Web accessibility: why it’s important and what you need to know

In this article, Attico's Digital accessibility expert, Vladimir Dmitriev, delves into website accessibility and shares best practices to ensure your site is accessible to everyone.

Aug 14, 2024 5 min read

How have website quality standards changed?

Before

In our pursuit to make websites as fast, convenient, and search-engine friendly as possible, people have achieved significant successes.

Through continuous refinement of technologies, optimization of workflows, and implementation of innovations, web specialists have ensured high-quality performance, search optimization, and user-friendliness. These methods provided reliable results, the stability of which we placed under the constant control of autotests.

Nowadays

Now, it’s time to remember for whom we are doing all this - the users. Diverse, unique, special. Can they all appreciate the results of our work? Will they always be able to do so?

Breaking barriers

Web accessibility means overcoming barriers that any of us might face. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.

Individuals with impairments or disabilities constitute a significant portion of the global population. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 1.3 billion people, or 16% of the world’s population, live with significant disabilities. That means brands with inaccessible websites are failing to accommodate a sizable portion of the population.

75% of Americans with disabilities report using the internet on a daily basis.

However, accessibility is not only about people who are blind, have low vision, are deaf or hard of hearing, have mobility impairments, or have cognitive disabilities. It’s about ensuring a seamless experience for everyone, addressing a variety of needs and unique real-life situations:

Need to watch a video without headphones? Subtitles come to the rescue.

Unable to read information while driving? Listen to the text instead.

Mouse failure? Use the keyboard for navigation.

Why is web accessibility important?

While accessibility is rooted in empathy and providing all people with equal possibilities, it also has a strong business rationale.

25.3% of web accessibility practitioners indicate that their organization’s motivation for implementing accessibility is morals. 14.2% indicate that it’s a competitive advantage.

Reputation

Businesses can build a strong reputation by demonstrating their commitment to accessibility, which fosters trust and loyalty among users.

Marketing growth

From a marketing perspective, accessible websites reach a broader audience, tapping into a significant market segment often overlooked.

Innovation

Embracing accessibility by businesses fuels innovation, leading to the development of cutting-edge solutions that enhance the overall user experience for everyone.

Legal responsibility

Legal requirements, such as Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), mandate compliance with accessibility standards to avoid potential lawsuits and penalties. Also, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) coming in force in 2025 will set new minimum accessibility requirements for a range of products and services throughout the European Union.

WCAG guidelines are structured into three conformance levels: A, AA, and AAA.

Level A

Minimum level of accessibility

Level A criteria address the most fundamental accessibility barriers. This includes ensuring that all non-text content has text alternatives (e.g., alt text for images) and that navigation is possible using a keyboard. Websites that do not meet Level A requirements are often entirely inaccessible to people with disabilities. This level is the minimum baseline that all web content should meet.

Level AA

Mid-range level of accessibility

Level AA criteria build on Level A, aiming to remove barriers that could cause significant issues for users with various disabilities. This includes providing captions for live audio content and ensuring that color contrast between text and background meets minimum standards. Many laws and regulations, including the ADA and the EU Web Accessibility Directive, use Level AA as the benchmark for accessibility compliance. Meeting Level AA criteria significantly improves the usability of a website for all users, not just those with disabilities.

Level AAA

Highest level of accessibility

Level AAA criteria represent the highest and most comprehensive level of web accessibility. This includes providing sign language interpretation for pre-recorded audio content and ensuring no time limits on web content unless essential. While Level AAA compliance is ideal, it is not always feasible for all web content to meet these standards. WCAG recognizes that some content might not be able to conform to all Level AAA success criteria. Organizations that strive for Level AAA compliance demonstrate a strong commitment to inclusivity and accessibility, going above and beyond standard requirements.

On average, there are 51.4 errors per home page on the top 1 million websites. 86.4% of home pages have low contrast text, while 26% of images on home pages had missing alt text

False confidence

Traditionally, one of the “quick markers” of a site’s accessibility is the Lighthouse score. While the green accessibility zone in the report is visually satisfying, it shouldn’t create false confidence about the site’s present state. The text under the accessibility metrics explicitly states:

“Automatic detection can only detect a subset of issues and does not guarantee the accessibility of your web app, so manual testing is also encouraged.”

Achieving real accessibility requires a comprehensive approach and continuous attention.

Ensuring accessibility from start to finish

Achieving true website accessibility is a multifaceted goal that spans the entire development cycle and involves every team member. Each task must now be approached with a new perspective:

Task setting

Analysts and QA teams should review feature requirements to ensure compliance with WCAG standards.

Design

Research from Deque reveals that over 60% of accessibility issues are rooted in the design phase, highlighting the importance for designers to properly consider it.

Development

The development team should carefully implement tags, attributes, and page markup.

Testing

The QA team uses automated tools to identify major flaws and conducts manual testing to uncover nuances often missed by automated checks, such as skipped spaces and navigation traps. They also test “listening” and “viewing” scenarios on mobile devices.

Content management

Content managers should adhere to web accessibility standards during content preparation and filling the site with it.

Conclusion

It doesn’t matter what motivates you to focus on accessibility: addressing an aging population with impairments, legal trends in rights protection, human-centered design, or other factors.

What truly matters is the outcome of this effort: creating the digital environment that is accessible to everyone, genuinely improving lives, and providing timely assistance. Ultimately, this enhances overall quality of life and reduces life’s challenges