What Is Web Accessibility

Digital Consultants • March 31, 2021

What is Web Accessibility?

Making a website accessible means making it easy to use for as many people as possible. Taking physical and cognitive impairments into consideration is important when creating a website. Having an accessible website will improve the experience for users and increase the number of people who can use the site.

Is Web Accessibility Required?

Did you know that websites are required to be accessible by the government? The WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) has accessibility guidelines for websites that need to be followed. As of January, 2021, large fines have been imposed regarding web accessibility: “Ontario websites have until January 1, 2021 to meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA Web Accessibility Requirements; failure to comply may result in daily fines of $50,000 and up” (CISION 2020).

Why is Web Accessibility Necessary?

Accessibility is necessary because it is important to be inclusive of all users. There are many reasons why an individual might struggle using a website. For example, some individuals are unable to read small text or see colours. Therefore, websites should be customizable to fit the needs of more users. Having an accessible website can help people with:


● Dyslexia and reading impairments

● ADHA

● Visual impairments

● Cognitive impairments

● Colour blindness

● Seizures

● Many other physical / cognitive impairments

Sample of Rules

The following is a small sample of the rules from the WCAG accessibility guide:


- Content must have sufficient colour contrast

- Videos need to have captions

- Text can be resized up to 200%

- Functions need to be operable from a keyboard

- Audio that plays for over 3 seconds needs to be able to be paused or reduced in volume by the user

- More than one way is available to locate a web page within a set of web pages

- Text is used to provide information, not images of text

- Color cannot be the only visual means of distinguishing an element


The full list of rules can be found here: https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/#versions

How We Can Help

Do you want to learn more about how to make a website accessible? Find out additional helpful tips about accessibility in our next blog post! Sign up for our email list to receive notifications when more blog posts are published.


Want to get in touch? Give us a call or send us an email! We would be happy to talk to you and help you make an accessible website.

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