An accessible website can be used by people with disability, including people who are blind or have low vision, use a keyboard instead of a mouse, or have hearing or cognitive disability. In Australia, the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 applies to websites, and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the accepted standard. Accessible sites also tend to be clearer and easier for everyone.
Who it helps
About one in five Australians has disability, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Accessibility also helps older visitors, people on small screens or in bright sunlight, and anyone with a temporary injury. Many of your customers benefit, whether or not they would describe themselves as having disability.
The basics
Most of the work comes down to a handful of habits:
- Text with enough contrast against its background (WCAG asks for at least 4.5 to 1 for normal text)
- Every feature usable with a keyboard, with a visible focus outline
- Real headings in a logical order, and link text that says where it goes
- Alternative text for meaningful images
- Forms with clear labels and helpful error messages
- Captions for videos, and no sound that plays by itself
- Pages that still work when text is enlarged to 200%
WCAG in brief
WCAG is published by the W3C. The current version, WCAG 2.2, was released in October 2023. Most organisations aim for level AA, the middle of its three levels.
Motion and accessibility
Animation can help explain things, but it can also distract or make some people unwell. Good sites respect the “reduce motion” setting on phones and computers and keep essential content readable without the animation. Every ExIQ Web site does this.
How to check your site
You can learn a lot in ten minutes:
- Try using it with only the keyboard (Tab, Shift+Tab and Enter)
- Zoom the text to 200% and check nothing breaks
- Run a free automated check such as Google Lighthouse; it finds some issues, though not all
- Ask someone who uses assistive technology to try it
A note on the law
This guide is general information, not legal advice. If you need to know your specific obligations, speak to a lawyer.