As the web continues to evolve, it’s becoming more and more important for websites to be accessible to everyone. An accessible website is one that can be easily navigated and understood by all users, regardless of any disabilities or impairments they may have.

Making sure your website is accessible is not just good ethical practice – it’s also required by law in many places. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that all public websites be accessible to users with disabilities. There are also many other laws and regulations around the world mandating web Accessibility.

So how can you check if your website is truly accessible? Here are some tips.

Use Automated Testing Tools

The easiest way to get started with an accessibility audit is to use an automated testing tool. These tools will crawl through your website and identify any issues or areas of non-compliance with web accessibility standards.

Some popular automated tools include:

• WAVE – A free web accessibility checker from WebAIM. It provides a detailed report of errors, alerts, contrast errors, and features.
• axe – An open-source Chrome and Firefox extension created by Deque Systems. It checks for violations of WCAG and Section 508 guidelines.
• Siteimprove – A paid tool that offers advanced reporting on accessibility, quality, SEO, and more.
• Tenon – A paid tool that checks for WCAG 2.1 compliance, with flexible filtering and integration options.

These tools don’t catch every issue, but they are a great first pass to identify any major areas of concern. You can then dive deeper into those specific issues.

Validate HTML Markup

Many accessibility issues can be caused by invalid HTML markup. When your HTML contains errors or isn’t semantic, Screen readers may have trouble accurately conveying the page to users.

Validating your HTML is easy with online tools like the W3C Markup Validation Service. Simply enter your URL or directly input code samples. The tool will analyze your HTML and highlight any errors, warnings, or things that might cause accessibility issues.

This should catch things like:

• Missing or malformed tags
• Improper nesting of elements
• Lack of alt text for images
• Non-semantic markup like  vs. 

Correcting these errors will go a long way toward improving accessibility.

Review Color & Contrast

Having adequate color contrast is crucial for visually impaired users to be able to comfortably view and use your site.

The WCAG guidelines provide specific contrast ratios to aim for. The minimum for body text is 4.5:1. But for graphics and large text (over 24px), it should be at least 3:1.

You can check contrast ratios using tools like:

• WebAIM Color Contrast Checker – Input foreground and background colors to see if they pass accessibility standards.
• Contrast Checker – A Chrome extension that lets you click on elements to assess contrast directly on any web page.
• Accessibility Insights – A Windows app with a color contrast analyzer tool built in.

Pay particular attention to these elements:

• Text against colored backgrounds
• Buttons or call-to-action links
• Headings
• Borders against backgrounds

Adjust colors as needed to meet contract requirements. Every user should be able to comfortably read and interact with each element.

Use a Screen Reader

One of the best ways to experience your site from an accessibility perspective is to navigate it using a screen reader. Screen readers verbalize page content to visually impaired users.

Some popular screen readers include:

• NVDA – A free, open-source screen reader for Windows.
• VoiceOver – Built into Mac OS and iOS devices.
• JAWS – The most widely used commercial Windows screen reader.

By toggling on a screen reader and navigating your site, you can identify issues like:

• Images missing alt-text descriptions
• Buttons/links not labeled meaningfully
• Headings not structured logically
• ARIA markup used incorrectly

Aim to tab through pages in a logical order, and make sure all interactions and options are available and make sense via the screen reader.

This might take some adjusting to if you’ve never used a screen reader before. But it provides extremely valuable insights.

Check Focus Indicators

Keyboard accessibility is crucial for users with motor impairments who can’t use a mouse. All website functionality should be available via keyboard.

One important aspect of this is having visible focus indicators. These are styles that highlight which element currently has a keyboard focus.

Focus indicators help sighted keyboard users understand where they are on the page. But they also provide helpful context to users relying on screen readers.

You can tab through your site to make sure focus indicators are present and clearly visible on all interactive elements. Things to check:

• Links and buttons
• Form fields
• Dropdown menus
• Tabs/accordions
• Popups and dialogs

Browsers have default focus styles. But you may need to add custom CSS for things like buttons or dropdowns to make sure indicators are prominent enough.

