An accessible website can be used by people with a wide range of abilities, including people with low vision, colour blindness, motor difficulties or those using screen readers. Accessibility also helps older visitors, people on small screens and anyone in a hurry. Many improvements also support SEO.
Text and colour
- Ensure enough contrast between text and background. Light grey text on white is a common problem.
- Do not rely on colour alone to convey meaning, such as red for errors. Add text or icons.
- Allow text to be enlarged without breaking the layout.
Structure
- Use one H1 per page and logical H2 and H3 headings. Screen reader users navigate by headings.
- Use real lists, buttons and links rather than styled boxes.
- Write link text that makes sense on its own, not "click here".
Images
Add descriptive alt text to meaningful images. Decorative images should have empty alt text so screen readers skip them.
Keyboard navigation
- Every link, button and form field should be reachable with the Tab key.
- A visible focus outline should show where you are.
- Menus and pop-ups should open and close with the keyboard, and Escape should close dialogs.
- Provide a "skip to content" link.
Forms
- Every field needs a visible label.
- Error messages should explain what went wrong and how to fix it.
- Do not clear the form when there is an error.
Media and motion
- Provide captions for videos.
- Avoid auto-playing audio.
- Respect the "reduce motion" setting for animations.
The international reference is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). This website was built with these basics in mind. VENUS DIGITAL CORPORATION builds accessible websites. See Web & Software.
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