Web Accessibility Basics (WCAG): 12 Fixes Every Business Website Should Make

Web accessibility means people can use your website regardless of disability, device or situation: someone with low vision, a person using a screen reader, an older customer, or anyone using a phone in bright sunlight. The international standard is WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), built on four principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust.

12 practical fixes

1. Alt text for images: describe meaningful images (alt="Innova Crysta taxi parked outside hotel"); use alt="" for decorative ones
2. Colour contrast: normal text needs at least a 4.5:1 contrast ratio with its background. Light grey text on white often fails
3. Don't rely on colour alone: add text or icons to error messages, not just red borders
4. Keyboard access: every link, button and menu must work with Tab and Enter
5. Visible focus: never remove focus outlines without a clear replacement style
6. Labels on form fields: placeholders aren't labels. See form validation tutorial
7. Meaningful link text: "View Delhi taxi fares" instead of "Click here"
8. Proper headings: one H1, logical H2/H3 structure. See semantic HTML
9. Readable text size: at least 16px body text on mobile, and allow zooming (don't block it in the viewport tag)
10. Large tap targets: buttons around 44×44px on mobile
11. Captions for videos with speech
12. Language attribute: <html lang="en"> (or hi, pa for Hindi/Punjabi pages)

Quick tests you can do

• Tab through your page without a mouse
• Zoom the browser to 200%: does the layout still work?
• Run Lighthouse in Chrome DevTools → Accessibility. See DevTools guide
• Try a screen reader (NVDA on Windows, TalkBack on Android, VoiceOver on iPhone)

Business benefits

• More customers can complete bookings and enquiries
• Better SEO through clearer structure and text alternatives
• Better experience for older users, a large customer group for travel and healthcare businesses
• Increasingly expected in tenders and corporate contracts; India's Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act and government guidelines emphasise accessible ICT

Accessibility overlays

Widgets that claim to "fix accessibility automatically" usually don't solve underlying problems. Fix the HTML and design instead.

FAQs

Is accessibility expensive?

Building it in from the start costs little. Retrofitting is more work but usually manageable for small sites.

Does accessibility hurt design?

No. Good contrast, clear text and visible focus states usually improve design.