Website accessibility means designing and coding your site so that people with disabilities can perceive, navigate, and interact with it. In Ireland, the Disability Act 2005 requires public sector websites to be accessible.
Approximately 15% of the global population lives with some form of disability. This includes visual impairments, hearing loss, motor disabilities, and cognitive conditions. An inaccessible site excludes a significant portion of potential customers.
Accessible sites also rank better in search engines, perform better on mobile devices, load faster, and are more robust across different browsers. Accessibility improvements benefit every user.
Alt text on images � Every image needs descriptive alt text. Screen readers use this to convey what the image shows. Decorative images should have empty alt text (alt='').
Keyboard navigation � All functionality must be accessible via keyboard alone. Users who cannot use a mouse navigate with Tab, Enter, and arrow keys. Focus indicators must be visible.
Colour contrast � Text must have sufficient contrast against its background. The WCAG AA standard requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.
Form labels � Every form input must have an associated label element. Placeholder text alone is not sufficient � it disappears when the user starts typing.
ARIA landmarks � Use ARIA roles to identify page regions (navigation, main content, complementary, banner). Screen reader users can jump between regions quickly.
WAVE (wave.webaim.org) scans a single page for accessibility issues. axe DevTools integrates with Chrome Developer Tools for in-browser testing. Lighthouse includes accessibility checks in every audit.
Our free audit covers security, SEO, performance, mobile, design, and content.
Get your free audit