Website Accessibility in 2027: Essential Improvements for a Better User Experience

4. Use Readable Typography and Appropriate Color Contrast

Text is one of the most important elements of a business website. Visitors need to read headings, descriptions, navigation labels, product details, and form instructions comfortably.

Small fonts, poor spacing, low contrast, and decorative typography can make information difficult to understand. These issues may affect people with low vision, reading difficulties, or temporary visual discomfort.

Typography improvements to consider

• Choose readable fonts: Use clear typefaces that remain easy to recognize across different screen sizes.
• Maintain suitable font sizes: Avoid excessively small paragraph text and navigation labels.
• Use appropriate line spacing: Provide enough vertical space between lines to support comfortable reading.
• Create clear heading hierarchy: Distinguish main headings, subheadings, and paragraph content consistently.
• Avoid long text lines: Use a comfortable content width to prevent visitors from losing their place.
• Support text resizing: Ensure layouts remain usable when visitors increase browser text size or zoom.
• Use consistent formatting: Avoid unnecessary combinations of font styles, sizes, and weights.

Check color contrast

Text should have sufficient contrast against its background. WCAG 2.2 specifies a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text at Level AA, subject to the standard’s definitions and exceptions.

Avoid relying on color alone to communicate important information. For example, a form error should include a descriptive message or icon rather than only turning a field border red.

These improvements help visitors read important information without unnecessary effort.

5. Add Meaningful Alternative Text to Website Images

Images help communicate ideas, explain services, and make business websites visually engaging. However, visitors who cannot see an image may need a text alternative to understand its relevant information.

Alternative text, commonly called alt text, describes the purpose or meaningful content of an image. Screen readers can announce this text to visitors who rely on assistive technology.

Best practices for writing image alt text

• Describe meaningful content: Explain the important subject or information shown in the image.
• Keep descriptions relevant: Avoid adding unnecessary details that do not support the page’s purpose.
• Use natural language: Write descriptions that sound clear when read aloud.
• Avoid keyword stuffing: Do not fill alt text with repeated SEO keywords.
• Consider image purpose: Describe what an image communicates in its specific context.
• Use empty alt text for decorative images: Decorative images that add no meaningful information should generally use an empty alt attribute (alt="").
• Do not duplicate captions unnecessarily: Make sure alternative text provides useful information rather than repeating nearby content without purpose.

Example of useful alt text

For an image showing a website designer reviewing a business homepage on a laptop, a suitable description might be:

“Web designer reviewing a responsive business website layout on a laptop.”

The correct description depends on what the image communicates and how it is used on the page.

For WordPress users, the Media Library provides an alternative text field for images. However, adding alt text should be part of the content publishing process rather than an afterthought.

6. Make Website Forms Accessible and Easy to Complete

Contact forms, registration forms, inquiry forms, and checkout pages are important parts of business websites. If these elements are difficult to understand or operate, visitors may abandon the process before submitting their information.

An accessible form should clearly communicate what information is required, identify errors, and allow users to interact with every field.

Essential accessible form improvements

• Provide visible labels: Every input field should have a meaningful label associated with it.
• Explain required fields: Clearly indicate which information visitors must provide.
• Use helpful instructions: Explain expected formats for phone numbers, email addresses, dates, and other information.
• Identify errors clearly: Provide descriptive error messages that explain what needs to be corrected.
• Preserve entered information: Avoid unnecessarily clearing completed fields after a validation error.
• Support keyboard navigation: Ensure visitors can reach and operate all form controls.
• Use accessible dropdowns: Make select menus understandable and usable through supported input methods.
• Confirm successful submission: Provide a clear message when the form has been submitted successfully.

Improve WordPress form accessibility

If you use Contact Form 7, Elementor Forms, or another WordPress form plugin, check whether labels are properly associated with their input fields.

Also test required-field validation, error announcements, dropdown behavior, and submit buttons using a keyboard and screen reader.

A visually attractive form is not necessarily accessible. Its instructions, labels, validation messages, and interaction behavior all need to be reviewed.

7. Optimize Website Accessibility for Mobile Devices

Mobile accessibility is an essential part of website development. Visitors may use smartphones and tablets with different screen sizes, operating systems, zoom settings, and assistive technologies.

A website that works properly on a desktop may still create difficulties on mobile devices if buttons are too small, menus are complicated, or content overflows the screen.

Mobile accessibility improvements

• Use responsive layouts: Make sure website sections adjust to different screen sizes.
• Provide comfortable touch targets: Buttons and interactive controls should be large enough to operate accurately.
• Maintain sufficient spacing: Avoid placing important controls too close together.
• Prevent horizontal scrolling: Ensure ordinary page content fits within the available screen width, except where two-dimensional scrolling is essential.
• Support text resizing: Layouts should remain functional when users increase text size.
• Keep menus simple: Make navigation easy to understand and operate on smaller screens.
• Use accessible mobile dialogs: Ensure popups and overlays can be opened, navigated, and closed properly.
• Test orientation changes: Check whether the website remains usable in portrait and landscape orientations.

WCAG 2.2 includes requirements related to minimum target size, with defined exceptions. Reviewing these criteria can help developers avoid small and difficult-to-use controls.

Test on actual devices

Do not depend entirely on a desktop preview. Open your website on different smartphones and tablets and test navigation, buttons, forms, text resizing, and interactive elements.

Mobile accessibility should be checked throughout the design process, not only after the website is completed.