Accessibility in Web Design: Making Your Website Inclusive for Everyone

Over 16 million people in the UK have a disability, and for many, it makes it harder to access the online world. From dyslexia to visual impairment, websites typically aren’t built to be inclusive to different needs, which is undeniably wrong.  

On the flip side, when made to be accessible, websites become a tool for empowerment. They give people with disabilities access to an entire world of services, products, information, and entertainment, and a space where impairments don’t alter experience. Just as it’s important to create buildings and outdoor areas that are accessible, it’s vital that our websites are built for everyone. 

What is Website Accessibility? 

Website accessibility is all about building online spaces that don’t discriminate. This means taking into account the broad spectrum of people’s abilities and how different disabilities and impairments can affect the browsing experience. 

For example, people who are hard of hearing may struggle to make the most of video content. For those with motor disorders, small buttons and difficult navigation can make sites almost impossible to move around. 

When you start exploring potential barriers, you also uncover a world of solutions. These are upgrades that make browsing better for everyone, and implementing them across your site improves accessibility so that the full scope of your audience can access, use, and benefit from your content.  

Yet, in a review of the top 1 million websites, over 96% weren’t considered accessible. That leaves just 4% hitting the mark, which simply isn’t good enough.  

WCAG Key Principles 

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide international guidance for website accessibility. Following their advice helps you achieve the gold standards of inclusion in web development and fight back against discrimination. 

While there’s a lot of information the WCAG has published, we can summarise their guidance by taking a look at 4 key principles: 

1. Perceivable: Your visitors should be able to access and understand information on your website regardless of their disabilities or impairments. 
2. Operable: Your site should be intuitive and easy to navigate for everyone. 
3. Understandable: How you use the site and the information on it should be simple to understand. This should also apply to any actions, such as adding an item to the shopping cart or contacting your team. 
4. Robust: All your content should work with assistive technology, such as screen readers, to ensure it’s fully accessible. 

By referring back to these principles throughout the design and development process, you lay the foundations for a website that champions accessibility. 

Why is Website Accessibility Important? 

In the UK, building accessible websites and web apps isn’t just the right thing to do, but a legal requirement. Under the Equality Act 2010, both private and public sector organisations must show they’ve actively designed their websites with accessibility in mind. 

Beyond the law, though, websites simply should be accessible. It’s morally and ethically the right choice, and we strongly believe that no one should be excluded from the online world due to a disability.  

But what about tangible benefits? Let’s take a look at how accessibility benefits both your business and your target audience: 

Reflect Your Organisation’s Values 

Accessibility speaks volumes about who you are as an organisation. By designing your online platforms with inclusivity in mind, you demonstrate empathy, responsibility, and a genuine commitment to doing the right thing.  

This thoughtful approach helps build trust and credibility, both with your customers and within your industry. It reflects your values and ethics, turning inclusivity from a box to tick into a principle to be proud of. You value all of your users, and it shows in your dedication to accessibility. 

Don’t underestimate the value of a positive brand reputation, either. Almost 70% of consumers actively prefer shopping with businesses that are positively contributing to society and the environment, proving that what you stand for matters. 

Grow Your Potential Audience 

When your website is accessible, you open your business up to a wider audience. With around one in five people in the UK living with a disability, and many more experiencing temporary limitations, if you want to grow your audience, you have to be accessible. It’s as simple as that. 

By removing barriers to access and catering to different abilities, you ensure your site has broader engagement. For millions of people who struggle to access websites, you become a viable option. 

Fight Back Against Discrimination 

Who doesn’t want to create a fairer world? If you own a website, championing accessibility is one of the ways you can make a difference. You’re taking a stand against digital discrimination and standing up for broader inclusion, ensuring that no one is excluded from the information, services, or opportunities your organisation provides.  

If you’re upgrading your website for accessibility, we highly recommend that you spread the word. Be open about why this is so important and join us in the fight for a more inclusive online world. 

Improve Your SEO 

Accessibility is becoming increasingly important as a Google ranking factor. They’ve said themselves that pages must be accessible, while noting that features like overlays and interstitials shouldn’t be used as they “make content less accessible”. In the realm of Google’s SEO algorithm, that’s about as clear as it gets. 

Beyond search engines favouring accessibility, ensuring inclusivity has a heap of other positive knock-on effects that’ll send your ranking through the roof. Many of the accessibility essentials improve user experience (UX) in general, for instance, while lowering bounce rates, both of which signal to search engines that you’re a site they want to promote. 

Website Accessibility Checklist 

By now, it’s clear that whether or not you prioritise accessibility in web development shouldn’t even be a question. This is a movement we can all champion, and removing barriers to access brings countless benefits, both for your audience and your website’s performance. All that’s left is to get started. 

With that in mind, we’ve put together this handy website accessibility checklist to guide your next steps: 

• Prioritise clear navigation that supports ease of use and comprehension list
• Ensure typography and colour choices make content easy to read 
• Make sure visitors can use screen readers, text translators, and other accessibility tech 
• Provide captions and/or a transcript for audio 
• Include descriptive text for images and other visual elements 
• Break up text and prioritise readability across page layouts 
• Design for full keyboard navigation (no mouse or trackpad needed) 

It’s also vital that you regularly review your site against the WCAG, keeping up with changes to provide the best UX for all of your website visitors. 

Website Accessibility Testing and Development 

At GRM, we’re raising awareness of accessibility in website design and development. We believe that creating platforms that are accessible to everyone, regardless of ability, should be an industry standard.  

If your website isn’t currently optimized for accessibility, we can help. Reach out to our team to get started.