Catalog
concept#Software Engineering#Quality Assurance#Governance#Product

Web Accessibility

Principles and practices for designing accessible websites and web applications that include people with diverse abilities.

Web accessibility ensures websites and web applications are perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for people with diverse abilities.
Established
Medium

Classification

  • Medium
  • Organizational
  • Design
  • Intermediate

Technical context

Content management systems (CMS)Frontend build and CI/CD pipelinesIssue trackers and test management tools

Principles & goals

Perceivable: Information must be perceivable.Operable: Navigation and interaction must be controllable.Understandable: Content and operation must be understandable.
Build
Enterprise, Domain, Team

Use cases & scenarios

Compromises

  • Fragmented responsibility leads to inconsistent implementation.
  • Focusing solely on compliance instead of real usability.
  • Technical debt from short-term hotfixes instead of structural integration.
  • Involve users with disabilities early in testing
  • Include accessibility in acceptance criteria and definition of done
  • Maintain component library as single source of accessibility standards

I/O & resources

  • Design system, UI component library
  • Content inventory and editorial processes
  • Accessibility tests (automated and manual)
  • WCAG-compliant UI toolkit
  • Accessibility test suite and reports
  • Documented patterns and training materials

Description

Web accessibility ensures websites and web applications are perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for people with diverse abilities. It covers design, development, content and testing practices to remove barriers and comply with standards like WCAG. Accessibility improves usability and legal compliance across products.

✔

  • Larger user base through inclusive usability.
  • Reduced legal risk through standards compliance.
  • Improved usability for all users, not just people with disabilities.

✖

  • Full accessibility may require additional development time.
  • Automated tests cover only part of the issues.
  • Not all third-party content or components are easily adjustable.

  • WCAG conformance level

    Share of audited pages/components that meet relevant WCAG success criteria.

  • Defect density per page

    Number of identified accessibility issues per page or component.

  • Time to remediation

    Average time from discovery of an accessibility issue to resolution.

Government information site

A government portal implemented WCAG 2.1 with text alternatives, clear navigation and keyboard accessibility.

E-commerce checkout optimized

Checkout flow adjusted for screen reader navigation and error feedback, conversion remained stable.

Company-wide component library

UI components with ARIA patterns and test examples, reused across multiple teams.

1

Define accessibility policy and goals

2

Extend design system and components with accessibility standards

3

Integrate automated tests and regular manual audits

⚠️ Technical debt & bottlenecks

  • Legacy components without semantic markup
  • Missing test integration for assistive technologies
  • Incomplete documentation of ARIA and design patterns
Lack of accessibility expertise in the teamThird-party components lacking accessibilityInsufficient testing coverage for assistive technologies
  • Removing images without providing meaningful alt text
  • Implementing complex interactions without keyboard fallback
  • Checking visual contrast only for desktop and ignoring mobile cases
  • Misconception that compliance solves all usability issues
  • Underestimating content maintenance and editorial requirements
  • Missing tracking of accessibility defects in the backlog
Accessibility testing and screen reader experienceHTML, ARIA, semantic markup knowledgeUX design with focus on inclusive interaction
Legal requirements (e.g., accessibility laws)User needs and inclusive product strategyReusable component-based UI architecture
  • • Budget and time constraints for comprehensive remediation
  • • Constraints from legacy code and platforms
  • • Integration of external content with varying quality