Examine Site Structure

The overall structure and semantics of your site can have a big impact on accessibility. Things to examine include:

• Headings: Proper heading structure helps screen reader users understand page content and navigation. Don’t skip heading levels.
• Landmarks: Markup like , , 
  , and  helps segment page regions.
• Focus Order: Tab order should flow logically without strange jumps. Programmatically set tabindex values if needed.
• Forms: Associate labels with fields properly. Consider inline validation and error messages.
• Images: Use appropriate alternative text. Provide descriptions for complex images.
• Tables: Include column/row headers and scope attributes. Allow keyboard navigation.

Cleaning up any structural issues will go a long way toward improving the overall accessibility of your site.

Test With Real Users

Automated tools and your own testing can only go so far. To fully gauge accessibility, it’s important to work with real users across a diverse range of impairments.

Recruiting a small set of users to test your site one-on-one can provide incredibly valuable feedback. You’ll get to directly observe any struggles or frustrations faced by blind users, motor-impaired users, cognitively impaired users, and more.

If user testing isn’t feasible, another option is to take advantage of one of the many assistive technology forums and communities online. You can describe your website and ask for their general feedback based on experience with similar sites.

Real user input should guide and prioritize how you approach improvements. Everybody’s needs are different. Strive to accommodate as many as possible.

Audit Accessibility Regularly

Web accessibility isn’t a one-and-done deal. It requires ongoing maintenance and testing.

As you add new features and content to your site over time, it’s critical to regularly regress test for any new accessibility issues you may have inadvertently introduced.

Aim to do regular audits on a quarterly basis. Automated tools can make regression testing easier, allowing you to quickly compare results against previous scans.

You should also scan third-party tools and embed content you may leverage across your site like chat widgets, media players, or embedded maps.

Treating accessibility as an ongoing priority will help embed it into your team’s development workflow.

Follow WCAG Standards

Throughout all of your accessibility testing, aim to adhere to the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These guidelines establish best practices for creating accessible web experiences.

There are three levels of compliance:

• A: Basic accessibility. Covers issues severely limiting access.
• AA: Removes significant barriers. Considered a good minimum target.
• AAA: Ideal accessibility. May not always be feasible.

Most organizations aim for WCAG Level AA compliance at a minimum. Refer to the WCAG checklist for specifics.

Use it as a framework for your audits. Identify which guidelines you do/don’t meet, and track progress towards compliance.

Prioritize fixes for issues rated as severity level A or AA. Having a concrete standard to work towards will help drive continuous improvement.

Provide Feedback Options

No matter how diligent you are, don’t assume your site’s accessibility work is ever complete. There’s always room for improvement.

Provide an easy way for users to contact you if they encounter any issues. This allows you to quickly address concerns and continually enhance the experience.

The best option is an accessibility-specific feedback channel like an email address or contact form. But even just providing links to general customer support can help.

Document these reports diligently. Actual user feedback is invaluable for improving accessibility moving forward.

Use ARIA Attributes

ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attributes are special HTML tags you can add to provide enhanced semantics and metadata for screen readers.

Some common ARIA tags include:

• role="navigation" to define site navigation landmarks
• aria-label to provide labels for non-text elements
• aria-hidden="true" to hide non-critical content from screen readers
• aria-describedby to associate help text with inputs
• aria-live to dynamically update screen reader users

ARIA attributes can make web apps much more usable for disabled users when applied appropriately.

However, ARIA shouldn’t be used to try and “fix” issues that could be addressed natively with better coding. Think of it as an enhancement on top of accessible foundations.

Review the full list of ARIA attributes to understand what’s available.

Summing Up Web Accessibility

Ensuring your website is accessible to all users is both an ethical obligation and a legal requirement. Thankfully, there are many straightforward best practices you can implement:

• Leverage automated tools to surface major issues
• Clean up invalid HTML that causes screen reader confusion
• Properly structure page layout and semantics
• Provide text equivalents for images and media
• Follow color contrast standards
• Test with assistive technologies and real users
• Continuously audit and improve based on feedback
• Aim for compliance with WCAG standards

While achieving 100% universal accessibility may be difficult, striving to accommodate as many users as possible leads to better experiences for everyone.

With some diligence and care, you can help make the web a more inclusive place where disabled users aren’t left behind. It just takes a little extra thought and effort.

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• UX vs. UI: Understanding the Difference and Why it Matters for Your Website & App

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