Why accessibility compliance matters
While you should advocate for creating a digital experience that’s inclusive and welcoming to everyone because it’s the right thing to do, failing to comply could soon leave you facing a fine. To comply, organisations must meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards, publish an accessibility statement, and conduct regular accessibility audits.
Compliance ensures that all users can access and interact with your content, enhancing user experience, improving engagement, and opening new opportunities for connection. As our partners at Recite Me aptly put it: ‘online accessibility goes beyond mere compliance – it’s about delivering a seamless, inclusive user experience.’
Learn more about the EAA and WCAG standards in our webinar.
What are we doing about it?
So, what are we actually doing to make sure our website is accessible?
For us, step one was taking a look at some initial findings Recite Me shared after auditing our homepage URL. This overview pointed out key areas of WCAG compliance where this page was falling short, flagging which guidelines hadn’t been followed and suggesting fixes for a few of the key issues.
Armed with a list of things to look out for, we were able to carry out a more in-depth audit of our site and work out what needed changing and what departments need to be looped in (i.e. content, dev, tech). Here are a couple of the things we’re going to be addressing:
Informative vs. decorative elements
As flagged by Recite Me, our homepage icons are currently not accessible and fail WCAG standards. According to the guidelines, any non-text elements need to have a text alternative that “serves the equivalent purpose”. This is to make sure that even if someone can’t see the page, they’re not missing out on any key information that’s being conveyed by a visual element. There are a few exceptions to this rule, one of which is if something is ‘purely decorative’, meaning that it’s only there for aesthetic reasons – essentially, no information or meaning would be lost if it was taken out.
An icon on our site that doesn’t meet WCAG standards.
But, even if we decide that our icons fall under this exception, there’s still some work to do. The guidelines go on to say that if an element is decorative, it has to be “implemented in a way that it can be ignored by assistive technology”(things like screen readers). You can do this in a few ways, such as adding an aria attribute.
So, now we have two options: improve the alt text or make a change to the HTML to make sure the icons can be ignored by assistive tech. Either of these changes should help us meet WCAG standards.
Changing context
These days, Social media icons are a universal language online, but despite being used so widely, they often don’t meet accessibility standards. From alt text and aria labels to colour contrast, there’s a lot to consider when using these seemingly simple icons.
Social icons as they appear in our website’s footer.
In our case, our icons fail WCAG 3.2.1: “When any user interface component receives focus, it does not initiate a change of context”.
Here, the issue is that when someone clicks on any of these icons, there’s no information telling the user that it’ll open the page in a new tab (which counts as a change of context). For those of us without accessibility considerations, this seems obvious – you click a link, and it opens in a new tab. But it’s not so simple for every user. Whether someone is using assistive technology, the icons aren’t rendering or they just aren’t a frequent web user, there are plenty of reasons why we can’t make assumptions that the ‘change of context’ will be clear.
So, how do we make it clear? Again, we have a few options. We could add a caption underneath the icons saying something like ‘LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)’. Or, if we want to preserve the design, we can make some HTML changes like adding an aria label or a tooltip (but this last one won’t be accessible for everyone). Ideally, we’d add text and an aria label, but we need to decide as a team which option is best for us, given that our website is visited and engaged with by a range of users.
“The key to clarity is finding simple, scalable solutions that convey meaning to all users. Whether through captions, labels, or tooltips, making the purpose of each interaction explicit ensures that no one is left guessing or excluded.” – Minh Tran, Multimedia and UI Designer.
By identifying and addressing these issues on our homepage first, we’re starting with one of our most-viewed pages, making our changes impactful from the beginning. Plus, it’s also likely that there will be some overlap between the issues on this page and other URLs on our site – like our social media icons, which sit at the bottom of every key URL – so we can save some time down the line.
Embedding accessibility into our ethos
Aside from the practical fixes, we’re also making some broader changes to make sure that accessibility is front of mind from now on. Accessibility is everyone’s business and everyone has a role to play.
We’re keeping our team educated with regular internal updates and training to address any knowledge gaps and get people feeling comfortable talking about accessibility. We’ve also got a few accessibility ambassadors across our product teams. These are people involved in the day-to-day work who know their stuff and can advise or help colleagues when issues around accessibility come up. And of course, we’re leaning on third party experts – like Recite Me – when there are gaps that need filling.
It’s our belief here at Builtvisible that, if everyone understands the topic, it becomes a joint mission rather than one person’s passion project – everyone can share the load. Plus, having a foundational understanding across our the board can only help us ensure that accessibility related workstreams remain a priority, as our product specialists are empowered and our leadership team better understand the reasons behind the action.
By implementing these measures and encouraging everyone to get interested and get involved, not only can we make more considered decisions about our website moving forward so these issues don’t come up again, but we can also keep our accessibility approach dynamic, improving and iterating on our current measures rather than starting from scratch each time.
Concluding thoughts
Now you’ve seen a glimpse of our journey to making accessibility an integral part of our website strategy. From addressing key issues flagged by Recite Me to embedding accessibility into our workflows, the overarching takeaway is clear: accessibility is not a one-time project but an ongoing process.
With the EAA deadline approaching, creating an actionable roadmap with clear responsibilities, resources, and timelines is essential to staying aligned and making meaningful progress. Our partnership with Recite Me has given us the tools and expertise to navigate this journey, including tailored audits and an accessibility checklist that pinpoints where improvements are needed most.
So if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the EAA requirements, you don’t need to! We’re here to help. Whether it’s offering tailored advice, or guiding you through each stage of compliance, we’re committed to helping you create inclusive digital experiences that benefit both your users and your business.
Let’s work together to make accessibility a cornerstone of your strategy. Get in touch today to start your own journey and speak to one of our Accessibility Ambassadors.
