Designing for Accessibility: Best Practices

Introduction

Accessibility in design isn't just a legal requirement or a checkbox for compliance—it's a fundamental approach that ensures digital products and services can be used by everyone, regardless of their abilities or circumstances. When we design with accessibility in mind, we create experiences that are more usable for all people, including those with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive disabilities.

This article explores best practices for designing accessible digital experiences that not only meet compliance standards but truly embrace inclusive design principles.

Understanding Accessibility Fundamentals

The Four Principles of WCAG

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) organize accessibility considerations around four fundamental principles, often remembered by the acronym POUR:

• Perceivable: Information must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive. This means providing alternatives for any content that some users might not be able to access directly.
• Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable through various means, including keyboard and assistive technologies.
• Understandable: Information and interface operation must be understandable. This includes making text readable and making operations predictable.
• Robust: Content must be robust enough to be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.

Beyond Compliance

While legal requirements like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and European Accessibility Act provide important frameworks, truly accessible design goes beyond meeting minimum standards. It embraces a philosophy that recognizes diverse human experiences and seeks to design for that diversity.

Visual Design Accessibility

Color and Contrast

Color choices significantly impact accessibility, particularly for users with visual impairments or color blindness:

• Maintain a minimum contrast ratio of 4.5:1 between text and background for normal text, and 3:1 for large text (18pt or 14pt bold)
• Never rely solely on color to convey information—always provide additional indicators
• Test designs using color blindness simulators to ensure they work for different types of color vision deficiencies
• Provide high contrast modes as an option for users who need them

Typography and Readability

Text legibility is crucial for accessibility:

• Use a minimum font size of 16px for body text
• Maintain sufficient line spacing (1.5 times the font size is recommended)
• Ensure text can be resized up to 200% without loss of content or functionality
• Choose fonts with clear character distinction and good readability
• Align text to the left for languages that read left-to-right (improves readability for dyslexic users)
• Limit line length to 80 characters or less to improve readability

Focus States and Visual Indicators

Users navigating with keyboards need clear visual indicators:

• Ensure all interactive elements have visible focus states
• Make focus indicators obvious with high contrast outlines or backgrounds
• Never remove focus indicators—customize them to match your design if needed
• Ensure focus order follows a logical sequence that matches visual layout

Interactive Elements and Navigation

Buttons and Controls

Interactive elements should be accessible to everyone:

• Make touch targets at least 44x44 pixels
• Ensure sufficient spacing between interactive elements
• Provide descriptive labels for all controls
• Make states (hover, active, focused, disabled) clearly distinguishable
• Ensure controls can be operated using keyboard only

Forms and Input

Forms are often challenging for accessibility:

• Associate labels explicitly with form controls using the label element
• Group related form elements with fieldsets and legends
• Provide clear error messages that explain how to fix issues
• Maintain form information when errors occur
• Support autocomplete functionality for common fields
• Allow users to review, correct, and confirm form submissions

Navigation and Wayfinding

Users need to understand where they are and how to get around:

• Provide multiple ways to navigate content (navigation menus, search, site maps)
• Use consistent navigation patterns throughout the site
• Implement proper heading structure (H1-H6) to create a logical document outline
• Include "skip to main content" links to bypass repetitive navigation
• Ensure breadcrumbs and other location indicators are accessible to screen readers

Content and Media Accessibility

Text Alternatives

Non-text content needs text equivalents:

• Provide alt text for images that conveys the same information and function
• Make alt text concise yet descriptive (typically under 125 characters)
• Use empty alt attributes for decorative images
• Provide transcripts for audio content
• Include captions and descriptions for video content

Document Structure

Proper structure helps all users understand content relationships:

• Use semantic HTML elements that reflect the actual content type (headings, lists, etc.)
• Implement proper heading hierarchy to create a logical outline
• Use lists for groups of related items
• Create data tables with proper headers and relationship indicators
• Avoid using tables for layout purposes

Multimedia

Audio and video content requires additional accessibility considerations:

• Provide captions for all video with audio
• Include audio descriptions for important visual content in videos
• Offer transcripts for audio-only content
• Ensure media players have accessible controls
• Avoid auto-playing content, or provide easy mechanisms to stop it

Testing and Validation

Automated Testing

While not comprehensive, automated tools can help identify basic issues:

• Incorporate accessibility testing into development workflows
• Use tools like axe, WAVE, or Lighthouse to identify common issues
• Test with multiple tools to catch different types of problems
• Remember that automated tools typically only catch 30-40% of accessibility issues

Manual Testing

Human testing is essential for comprehensive accessibility:

• Test using keyboard navigation only
• Verify screen reader compatibility with popular screen readers (NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver)
• Test with browser zoom and text resizing
• Review color contrast in different scenarios
• Check for proper focus order and visible focus indicators

User Testing

Nothing replaces testing with actual users:

• Include people with disabilities in user testing
• Test with users of different assistive technologies
• Observe real usage patterns rather than just asking questions
• Pay testers appropriately for their expertise and time
• Use feedback to improve future iterations

Organizational Practices

Building Accessibility Into Process

Accessibility works best when integrated throughout the design and development process:

• Include accessibility requirements in project planning
• Conduct accessibility reviews at key milestones
• Build component libraries with accessibility baked in
• Document accessibility features and requirements
• Train all team members on accessibility basics

Creating Accessibility Champions

Organizations benefit from dedicated accessibility expertise:

• Designate accessibility champions on design and development teams
• Provide specialized training for these champions
• Empower champions to review work and suggest improvements
• Create communities of practice around accessibility
• Recognize and reward accessibility improvements

Conclusion: Accessibility as Innovation

When we view accessibility not as a constraint but as a catalyst for innovation, we discover that designing for diverse needs often leads to better solutions for everyone. Features originally designed for accessibility—like captions, voice control, and high contrast modes—frequently become mainstream conveniences that all users appreciate.

By embracing accessibility best practices, we create digital experiences that are more flexible, more robust, and ultimately more human. In doing so, we don't just comply with standards—we fulfill the fundamental promise of digital technology to connect and empower all people.

Remember that accessibility is a journey, not a destination. Standards evolve, technologies change, and our understanding of human needs continues to develop. The most successful organizations approach accessibility with humility, curiosity, and a genuine commitment to improvement.

By staying dedicated to these best practices and the principles behind them, we can create a digital world that truly works for everyone