Web Accessibility? What is that? What do we even need it for?

You spend 3 weeks building a slick website. It looks beautiful. Then someone tells you they can’t use it at all. Why? Because they’re blind.

Tell me, are we building for humans, or are we building for enabled humans? On your CV, you said you create visually appealing, user-centric websites — but some users can’t use your website because they are disabled. Bro, you need this article.

Don’t worry, I won’t take much of your time. I just want to tell you about web accessibility then I’ll add resources where you can learn further. Shall we

What is Web Accessibility

It’s actually two words:

1. Web — we all know what the web is. A website. www.something. etc
2. Accessibility — a.k.a A11y (“A, 11 characters[c-t], and y). Accessibility in tech is when technology has been designed in a way so that it can be accessed by all users. Notice the “all” is written in bold format.

Now, let’s combine. Web Accessibility means enabling as many people as possible to use websites, even when those people’s abilities are limited in some way.

The big people at the top who develops and handle web rules and standards- the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), created an initiative called the Web Accessibility Initiative(WAI). The WAI develops standards and guidelines to help everyone building the web ensure and improve accessibility for people with various challenges.

The WAI then came up with a guideline called the WCAG(Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). — a rulebook for making websites usable by everyone, including people with disabilities (visual, auditory, motor, cognitive). It’s not a codebase. It’s standards + success criteria that tools can check against.

WCAG has 4 principles and it has a catchy acronym — POUR (haha, catchy right?)

1. P for Perceivable — Users should be able to see or hear the contents of your website. What do you mean you’re using black text for a red background?? how do you want me to see it??Bruh
2. O for Operable — Users should be able to operate/interact with your website. What do you mean i open your site and your contact button is not clicking?? Again, bruh
3. U for Understandable — Users should be able to understand your website. I need to know which is a button, which is a link, etc. What do you mean a submit button is just a plain black text that says “submit”??c’mon dude
4. R for Robust — Users should be able to view your website across all devices, browsers and assistive tech. Your website is working on Chrome but not on Safari, nah bruh.

Who Actually Needs It?

Web Accessibility isn’t just a niche. It is massive. It is HUGE

Around 1.3 billion people (yes, one point three billion humans) worldwide live with some form of disability. That includes visual(blind), hearing(deaf), motor(paralysis), and cognitive impairments(ADHD). The video attached below will make you understand who actually needs web accessibility

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Why should we developers care?

Do you know that accessibility is now becoming a law and not a suggestion. In the US, the Americans with Disabilities Act has been used to file thousands of lawsuits against inaccessible websites. In Europe, the European Accessibility Act kicked in fully in 2025, requiring digital products to meet accessible standards. In addition, Google actually cares more about accessibility than you think. Search engines rewards accessibility because it overlaps with good structure. So, the more you make your website more accessible, the higher it ranks on search engines.

Common Accessibility Mistakes

1. Missing “alt” text on images — A visually impaired user cannot see the images on your website. They depend on screen readers to read contents on your website and screen readers depend on alt text to describe images.
2. Poor color contrast — You can’t be using a dark text for a red background. How do you expect users to read it clearly? MAKE YOUR TEXTS VISIBLE.
3. Missing Focus State — You’re using Tab to navigate a menu, but no highlight appears on the current button. You have to guess where you are each time — like walking blindfolded on a busy sidewalk.
4. Forms without labels — Again, screen readers can only read what is on the screen. A signup form has a “Name” input with only a placeholder inside the box. A screen reader reads “edit text,” and once user start typing, the placeholder disappears, now you’re not sure what to type.

Okay, But Where Do I Begin?

The best way is to run accessibility audit on your websites using popular tools like Chrome Lighthouse, axe DevTools.

Pick one page, run the audit, you’ll get list of what you can do to make your site more accessible: missing alt text, bad contrast, non-keyboard navigation. Fix those warnings you see and your sites should be more accessible.

Let’s end here….for now

As promised, here are sites where you can read up on web accessibilities

1. Official WCAG Docs — https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/
2. MDN Web accessibility Docs — https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Accessibility

Accessibility isn’t a feature. It’s a responsibility. The next time you push code, ask yourself — can everyone use this? Not just the people you had in mind.

Run a Lighthouse audit on your site today. See what it says. Then fix it.

Found this useful? Leave a clap, share it with a developer friend who needs to hear it, and follow for more frontend content. This is my first time writing a blog by the way.