What is web accessibility?
The Accessibility Act is coming!!
Key Takeaways:
- What does the European Accessibility Act of 2025 mean for your website?
- Why is accessibility so important for online success?
- How do you make your website more accessible?
- What tools and best practices are there?
- What are the benefits of an accessible website?
To improve accessibility, you can take these steps. Start with a good structure and clear navigation. Make sure your content is organized with clear headings and subheadings to improve readability.
In addition, images should be provided with alt text, so that visitors with a visual impairment can also understand what is shown in the image. And don’t forget to provide subtitles for videos, so that deaf and hard-of-hearing people can also understand the content.
There are also several tools and best practices you can use to improve the accessibility of your website. Think of checking color contrasts, providing alternative text for links, avoiding using only mouse interaction and ensuring clear and readable typography.
Don’t just see the European Accessibility Act of 2025 as an obligation, but also as an opportunity to become more inclusive. You will increase the reach of your website and show that you value the needs of all users.
What is the European Accessibility Act of 2025?
The European Accessibility Act of 2025 aims to make websites and apps accessible to people with disabilities. Equal opportunities and more digital inclusion.
The law has specific requirements for accessibility. For example:
- Alternative text descriptions for images, for the blind and partially sighted.
- Clear navigation, for people with motor disabilities.
- Subtitles and sign language interpreters for videos, for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Organisations in the European Union must follow these requirements. This will make the digital world more accessible to everyone.
Don’t exclude anyone
You don’t want to exclude anyone. Make sure your website is also accessible to people with a visual, auditory, motor or cognitive disability.
Better user experience for everyone
“Accessibility is not only important for people with disabilities, but for everyone. It makes websites and applications more usable and understandable for all users.”
Whether it is a webshop, news website or government agency, accessibility ensures that every visitor has a pleasant user experience.
Web accessibility explained
To understand web accessibility, you need to look at your website again, from different angles. There are multiple angles. Call them aspects.
The four most important aspects are:
- Perceivable: Your website must be accessible in multiple ways. This way, people with visual, auditory or motor disabilities can access it.
- Operable: The navigation must be easy to use. This helps people with motor or cognitive disabilities.
- Understandable: The information on your website must be clear. This way, all visitors understand the information.
- Robust: Your website must work with different technologies. This way, it is accessible to everyone.
These 4 accessibility aspects make your website accessible to everyone. By applying these guidelines, you make your business and online presence more accessible to more people.
| Aspects | Description |
| Percievable | Perceivable |
| Operable | Navigation should be user-friendly and easy to operate. |
| Understandable | Content should be clear and easy to understand. |
| Robust | Website should be compatible with different technologies. |
Benefits of an accessible website
A website that meets accessibility requirements has many benefits. There is more impact than just a better user experience. Your findability in search engines gets a boost.
Improved findability and SEO
Accessibility is important for search engine optimization (SEO). A well-accessible website helps search engines understand and index the content. This makes your website more findable in search results, which allows you to attract more customers.
Check. How accessible is my website?
To improve your website, you first need to know how it is doing. With accessibility checks and accessibility audits, you know what is needed to improve your website.
Accessibility checks
An accessibility check provides a quick assessment of accessibility. Use free online tools such as WAVE or Lighthouse. You scan your website and get suggestions for what needs to be improved.
Accessibility audits
An accessibility audit gives you in-depth insight. An expert assesses your website according to the WCAG. The audit reveals potential problems and with tips, you can make your website more accessible.
Common accessibility issues
Many websites still have obstacles for people with disabilities. In order to comply with the European Accessibility Act, we need to remove those obstacles and provide a good experience for everyone.
Visual impairments
Yes, we are talking about the images. Visitors with a visual impairment do not see images, duh, very logical. The screen reader reads the website and wants to read a description of what is on the image. Many websites lack the so-called alt text for the images. A visitor with a visual impairment wants to know what is on the image. And don’t forget that many people have images turned OFF in their browsers. So start adding descriptions to all images today. You’ll be well on your way.
[More about visual impairments will follow in a later article. A link will be added here when ready.]
Motor impairments
People with motor impairments also have problems operating buttons and links. Complicated menu systems and small click zones make it difficult for them. A clear layout with enough white space and large buttons offer a solution.
