly.

A basic accessibility review should include checking important pages with a keyboard, testing forms, reviewing colour contrast, checking headings, reading link text out of context and making sure important images, videos and documents have suitable alternatives.

Why We Avoid Relying On Accessibility Plugins Alone

Accessibility plugins and overlays can be useful for some surface-level adjustments, but they rarely solve the deeper issues that affect how a website is structured, coded and used.

Many accessibility problems come from the theme, templates, navigation, forms, headings, colour choices, dynamic content and the way components are built. These issues usually need to be fixed properly at design and code level.

All Response Media website, made accessible by Webpop Design using custom code.

At Webpop Design, we prefer to build accessibility into the website itself rather than relying on plugins to patch problems afterwards. For example, we made the All Response Media website fully accessible using custom code, without depending on accessibility plugins.

This approach gives you more control, cleaner implementation and a website that is easier to maintain over time.

Accessibility Should Be Maintained After Launch

An accessible website can become less accessible over time if new content, plugins, forms or design sections are added without checks. Accessibility should be part of your ongoing content and website maintenance process.

This is especially important for websites with regular blog posts, landing pages, PDFs, videos, case studies, portfolio pages or new campaign content. Each new addition should follow the same accessibility standards as the rest of the site.

For larger organisations, an accessibility statement can also help explain the standard your website aims to meet, known limitations and how users can report accessibility problems.

What’s Next For Accessible Web Design?

Accessibility standards continue to evolve as technology, devices and user expectations change. That means accessibility should not be treated as a one-off task or a final checkbox at the end of a website project.

By committing to accessibility, you can improve the reach, usability and long-term quality of your website. A more accessible site is usually clearer, faster to navigate and easier for people to use, regardless of their ability or browsing setup.

If your current website is difficult to navigate, hard to read or built on outdated templates, small fixes may not be enough. In some cases, an accessibility-focused redesign is the better long-term option.

If you’d like an in-depth accessibility audit, help improving an existing website or a new website project with accessibility considered from the start, Webpop Design can help.

Website Accessibility FAQs