The obligation for web accessibility is approaching for businesses. But what exactly does accessibility mean? How can it be implemented, and is your company affected? This article provides the answers.
What Is Web Accessibility?
How do we typically interact with websites? We visually perceive the content as text and use images, colors, and symbols to recognize structures. We navigate using a mouse or by tapping on a link and enter data using a keyboard.
This interaction relies on multiple senses and abilities - even a minor impairment can cause difficulties. Affected individuals may find it impossible to interact with online offerings.
These impairments in vision or fine motor skills can also arise simply with age. Everyone knows these issues from their parents or grandparents - accessibility is also a concern for them.
Web accessibility means ensuring that your website is usable for people with impairments and, if necessary, compatible with assistive technologies like screen readers. This can often already be achieved with small changes.
Visual Impairments
One in thirty Europeans has a visual impairment (Disability in the EU: facts and figures). For users with limited vision, it’s important that the website’s text size can be increased (possible directly in the browser) without the structure of the website becoming distorted. This can be ensured with thoughtful programming.
For those who cannot see well or at all, the website must be readable by a screen reader or text-to-speech software. Small measures can quickly help here. For example, alternative text can be provided for links or images, which the software reads aloud. It’s also important to provide text for buttons labeled only with an arrow or symbol. Without this, the link, button, or image will be skipped, preventing navigation.
Common software solutions and CMS systems like Wordpress with Elementor allow these details to be specified - you just need to remember to do so. These details are often called “aria-labels,” with “aria-” settings always referring to assistive technologies like screen readers.
Color Blindness
Approximately 4.5% of the global population is partially or completely colorblind [1]. This can include an inability to distinguish certain colors, such as red and green. Sometimes, affected individuals may not even be aware of their condition.
These distinction problems are critical since we typically use green for positive messages and red for error messages. Because color blindness is so widespread, it’s important to use colors only as a supplement and not as the primary mode of communication. Error messages or warnings should always be clearly identifiable in text (e.g., “Error: something went wrong” or “This field is required”).
Color Contrast
Another aspect is the contrast between text color and background color. For people with poor vision or partial color blindness, sufficient contrast between these colors is necessary to read the text well.
The required contrast depends on the text size - the smaller the text, the higher the required contrast. Mistakes happen quickly here. Gray text for subtitles or white text on a blue button can be hard to read. To ensure your design remains readable, use the free Contrast Checker Tool by WebAIM. The tool distinguishes between two standards, “AA” and “AAA,” with meeting “AA” standards being sufficient initially.
Physical Impairments
Nearly one in four Europeans has a physical impairment (Disability in the EU: facts and figures). Using a mouse may not be possible due to a physical impairment, lack of fine motor skills, tremors, or visual impairments.
In these cases, navigating the website using a keyboard is an important alternative, allowing users to tab through all links or fields in a form. The order is important - users should be able to logically tab through the website from top to bottom.
A crucial aspect here is that the browser highlights which element is currently selected with the tab key. Too often, this “highlight” or “focus” is removed or reduced for aesthetic reasons, which has severe consequences for keyboard navigation.
What Standards Exist for Accessibility?
The most important international standard for accessibility is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) (Official WCAG Website), which are quite technical. In Europe, the EN 301 549 standard applies, which complements the WCAG with additional criteria (Details on the EN 301 549 standard).
The European standard includes three levels of conformance, with A being the absolute minimum threshold:
- Conformance Level A
- Conformance Level AA
- Conformance Level AAA
You can test your website at any time with the free WAVE - Web Accessibility Online Tool.
The tool tests the most important standards and provides concrete recommendations for action. If you want to make your website accessible, we are happy to assist you.
Who is Affected by the Legal Requirement for Accessibility?
In Europe, the obligation for accessibility comes into effect on June 28, 2025. From this date, all online services, websites, and other digital offerings must be accessible.
There is an exception for small businesses with fewer than 10 employees or an annual turnover of less than 10 million euros (More on the legal requirements). However, the topic largely overlaps with search engine optimization. Ensuring accessibility is therefore not only a precaution for a likely future expansion of the law but also an investment in your SEO and widening your reach (More on the impact of accessibility on SEO).
Fazit
Accessibility is important for up to 10% of potential users, making it far from a niche topic. It’s also often underestimated how much visual and fine motor impairments can occur with age. Therefore, don’t wait for a foreseeable legal obligation; start now to make your website usable for everyone.
With just a few small changes, you can cover the most important points. Ensure that…
- … your website is well-structured and clear (headings, lists).
- … your website is navigable with a keyboard (tab key).
- … your website has sufficient contrast between foreground and background colors.
- … all links, buttons, and images have good alternative text.
- … colors are used only as supplements and the content is communicated through text.
Always check your website with online tools like the free online checker by WAVE to ensure you haven’t missed anything.
Make your website accessible now and reach a wider audience!Contact us for a free accessibility check and secure your position as an inclusive and progressive company.
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