For years, accessible website design has been treated as an afterthought in web projects. A nice-to-have. Something to “circle back to” when there’s time or budget.
But here’s the reality: Accessibility isn’t an extra feature you bolt onto a finished website. It’s part of what makes a website usable, inclusive, and effective in the first place.
For public-facing organizations like nonprofits, higher education institutions, government teams, and high-trust businesses, accessibility matters even more. Your website is often how people find services, register for programs, make donations, or understand what to do next.
If your site creates barriers, people don’t just have a frustrating experience. They may lose access to information or support they genuinely need.
That’s why accessibility-focused website design needs to be part of the plan from day one.
What Is Web Accessibility?
Web accessibility means websites, tools, and digital content are designed and developed so people with disabilities can use them. That includes people who navigate with screen readers, keyboards, voice controls, magnification tools, captions, or other assistive technologies.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are widely used accessibility standards that help teams understand how to make web content more accessible.
WCAG is organized around four core principles: Content should be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.
In plain English, people need to be able to find, understand, navigate, and interact with your website in a way that works for them.
Accessible website design can support users with visual, auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, and speech disabilities. It also helps people without permanent disabilities, including older adults, mobile users, and people in distracting environments. It can even help people using slower internet connections.
Site accessibility guidelines aren’t about designing for a small edge case. They’re about designing for real life.
Why Accessibility Can’t Wait Until the End
Think of your website like a building.
You don’t want to wait until construction is complete to think about how people with disabilities will enter, move through, and use the space. If it is an afterthought, you’ll likely need to undo finished work, change the structure, and fix issues that could have been avoided.
Websites work the same way.
When accessibility is left until the end, teams often discover problems in the design, content, code, navigation, forms, media, or CMS setup. Fixing those issues after launch can take more time, cost more money, and create more stress for internal teams.
When accessibility is built in from the start, everything works better:
- Code is cleaner
- Navigation is clearer
- Page structure is more logical
- Forms are easier to complete
- Content is easier to skim
- Media is more usable
- Assistive technology has a better foundation to work with
- Internal teams have clearer standards to follow
Accessibility from day one doesn’t make a project more complicated. It makes the right work easier to plan.
7 Ways to Ensure Your Website Is Accessible
Making sure your website is accessible isn’t just a singular task. Your team needs to make a series of decisions across strategy, design, content, development, and maintenance.
Here are five considerations a strong accessibility-focused website should take into account:
1. Clear Structure and Navigation
People should be able to understand where they are, where they can go, and how to get back. This includes website elements like:
- Logical menus
- Breadcrumbs throughout internal pages
- Search options
- Descriptive page titles
- Clear pathways to key actions
2. Proper Heading Hierarchy
Headings aren’t just visual styling. They help organize content for both readers and assistive technology. A page should have one clear H1, followed by H2s, H3s, and other headings in a logical order.
This also supports SEO. Search engines and screen readers both benefit from well-structured content. Everyone wins. No monkey business required.
3. Strong Colour Contrast
Text needs enough contrast against its background so people can read it comfortably. Colour should also never be the only way information is communicated.
For example, if a form error is only marked in red, some users may miss it. Pair colour with text, icons, or clear instructions.
4. Keyboard Accessibility
Not everyone uses a mouse. Some users rely on a keyboard, switch device, voice control, or other input method.
Many keyboard users navigate websites by pressing the Tab key to move through links, buttons, form fields, menus, and other interactive elements. All functionality, including menus, links, buttons, forms, and interactive tools, should be fully usable with a keyboard alone.
Users should also be able to clearly see where keyboard focus is on the page as they move through content.
5. Responsive and Flexible Layouts
Accessible websites should work across screen sizes, zoom levels, devices, and orientations. Users should be able to resize text and navigate content without losing information or functionality.
6. Descriptive Alt Text
Alt text helps people using screen readers understand important images. It should describe the purpose or meaning of the image, not stuff in keywords like it’s 2011.
Decorative images may not need descriptive alt text, but meaningful images, charts, buttons, and graphics definitely do.
7. Ongoing Testing and Maintenance
So many teams stop looking at their website after launch. That’s a mistake we’ve seen often.
It’s so important to understand that accessibility isn’t “done” after you get your brand new website up. Websites change. Content gets added. Plugins update. Forms evolve. Campaign pages appear.
Ongoing website support and accessibility checks help keep things manageable.
Want a more in-depth list on the important elements of accessible website design?
You can complete a quick audit of your own website using our Website Accessibility Checklist.
How to Make a Website Accessible From the Start
If you are planning a new website, redesign, or major improvement project, accessibility should be included before design concepts are finalized.
Here is where to start:
- First, Decide what accessibility standards your organization needs to meet
- Include accessibility discussions during the discovery stage of your web project
- Design with real users in mind — accessibility doesn’t mean boring design, but it does mean thoughtful design
- Build accessibility into development
- Create accessible content standards that everyone on the team can follow
- Test early and often
Progress Over Perfection
If we haven’t convinced you yet, we’ll say it again. Accessible website design is an ongoing commitment. It’s never done.
That can sound intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be.
Our aim isn’t to make every team feel like they need to become accessibility experts overnight. We want to give you the essential information and help you build accessibility into how your organization plans, designs, writes, tests, and improves your organization’s website over time.
Come up with a phased approach. Start with the biggest barriers. Create clear standards. Train content contributors. Test regularly. Make improvements in manageable steps.
At Cheeky Monkey Media, we help organizations build accessibility into their websites from strategy and design to content, code, support, and ongoing improvement.
Whether you’re planning a redesign, looking for an accessibility audit, or trying to make your current site less chaotic and more usable, we can help you identify the right next steps.
Ready to make your website easier for more people to use? Contact us to find out how we can support your team!
Frequently Asked Questions
Is accessible website design only important for large organizations?
No. Accessibility matters for any organization that wants people to actually use its website. Larger public-facing organizations may have more formal requirements, but small and mid-sized organizations still benefit from clearer navigation, readable content, accessible forms, and fewer barriers for their users.
What’s the difference between usability and accessibility?
Usability is about how easy and effective a website is for people to use. Accessibility focuses on whether people with disabilities can perceive, navigate, understand, and interact with the site. They overlap, but accessibility includes specific needs, standards, and assistive technology considerations that general usability work can miss.
Can accessibility be improved without rebuilding the whole website?
We definitely think so. In fact, we like to look at optimization options before suggesting a complete overhaul. Yes, some accessibility issues require deeper design or development work, but many improvements can happen in focused steps. Fixing headings, link text, colour contrast, form labels, alt text, captions, and keyboard issues can make a meaningful difference before you plan for larger improvements.
Does mobile-friendly design mean a website is accessible?
Not necessarily. A mobile-friendly site may still have poor contrast, inaccessible menus, confusing headings, unlabeled buttons, keyboard traps, or forms that don’t work with assistive technology. Responsive design helps, but it’s only one part of accessibility.