Accessibility (a11y)

Accessibility is designing a site so people with disabilities can use it — readable by screen readers, navigable by keyboard, legible at any contrast. It also happens to make a site clearer, faster, and better ranked for everyone.

Accessibility — often shortened to a11y — is designing and building a site so that people with disabilities can actually use it: content a screen reader can read aloud, a site you can operate without a mouse, colour contrast high enough to read, and images described in alt text. It’s usually measured against the WCAG guidelines.

It’s easy to frame this as a compliance chore, but the same work makes a site better for everyone. Clear structure, real text instead of text-in-images, keyboard support, and sensible contrast help sighted mouse users too — and search engines read a page much the way a screen reader does, so accessible sites tend to be better understood and better ranked.

We treat it as part of a proper build, not an add-on, and check it before launch. See the pre-launch checklist.

Quick recall

What is web accessibility? Designing a site so people with disabilities can use it — via screen readers, keyboard, and sufficient contrast.

Is it only about compliance? No — the same work makes a site clearer and faster for everyone, and easier for search engines to read.

What standard is it measured against? The WCAG accessibility guidelines.