1 in 5 people in the UK are disabled. If your site isn’t accessible, you’re missing out on sharing your work with many people. Let’s fix that. 

Web accessibility is designing your site to be accessible for everyone, regardless of disabilities or impairments. You’re implementing features that level the playing field.  

Accessible features help people with disabilities use content on their own, without any obstacles. 

Think of accessibility as inclusivity. No one likes to be left out, and your website shouldn’t be any different. Certain things need to be put into place to ensure this. 

You should care about web accessibility because: 

In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 legally requires websites and online content to be made accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities.   

Putting the legalities aside. Accessibility equals fairness and inclusion. Everyone deserves a fair chance in every walk of life, including while online. 

Accessibility is legally smart, morally sound. Don’t let it pass you by. 

Making your website more accessible doesn’t just help individuals with disabilities or impairments. Everyone gets to benefit.  

Accessible websites are usually easier to navigate, faster to load and much clearer to understand.  

If your site is accessible, you’re widening your audience AND you’re showing them you’re an organisation that gives a damn. 

And it broadens your reach – nearly one in four (24%) of people in the UK have a disability. Imagine raising your targets by that much. 

Accessibility features like correct headlines alt text, and clear navigation don’t simply make life easier for users. They help to boost your SEO score and reach more users organically. 

Bring a ladder. You’ll be climbing the rankings on Google in no time. 

We’ve broken down some small tweaks you can implement to make your site right now to be more inclusive.  

However, make sure that every aspect is tried and tested to ensure it works correctly prior to your content being set live. You don’t want any issues cropping up post-launch. 

Alt text is a written description of an image that can be read by a device’s screen readers. It helps visually impaired individuals understand the content of images they can’t see.  

Alt text shouldn’t be a simple title (e.g. Microsoft’s CEO). It should instead describe the picture, such as “a woman in her 50s wearing a red jumper with long brown hair and glasses looking at the camera and smiling.” After writing it, close your eyes. Can you picture what you just wrote? 

Adding alt text to your site’s images is easy. Just add short, clear descriptions in your website’s CMS.   

Captions and transcripts are text-based descriptions of video or audio content. They can include dialogue, sound effects or music. They make this form of content accessible to people with hearing impairments and allow users in noisy or quiet environments to engage with the content. 

Thanks to AI, there are a million and one tools out there that add captions once a video’s been uploaded. They even help to create snippets or other helpful audio descriptions. 

Motion-heavy content that loops endlessly can trigger vestibular disorders, such as dizziness or nausea, and can overwhelm users with cognitive impairments. Giving users the option to pause, stop or hide them means the content is comfortable for everyone.  

You can add controls to your site to enable users to stop or pause animations. 

Or use the CSS ‘prefers-reduced-motion’ query. This means your site will detect if a user has a setting enabled on their device to minimise the amount of non-essential motion. The browser then knows to remove, reduce or replace motion-based animations. 

Use colour schemes that provide sharp contrast between text and background. They help individuals with colour blindness or low vision differentiate text from its background and make content legible.

You can use contrast checkers such as the WebAIM Contrast Checker to maintain compliance with WCAG guidelines. For a simple rule, opt for dark text on light backgrounds and vice versa.

Headlines enable users to navigate and be guided through your content with ease. For those using screen readers, they organise information, making it easier to understand.

It also helps with SEO, as headlines display the main topic of content, enabling the search engine to index the page appropriately.

To add headlines, use semantic HTML tags like <h1> and <h2> to establish a clear content hierarchy.

Keyboard accessibility benefits individuals with motor disabilities, users who rely on assistive devices, and those who may be visually impaired or unable to use a mouse. 

It involves designing your website so all interactive elements can be navigated and operated using only a keyboard. 

To implement this, make sure that ‘tabbing’ through interactive elements, such as hyperlinks and form controls, follows a logical sequence. Also, use focus indicators that highlight which element is selected. 

Ever zoomed in on a webpage, like really zoomed in – say, 200%? How did it look? Was it still easy to read, or did everything start to overlap and jumble up? 

Everyone should get the same info from your site, no matter how much they need to zoom in to see it clearly. Making your site zoom-friendly means designing with flexible layouts and scalable elements so everything looks good and works well, even at 200% zoom or more. 

While the above tips may seem easy in practice, things get in the way. If your team’s busy or just a little unsure, getting agency help simplifies the entire process.  

Working with Telescopic provides you with the support you need to make your website inclusive and user-friendly. 

We’ve previously collaborated with The Valuable 500 and The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) to provide products and services for individuals with disabilities. 

We work alongside your team throughout.  Giving you the expertise and support to make changes without any of the technical headaches. 

Web accessibility is a fundamental aspect of a website’s build.  

It guarantees compliance with regulations and opens your business and services up to a broader audience. You improve your SEO rankings to reach more people organically and make your site more user-friendly. 

Use these tips to make your website more accessible. If you need a little more support, don’t hesitate to get in touch.