Build it
Make it sell
Keep it running
Accessibility
It is not only about who you think it is about.
Contrast, keyboard operation, real structure, a visible focus ring. The same work that lets somebody use a screen reader also lets somebody buy from you on a cracked phone, in direct sunlight, on a moving train, with one hand.
Who this is for
Five people who benefit. You pictured one of them.
This work is usually sold as being for a small group. In practice it is the same work that makes a shop usable for anybody having an ordinary difficult moment.
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Somebody on a train holding a bag
What breaks
Tap targets too small and too close together, and a menu that quietly assumes two hands and a steady surface.
What fixes it
Targets of at least forty-four pixels with real space between them. Nothing that needs precision.
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Somebody standing in direct sunlight
What breaks
Light grey text on white, which looks refined on a designer’s screen in a dim room and disappears entirely outdoors.
What fixes it
Contrast measured against the accepted ratio rather than judged by eye. It is a number, so there is nothing to argue about.
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Somebody whose trackpad has died
What breaks
A checkout that cannot be completed with a keyboard, and a focus ring that somebody removed at some point because it looked untidy.
What fixes it
Every step reachable and completable by keyboard, with the focus always visible. We test this by unplugging the mouse.
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Somebody who is seventy
What breaks
Body text set at thirteen pixels because it looked elegant in the layout, and a form that empties itself when one field is wrong.
What fixes it
Readable sizes that survive being enlarged, and forms that keep what was already typed and say plainly what needs changing.
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Somebody using a screen reader
What breaks
Images with no description, buttons called “click here”, and a form where the label is not actually attached to the field it belongs to.
What fixes it
Real structure, real labels, real descriptions. Almost all of it is invisible to everyone else and none of it changes how the page looks.
Four of those five are not disabilities. They are Tuesday. Which is why we treat this as the same category of work as making a shop fast — both are about removing whatever stands between a person and the thing they came for.
The work
Six changes, and what each one is worth.
None of these make a site look worse. Most of them make it look more deliberate, because they force decisions that were previously left to habit.
- Contrast measured, not judged
- Text stays readable in sunlight, on cheap screens, and for anyone past about forty. This is usually the single change with the widest effect, and it costs nothing but a decision.
- Keyboard operation end to end
- Every step of the checkout reachable and completable without a mouse, with the focus ring always visible rather than removed for tidiness.
- Real structure underneath
- Headings in order, landmarks in place, lists that are actually lists. A screen reader can then jump to the part it needs instead of reading the menu again on every page — and search engines read the same structure.
- Labels attached to their fields
- Forms that announce what they want, say plainly what went wrong, and keep what was already typed instead of clearing themselves out of spite.
- Images described, ornament silent
- Product images described usefully rather than named after the file, and decoration marked as decoration so it is not read out loud to somebody trying to buy something.
- Motion that can be switched off
- Anything that moves respects the reduced-motion setting on the device. We already do this on every page of this site, including the one you are reading.
On a site we built, most of this is already in place — it is part of how we work rather than an extra. On a site somebody else built, it is usually two to four days, and the first day is worth more than the rest of it put together.
The short version
It is the same work as making a shop fast.
Both are about removing what stands between a person and the thing they came for. That is why we do the two together rather than as separate projects, and why it costs less that way — retrofitting either one afterwards means opening the same files twice. If we are already looking after your site, most of this happens as part of maintenance rather than as a quote.
Send us one page. Any page.
We will run the checks, go through it with the mouse unplugged, and tell you what would actually change — sorted by what it is worth rather than by what is quickest to invoice.