How do I make my website accessible?

The standard to aim for

WCAG (the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is the reference most laws and policies point to. It has three levels: A, AA and AAA. Level AA is the practical target for business websites. WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 (the current version, published in 2023) add requirements for mobile, low vision and cognitive needs on top of the older 2.0.

You don’t need to memorize it. A handful of fixes covers most of what trips up real visitors.

The fixes that matter most

• Contrast. Body text needs at least 4.5:1 against its background; large text and interface parts like buttons and form borders need 3:1. Pale grey on white is the usual offender. Check it with the contrast checker.
• Alt text. Describe meaningful images. Mark decorative ones as decorative.
• Keyboard use. Every link, button and menu should work with Tab and Enter, with a visible focus outline.
• Headings. One H1, then a logical outline. Screen reader users navigate by them.
• Forms. Every field needs a real label, and errors should say what went wrong.
• Media. Captions on video, and nothing that autoplays sound.

How to test it yourself

Unplug your mouse and try to book an appointment using only the keyboard. Turn on VoiceOver (Mac and iPhone) or NVDA (free on Windows) and listen to your homepage. Zoom the browser to 200% and see if anything breaks. Run Lighthouse’s accessibility check for a quick list of obvious issues.

Automated tools catch only part of the problem. A few minutes of hands-on testing finds the rest.

Build it in, don’t bolt it on

Accessibility is far cheaper when it’s part of the build: semantic HTML, real buttons, sensible colours. Overlay widgets that promise one-line compliance don’t fix underlying problems and can get in the way of the assistive technology people already use.

I build to WCAG 2.2 AA as a baseline, because it’s easier to do right from the start than to retrofit. Contrast is checked while choosing colours, components are built from proper HTML, and I test with a keyboard and screen reader before launch.

On an existing site, I’d fix contrast, form labels and keyboard focus first. They affect the most people and are usually quick.