What does website accessibility mean?

Website accessibility means designing web content so people with disabilities can perceive, navigate, understand, and interact with it. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), developed by the W3C, provide the international standard, organized around four principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust. WCAG 2.2 is the current version, with Level AA conformance being the most common legal requirement.

Accessibility addresses a wide range of disabilities: visual, auditory, motor, cognitive, speech, learning, and neurological. Common practices include providing alt text for images, ensuring sufficient color contrast, supporting keyboard navigation, adding captions and transcripts for media, using proper heading structure, and selecting readable fonts. Three conformance levels define the depth of compliance: Level A (foundational minimum), Level AA (addresses major barriers), and Level AAA (highest threshold). WCAG itself is not law but is referenced by US Section 508, the ADA, the European Accessibility Act, and many national regulations. Accessible design creates an inclusive environment that benefits people with disabilities and simultaneously improves the experience for all users through clearer navigation, better readability, and more consistent interaction patterns.