What is Web Accessibility and Why Does Your Website Need It?

By Randy Tarasevich

Author

November 14, 2025

Published

5 min read

When we talk about building websites for businesses, we often focus on design, functionality, and user experience. But there’s one crucial element that ties all of these together: accessibility. If you’ve heard the term thrown around in web development circles but aren’t quite sure what it means or why it matters, you’re not alone. Let’s break down what web accessibility really is and why it should be a priority for your business website.

What is Web Accessibility?

Web accessibility means designing and developing websites that can be used by everyone, regardless of their abilities or disabilities. It’s about removing barriers that might prevent people from accessing, navigating, or interacting with your website.

Think of it this way: when you design a physical storefront, you include ramps, automatic doors, and clear signage to ensure all customers can enter and navigate your space. Web accessibility is the digital equivalent. It ensures that people with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive disabilities can still access your content, products, and services online.

This includes considerations for people who:

Use screen readers to navigate websites
Have difficulty seeing small text or distinguishing colors
Cannot use a mouse and rely on keyboard navigation
Have hearing impairments and need captions for video content
Experience cognitive disabilities that make complex navigation challenging
Use assistive technologies like voice recognition software

Why Accessibility Matters for Your Website

1. You’re Reaching a Larger Audience

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one in four adults in the United States—over 70 million people—have some type of disability.¹ That’s a significant portion of potential customers who might struggle to use an inaccessible website. In Connecticut alone, that translates to hundreds of thousands of people who could be visiting your site.

When you make your website accessible, you’re not just being inclusive—you’re making a smart business decision. You’re ensuring that everyone who wants to learn about your services, purchase your products, or contact your business can do so without frustration.

2. It’s Often Required by Law

The legal landscape around web accessibility has become increasingly important. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has been interpreted by the U.S. Department of Justice and many courts to apply to websites, not just physical locations.² Businesses have faced a dramatic increase in lawsuits for having inaccessible sites—over 4,000 federal web accessibility lawsuits were filed in 2024 alone.³ While the specific requirements can be complex, following established accessibility guidelines (like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG) significantly reduces legal risk.

For Connecticut businesses, especially those with physical locations or those that serve the public, ensuring your website is accessible isn’t just good practice—it’s becoming a legal necessity.

3. Accessibility Improves Overall User Experience

Here’s a secret: when you design for accessibility, you’re actually making your website better for everyone. Accessibility improvements often enhance the overall user experience in surprising ways.

Consider these examples:

Captions on videos help people watching in noisy environments or those who prefer to watch without sound
Clear heading structures make content easier to scan for all users, not just screen reader users
Good color contrast benefits people viewing sites on their phones in bright sunlight
Keyboard navigation helps power users who prefer keyboard shortcuts
Simple, clear language makes your content more understandable for everyone, including non-native English speakers

4. It Boosts Your SEO

Search engines and accessibility have more in common than you might think. Many accessibility best practices align perfectly with what search engines need to understand and rank your content.

When you add descriptive alt text to images, create logical heading hierarchies, use semantic HTML, and ensure your site has clear navigation, you’re helping both people with disabilities and search engine crawlers understand your content. Google can’t “see” images any more than a blind user can—they both rely on the same text descriptions.

5. It Demonstrates Your Values

Making your website accessible sends a powerful message about your business. It shows that you value all potential customers and that you’re committed to providing equal access to your services. For many consumers, especially younger generations, a company’s values and commitment to inclusivity influence their purchasing decisions.

In the Connecticut shoreline business community, where relationships and reputation matter, demonstrating that accessibility is a priority can set you apart from competitors.

Key Elements of an Accessible Website

While comprehensive accessibility involves many technical considerations, here are some fundamental elements that every website should include:

Semantic HTML structure: Using proper heading tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) in a logical order helps screen readers navigate your content.
Alt text for images: Every image should have descriptive alternative text so screen readers can convey what the image shows to visually impaired users.
Keyboard navigation: All interactive elements should be accessible without a mouse, using only the keyboard’s Tab, Enter, and arrow keys.
Sufficient color contrast: Text should have enough contrast against its background to be easily readable by people with low vision or color blindness.
Accessible forms: Form fields need clear labels and error messages that screen readers can announce.
Responsive design: Your site should work well on all devices and screen sizes, adapting to different assistive technologies.
Video captions and transcripts: Multimedia content needs alternatives for people who cannot hear audio.

Getting Started with Accessibility

If you’re looking at your current website and feeling overwhelmed, don’t worry. You don’t have to fix everything overnight. Start by conducting an accessibility audit to identify the most critical issues, then prioritize improvements based on impact.

For businesses working with Shoreline Web Solutions, accessibility is built into every custom website we create from the ground up. We follow WCAG guidelines and test with real assistive technologies to ensure your site works for everyone. When you choose custom development over template solutions, you’re getting a website that’s thoughtfully crafted with accessibility in mind.

The Bottom Line

Web accessibility isn’t just a checkbox or a nice-to-have feature—it’s a fundamental aspect of building effective, user-friendly websites in 2025. Whether you’re motivated by reaching more customers, reducing legal risk, improving SEO, or simply doing the right thing, making your website accessible benefits everyone involved.

Your website is often the first interaction potential customers have with your business. Make sure that first impression is welcoming to everyone who visits, regardless of their abilities. In a competitive market, accessibility can be the difference between gaining a customer and losing them to a competitor with a more inclusive online presence.

Need help making your website more accessible? Shoreline Web Solutions specializes in creating custom, accessible websites for Connecticut shoreline businesses. Contact us to discuss how we can ensure your website welcomes all visitors.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024). “CDC Data Shows Over 70 Million U.S. Adults Reported Having a Disability.” Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/s0716-Adult-disability.html ↩
U.S. Department of Justice. (2022). “Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA.” Retrieved from https://www.ada.gov/resources/web-guidance/ ↩
Saul Ewing LLP. (2024). “A Rise in ADA Website Accessibility Lawsuits May Leave You Asking: Is My Website A Risk?” Retrieved from https://www.saul.com/insights/blog/ada-website-accessibility-risk ↩