A great website should be easy for everyone to use. Whether a visitor is browsing on a smartphone, using a screen reader, navigating with a keyboard or has limited vision or hearing, your website should provide a positive experience.
Website accessibility isn’t just about meeting legal guidelines, it’s about serving more customers, improving usability and building trust with your audience. An accessible website is often easier for everyone to use, which can lead to higher engagement, better search engine rankings and more conversions.
Here are some of the most important accessibility tips every business website should follow.
Use Clear, Readable Text
Your website’s content should be easy to read for visitors of all ages and abilities. Visitors should never struggle to read your website because of tiny text or cluttered layouts.
Some best practices include:
- Use a font size of at least 16px for body text.
- Choose clean, easy-to-read fonts.
- Avoid long paragraphs by breaking content into shorter sections.
- Use headings to organize information.
- Leave plenty of white space around content.
Maintain Strong Color Contrast
Text should stand out clearly against its background. Light gray text on a white background may look modern, but it can be difficult for many people to read. There are free online tools that allow you to test your website’s color contrast to ensure it’s readable.
Good contrast helps users with:
- Low vision
- Color blindness
- Mobile devices in bright sunlight
- Older screens
Add Alternative Text to Images
Every important image should include descriptive alternative (alt) text. Alt text allows screen readers to describe images to visually impaired users and also provides context if an image fails to load. Decorative images that don’t provide useful information can use empty alt text so screen readers skip them.
Instead of writing:
image1.jpg
Use descriptive text such as:
Employee helping a customer at a local bakery.
Make Your Website Keyboard Friendly
Not everyone uses a mouse. Many visitors navigate websites using only their keyboard or assistive technology. Testing your own website without using a mouse is a simple way to identify potential accessibility issues.
Only the Tab, Enter and arrow keys. Users should be able to:
- Navigate menus
- Click buttons
- Complete forms
- Access all important content
Label Every Form Field
Forms are often where accessibility problems appear. Each form field should have a clearly associated label. Avoid relying solely on placeholder text inside the field, as it disappears once users begin typing and may not be read correctly by assistive technologies.
7. Structure Pages with Proper Headings
Headings help visitors quickly scan your content and allow screen readers to navigate pages efficiently. Avoid skipping heading levels simply because you prefer a different font size. Use CSS to control appearance while keeping the HTML structure meaningful.
A typical structure looks like this:
- H1 – Page Title
- H2 – Main Sections
- H3 – Subsections
Avoid Auto-Playing Audio and Video
Unexpected audio can confuse visitors and interfere with screen readers. Giving visitors control creates a more comfortable browsing experience.
If you include videos or animations:
- Don’t autoplay with sound.
- Provide visible play and pause controls.
- Allow users to control playback.
Don’t Rely on Color Alone
Color should never be the only way users understand information. This ensures visitors with color blindness receive the same information as everyone else.
Final Thoughts
Accessibility isn’t just about meeting technical standards, it’s about creating a website that everyone can use with confidence.
By making your website more inclusive, you’re opening your business to a wider audience while improving the overall experience for every visitor. Small changes like adding image descriptions, improving color contrast organizing content with clear headings and ensuring keyboard navigation can have a significant impact.