Accessibility
Accessibility means that websites and apps are easy to use for everyone. This applies to people with different disabilities. The European Accessibility Act of 2025 sets strict requirements. Organizations must make their online content easier.
By being accessible, you ensure that everyone can use your website. This improves the user experience and boosts findability and SEO.
“Accessibility is essential for creating an inclusive online world, where everyone has an equal opportunity to consume information and use services.”
To check the accessibility of your site, there are accessibility checks and audits. These help to scan for issues.
Step-by-step approach to accessibility
To make your website more accessible, a step-by-step approach is needed. Start by creating accessible content.
Accessible content
Start by adding alternative text descriptions for images. This helps users with visual impairments to understand the content. Use simple language to make your content accessible to more people. The Yoast application helps you with this.
Accessible navigation
A user-friendly navigation is essential. Make sure that visitors with different disabilities can easily navigate through your site. Think of clear menu structures and focus indications for keyboard users.
Tools and resources for accessibility
Many tools and resources can help you. You can find browser extensions and online accessibility checkers. Each has its own advantages.
Useful browser extensions
Browser extensions show you how accessible your website is right away. They check your pages and give you tips for improvement. For example, they can show you if your alt text is missing or if your colors don’t contrast well. Popular options include:
Online accessibility checkers
Want an in-depth analysis of your website? Online tools offer a comprehensive audit and a detailed report. They check your website against WCAG and give you tips for improvement.
3 Online accessibility checkers include:
With these tools and resources, you can make your website more accessible to everyone. You increase your reach and improve the user experience for your visitors.
Guidelines and best practices
To make your website more accessible, follow the guidelines and best practices. Think of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These international standards provide clear criteria for accessible digital content. This way, your website complies with the European Accessibility Act.
The guidelines are simple: perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. They provide instructions on alternative texts, readable fonts, clear navigation and compatibility. By adapting these, you make your website accessible to everyone.
In addition to the guidelines, there are more. Test your website on different devices. This way, you ensure that your website works for everyone, regardless of their capabilities or limitations.
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“Web Accessibility Standards
The WCAG states that there are four main principles you’ll need to follow to create an accessible website: That your site is perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. Within these principles, you can dive deeper into guidelines to reference and apply to your site.
1. Perceivable
First, it’s imperative that visitors can perceive or understand and be aware of the content you present on your website.Keep in mind that “perceive” doesn’t always equate to seeing with one’s eyes — users who have blindness or low vision often use screen reader software, which converts text into synthesized speech or braille characters. Your job is to consider all the ways you can make your content as perceivable as possible when creating and updating your site.
2. Operable
Next up is operable. An operable website means your visitors can use it without disruption. It also means that all visitors can use each part of the site’s functionality, from navigating to the contact page to selecting a link from a menu to playing a video. Generally speaking, you can make your site more operable by keeping it simple. Additionally, you may consider ditching excess functionality that could impede users with disabilities and limitations.
3. Understandable
In addition, your site content must be understandable. Yes, this refers to both your written and graphic content. Keep in mind that folks with various cognitive disabilities are visiting your site. You’re isolating valuable users if your site is too verbose or jumbled. This also spells trouble for folks who don’t speak your site’s predominant language. Keep it digestible. This also applies to your site structure. Your pages must be intuitively organized, and your navigation must be readily available.
4. Robust
Lastly, your content should be robust enough to easily interpreted by folks with various assistive technologies, such as screen readers. To achieve this, write HTML that allows assistive technologies to parse your code without a visual reference.
Pro Tip:
It’s not enough if your site is operable but not robust. Aim to check the box on all four of these principles.
How to Make Your Website Accessible
After reviewing the principles above, you may realize that your current site isn’t quite up to par with web accessibility standards. Or maybe you used an accessibility testing tool to diagnose any issues and didn’t receive the best score. Either way, don’t panic — the WCAG offers specific guidelines for each principle we walked through. Let’s unpack how you can implement these best practices to create a site that checks all the boxes for web accessibility. Or, for an even more comprehensive review of these guidelines, see our complete web accessibility checklist. I highly recommend you use this as it makes adhering to accessibility best practices more digestible.” https://blog.hubspot.com/website/web-accessibility
