Web Accessibility

As a web developer, I spend most of my time ensuring that the code is clean, fast, and the design is responsive. But there is one aspect that is often overlooked, yet should be an absolute priority: Accessibility (A11y).

What exactly is accessibility?

Creating a website that can only be read by healthy people with the latest iPhone is simply wrong. Accessibility (A11y) is not charity, it is a professional approach. It ensures that everyone, regardless of their abilities, can use the web. This includes people with various types of disabilities, but also older people, pregnant women, or travelers with heavy luggage.

Among other things:

  • Can be controlled without a mouse
  • Has sufficient color contrast
  • Has a clearly visible focus
  • Every important element has its own text label if it does not have text (icons, images)

Semantics

Semantics are often forgotten. If an element has a role, it should be correctly labeled.

If something is a button, it should be <button>, not <div>. Use <nav> for navigation menus and <main> for main content. Not everything has special tags, so sometimes it is necessary to use the ARIA attribute role, which can do alert, for example. It can also be used for elements that HTML has but are not always used correctly. For example, <a> should only be used for links, not for buttons. However, a link is sometimes a button.

What exactly is Accessibility?

Simply put, web accessibility means that people with disabilities — whether visual, auditory, physical, speech, or cognitive impairments — can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with your website. It’s not just about a severely visually impaired user being able to read text with a screen reader. It’s also about people with temporary disabilities (e.g., a broken arm), situational limitations (e.g., bright sunlight on the screen), or just those using older technology. It’s about inclusion. For me personally, it’s an ethical standard; building a website for everyone.

My Perspective from Practice

I’ll admit, at the start of my career, I didn’t focus on accessibility. I was solely focused on making it look good and work. But the longer I’m in the industry, the more I realize that ignoring things like proper semantic HTML markup, sufficient color contrast, or keyboard navigation is simply a professional failure. When I implement a new component, I always test if it’s fully keyboard-operable and has the correct ARIA attributes. It has become a habit and an automatic step in my workflow. Pressing the tab key can be relaxing at times.

And Now for the Big Change from the EU

If you haven’t noticed yet, it’s time to pay attention. The European Union is pushing to make accessibility a mandatory reality on a much broader scale. Specifically, from June 28, 2025, websites and mobile applications will have to meet the minimum requirements of the WCAG 2.1 specification at the AA level.

WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is a set of internationally recognized recommendations for improving web content accessibility. Level AA is considered the standard for most commercial and governmental websites. This is a massive step! It’s not just a nice-to-have anymore; it’s a legal obligation. And for us developers, it means only one thing: we must become familiar with WCAG 2.1 and implement it.

However, the specifications are too formal, and the rules can be simply summarized as follows: every website should have:

  • Sufficient color contrast (min. 4.5:1, 3:1 for large text).
  • The option of keyboard-only control (i.e., without a mouse).
  • Clearly visible focus (visual highlighting of elements).
  • Text alternatives for images and icons (alt texts).
  • Meaningful content order and structure (e.g., headings, form descriptions).
  • Descriptive button and link names.
  • Accessible forms (labels, understandable error messages).
  • Text that is legible even when significantly enlarged (e.g., 200%).
  • Consistent controls and navigation across pages.
  • Color must not be used as the only means of conveying information.
  • Content must not flash more than 3 times per second.

You can read the directive here.

Conclusion

The work you put into accessibility isn’t just about meeting the standard or checking an EU box. It’s an investment in the user experience for everyone, an expansion of your potential user base, and, quite frankly, doing the right thing. Let’s open the web for everyone.