Over 2.6 crore people in India live with some form of disability. When your website is not accessible, you are excluding a significant portion of your potential customers. Accessibility is not just the right thing to do — it also improves SEO, expands your audience, and reduces legal risk.
This guide explains what website accessibility means and how to make practical improvements.
What Is Website Accessibility?
Website accessibility means designing and building your site so that people with disabilities can use it. This includes:
- Visual disabilities — blindness, low vision, color blindness
- Motor disabilities — difficulty using a mouse, limited fine motor control
- Hearing disabilities — deafness or hard of hearing
- Cognitive disabilities — learning difficulties, attention disorders, memory issues
Accessible design benefits everyone. Captions help people watching videos in noisy environments. Clear navigation helps users who are not tech-savvy. Good color contrast helps anyone using a phone in bright sunlight.
Why It Matters for Your Business
It Is the Law
India’s Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 requires that information and communication technology be accessible to persons with disabilities. The government’s GIGW (Guidelines for Indian Government Websites) mandate accessibility standards. While enforcement varies, the legal direction is clear.
Globally, accessibility lawsuits are increasing rapidly. Companies like Domino’s, Netflix, and thousands of small businesses have faced legal action for inaccessible websites.
It Improves SEO
Many accessibility best practices overlap with SEO best practices:
- Alt text on images helps both screen readers and search engines understand your content
- Proper heading structure (H1, H2, H3) helps both navigation and indexing
- Descriptive link text improves both usability and keyword relevance
- Fast loading times help both users with limited bandwidth and search rankings
It Expands Your Audience
The disability market is large and underserved. In India, persons with disabilities represent a market with significant spending power. Their families and caregivers make purchasing decisions influenced by accessibility. Making your site accessible opens your business to customers your competitors are ignoring.
WCAG: The Standard to Follow
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the international standard for accessibility. The current version is WCAG 2.1, organized around four principles — content must be:
- Perceivable — users can perceive the content (alt text, captions, contrast)
- Operable — users can navigate and interact (keyboard access, no time limits)
- Understandable — content is clear and predictable (plain language, consistent navigation)
- Robust — content works across different devices and assistive technologies
Aim for WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance. This is the standard most laws reference and covers the most impactful accessibility requirements.
Practical Accessibility Improvements
1. Add Alt Text to Every Image
Alt text describes what an image shows. Screen readers read it aloud to blind users. Search engines also use it to understand image content.
Good alt text is specific and concise:
- Bad: “image” or “photo”
- Okay: “Office building”
- Good: “24Bit System office in Noida with team working at desks”
Decorative images that do not convey meaning should have empty alt text (alt="") so screen readers skip them.
2. Fix Color Contrast
Text must have sufficient contrast against its background. WCAG AA requires:
- Normal text: 4.5:1 contrast ratio
- Large text (18px+ bold or 24px+): 3:1 contrast ratio
Common problems:
- Light gray text on white backgrounds
- Colored text on similar-colored backgrounds
- Text over images without a solid overlay
Use the WebAIM Contrast Checker (webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker) to test your color combinations.
3. Make Your Site Keyboard-Accessible
Many users cannot use a mouse and rely on keyboard navigation. Test your site:
- Press Tab to move through interactive elements
- Every link, button, and form field should be reachable with the keyboard
- There should always be a visible focus indicator (outline) showing which element is selected
- Users should be able to activate buttons and links with Enter or Space
If you have removed the default focus outline for design reasons, replace it with a visible custom style. An invisible focus state makes your site unusable for keyboard users.
4. Add Labels to All Form Fields
Every form field needs a visible label. Placeholder text is not a substitute — it disappears when the user starts typing and is not reliably read by screen readers.
<!-- Bad -->
<input type="email" placeholder="Enter your email">
<!-- Good -->
<label for="email">Email Address</label>
<input type="email" id="email" placeholder="[email protected]">Group related fields with <fieldset> and <legend>. Mark required fields clearly.
5. Provide Captions and Transcripts
Video and audio content must be accessible:
- Captions for videos — both closed (can be turned on) and open (always visible)
- Transcripts for audio content — text versions of podcasts or interviews
- Audio descriptions for videos where important visual information is not conveyed through dialogue
YouTube auto-captions are a starting point but are not accurate enough. Review and edit them before publishing.
6. Use Proper Heading Structure
Headings create a logical outline of your content. Screen reader users navigate by jumping between headings.
- Use only one H1 per page (your main title)
- Do not skip heading levels (do not jump from H2 to H4)
- Use headings for structure, not for visual styling (use CSS for that)
7. Write Clear, Simple Content
Accessibility includes cognitive accessibility:
- Use short sentences and paragraphs
- Avoid jargon and technical terms when simpler alternatives exist
- Use bullet points and numbered lists to break up information
- Define abbreviations on first use
8. Ensure Sufficient Touch Target Size
For mobile accessibility, interactive elements need to be large enough to tap easily:
- Minimum touch target size: 44x44 pixels
- Add spacing between clickable elements
- Avoid placing small links close together
Testing Your Accessibility
Automated Tools
These catch common issues but only detect about 30-40% of accessibility problems:
- axe DevTools — browser extension for Chrome and Firefox
- WAVE (wave.webaim.org) — visual accessibility evaluation tool
- Google Lighthouse — includes an accessibility audit in Chrome DevTools
- Pa11y — command-line tool for automated testing
Manual Testing
Automated tools cannot catch everything. Test manually:
- Navigate your entire site using only the keyboard
- Zoom your browser to 200% and check that content remains usable
- Use a screen reader (NVDA on Windows, VoiceOver on Mac) to navigate your site
- Test with images disabled to see if alt text conveys meaning
- Check your site on a mobile device with the screen reader enabled
User Testing
The best way to evaluate accessibility is to test with people who have disabilities. This gives you real feedback on what works and what does not.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Using images of text instead of actual text
- Auto-playing videos or audio without a way to stop them
- Time limits on forms or interactions without extensions
- Content that flashes more than three times per second (seizure risk)
- Dropdown menus that disappear when the mouse moves slightly off target
Start with the Biggest Impact
If you cannot do everything at once, prioritize these changes for the most impact:
- Add alt text to all images
- Fix color contrast issues
- Make forms accessible with proper labels
- Ensure keyboard navigation works
- Add captions to video content
These five changes will make a meaningful difference for users with disabilities and improve your site for everyone.
Make Your Website Accessible
Accessibility is an ongoing commitment, not a one-time fix. Contact 24Bit System to audit your website for accessibility issues and implement the improvements that matter most for your users.
