According to WebAIM’s Million report, the homepages of the world’s top one million websites average more than 50 accessibility errors per page. For many people, these barriers make it difficult (or even impossible) to fully engage with digital experiences and the organizations behind them.
Web accessibility comes down to equal access for all users, regardless of ability. Beyond checking a compliance box, designing with accessibility in mind is a conscious shift in how your team designs, develops, and maintains your website. And accessibility isn’t a one-time fix. As technology and standards evolve, creating accessible digital experiences requires ongoing attention and optimization.
In this Constructively Curated, we’ve gathered resources to help your organization strengthen web accessibility to create more inclusive experiences for everyone who engages with your site.
1. Get Started With These Recommended Reads
Building a more accessible website starts with building a better understanding of inclusive design principles. If your team is looking to deepen its accessibility knowledge, we recommend adding these books to your reading list. While some were published years ago, the core principles still remain relevant today:
- Accessibility for Everyone by Laura Kalbag
- A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences by Sarah Horton and Whitney Quesenbery
- Inclusive Components by Heydon Pickering
- Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design by Kat Holmes
- Practical Web Inclusion and Accessibility by Ashley Firth
2. Stay Up to Date With the Latest Requirements
Beyond best practices, web accessibility is often a legal requirement. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), organizations that are considered public accommodations are expected to provide equal access to digital experiences for people with disabilities. Developed by the W3C, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide the global framework for creating accessible digital experiences. The current industry standard is WCAG 2.1 Level AA. When designing websites with our clients, we work to ensure our designs align with these standards and can also help organizations go beyond the baseline depending on their goals, audiences, and budget. Get ready, because WCAG 3 is coming…
3. Conduct an Accessibility Audit
To address high-level accessibility blockers, it’s important to understand what’s currently working (and not working) on your website. This webinar from Deque offers a helpful overview of what you can expect from a robust accessibility audit. If you’re not ready for a full-blown audit, tools like the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool or Lighthouse can help you scan individual pages for common accessibility issues and usability errors.
4. Prioritize High-Impact Touchpoints
If resources are limited, focus first on the accessibility issues that create the biggest barriers for your users. For nonprofits, that often means prioritizing high-impact touchpoints like donation pages, contact forms, volunteer sign-ups, and newsletter subscriptions. If your site visitors can’t successfully complete a donation or sign up for your email, that’s a major usability and accessibility issue. To get started, the W3C provides a tutorial on designing accessible forms. You can also read more on accessible form design from Smashing Magazine.
5. Implement Accessible Design Choices
The colors, typography, spacing, and interactive elements you choose all affect how easily users can read, navigate, and engage with your content. Siteimprove offers tips for choosing an accessible, on-brand font for your website. When it comes to choosing colors, WebAIM’s contrast checker offers a free way to test whether the text and background colors on your website have sufficient contrast for readability.
6. Don’t Rely on AI Alone for Accessibility Fixes
“At this point in time, the only way to achieve an accessible and usable experience for all people is through people.” This article from the American Foundation for the Blind emphasizes how automated testing and AI don’t “solve” digital accessibility … yet. Rather than replacing human-centered accessibility work, AI should support it. In this article from Deque Systems, accessibility expert Glenda Sims explores the “Goldilocks zone” of balancing AI-powered tools with human expertise to build a more accessible digital future.
7. Improve Accessibility and Search Performance Together
Designing content for humans first often makes it better for robots, too. Accessibility and SEO are connected through shared best practices like semantic HTML, descriptive headings, hierarchy, alt text, and readable content structure. As Search Engine Land states, “Fixing accessibility issues often improves UX metrics like bounce rate, time on page, and engagement: core signals in Google’s ranking systems.” This webinar from the Adobe Summit breaks down how accessibility powers SEO, AEO, and website growth.
8. Reduce Cognitive Load
Accessibility also includes how mentally demanding your website is to navigate and understand. Even if a site meets technical accessibility standards, cluttered layouts, lengthy copy, confusing navigation, or complex language can still create barriers for users. Is your website exhausting your audience before they can even engage with you? This article from the Department of Civic Things highlights one important reason your website may be inaccessible: high cognitive load.
9. Design for Neurodiversity and Aging Populations
Inclusive and accessible web design means accounting for everyone who engages with your content. As this Smashing Magazine article advocates, “Designing for neurodiversity means recognizing that people aren’t edge cases but individuals with varied ways of thinking and navigating the web.” This means taking into account animations, visuals, and audio that may be disruptive or distracting. Designing for aging populations means creating experiences that feel intuitive, readable, and easy to navigate so users have confidence throughout their journey.
10. Work With a Trusted Design Partner
When your website embodies your core values and is truly open and accessible to all users, it becomes that much easier for your audience to engage with your brand, trust your brand, and stay connected to your work. If creating a more accessible, inclusive website experience is a priority, we’d love to help. Get in touch!
Additional Resources
More Constructively Curated
- Earth Month Resources for Sustainable Nonprofit Web Design & Development
- Beyond Web: Resources for Building a Cohesive Brand Experience Across Channels
- Designing for Stress: Resources to Support User Clarity in High-Stakes Moments
- 8 Best Practices for Crafting Effective Nonprofit Annual Reports
- Nonprofit Data Visualization: Resources for Effective & Ethical Data-Driven Storytelling
- 8 Ways to Build Lasting Trust in Your Nonprofit Brand
- Ethical User Research & Testing: 6 Practical Resources for Nonprofits
- Building Resilience: 7 Strategies for Nonprofits Navigating Uncertainty
- Ethical AI: 9 Resources & Best Practices for Nonprofits
