Build access into the brief
A website project should consider how people navigate with keyboards, use assistive technology, zoom text, and interpret controls. These needs affect page structure and interaction design from the outset.
Specify practical requirements for headings, focus states, contrast, form labels, error messages, and media alternatives. Clear criteria help reviewers catch issues while layouts and components can still change.
Treat content and components as a system
Accessible templates cannot compensate for unlabeled fields, vague link text, missing image descriptions, or videos without appropriate alternatives. Editorial guidance and component behavior need to reinforce each other.
Reusable patterns make consistency easier: a visible focus style, a properly associated label, and a helpful error message should work wherever the component appears, including mobile layouts.
Test real tasks before launch
Review important journeys with keyboard-only navigation and suitable assistive technology, alongside automated checks. A person should be able to find a service, complete a form, and understand errors.
Track findings with owners and retest fixes across templates. For a business website, accessibility is part of whether prospective customers can understand an offer and take the intended next step.
From perspective to practice.
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