How to improve accessibility of a website

Website accessibility directly impacts your clients' reach and legal liability. Start with the fundamentals: ensure every image has descriptive alt text that conveys meaning rather than just describing what's visible. "Image" or "photo" aren't useful—"dashboard showing Q3 revenue increase of 15%" actually helps screen reader users understand context. Apply the same principle to videos by adding captions and transcripts, which benefit both deaf users and people watching in sound-off environments.

Heading hierarchy matters more than most designers realize. Use H1, H2, and H3 tags to create logical document structure, not for styling purposes. Screen reader users navigate pages by jumping between headings, so a page with H1 then H3 then H2 creates confusion. Color contrast needs to meet WCAG AA standards minimum (4.5:1 for regular text, 3:1 for large text). Test this with free tools like WebAIM's contrast checker—don't eyeball it. Forms require proper labels connected to input fields, not placeholder text alone, since placeholder text disappears when users start typing. When clicking a button does something important, like submitting a form, make sure keyboard users can access it with Tab and Enter keys.

Motion and animations cause real problems for people with vestibular disorders. If your client's site uses auto-playing videos or parallax scrolling, at minimum respect the prefers-reduced-motion setting so users can disable animations through their operating system settings. Links should make sense out of context—"click here" is worthless for screen reader users scanning a page's links. Use "Get our accessibility checklist" instead.

Test with real tools rather than guessing. Run pages through the WAVE browser extension or Axe DevTools to catch heading hierarchy issues, missing alt text, and contrast problems. Better yet, spend time navigating your site with a screen reader like NVDA or JAWS to experience how disabled users actually interact with it. This reveals problems that automated tools miss, like confusing button labels or illogical tab order.

Accessibility also improves SEO—search engines can't read images either, so alt text helps rankings. It's one of those rare improvements that benefits everyone: users get a better experience, search engines rank you higher, and your client reduces legal risk from accessibility lawsuits.