Is accessibility just another word for strong UX?

Accessibility and the overall user experience (UX) are intrinsically linked, so it’s possible you’ve run into instances where you aren’t sure whether a website or application is inaccessible or just producing a bad user experience. Let’s discover the differences and overlap together.

UX and accessibility or a user journey

Let’s imagine two scenarios. 

You open the website or app offered by your electric company because you want to pay your monthly bill. You are able to easily navigate from the homepage of their site or app, to the area where you can make your payment. You are able to follow each step and complete your payment with minimal friction. This is the experience that most of us expect from online service of any kind, and often receive when we use the world wide web at large (but not always when using a utility company’s site).

Now, imagine another scenario. You open the electric company’s site or app because you want to pay your monthly bill. As soon as you land on the page, you are confused. You aren’t sure what to click on to pay or what automatic payment options are available to you. It isn’t clear where the payment information is located. You click or tab around and try some things. Some links are broken, or don’t take you where you expected. The information on the site doesn’t seem very helpful. Content doesn’t appear to be showing up as you would expect. After 20 minutes, you are unable to complete your payment. You feel frustrated and annoyed. You had a poor user experience on the site and weren’t able to access the information that you needed to complete your payment.

In the second scenario, there are two connected issues that we will discuss today that impact the user’s ability to navigate the site and achieve their goals: accessibility and user experience (UX). 

What is user experience?

The first situation I outlined is a prime example of good UX. Things were placed where you anticipated, and looked and behaved how you expected them to. It was easy for you to find what you needed, and use the site as intended. 

Intentionality and thought go into making sites operate in a way that users expect, in order to make them usable and provide a positive user experience. 

The second scenario is an example of poor UX. You couldn’t find what you needed, things weren’t where you expected, or didn’t operate how you thought they would. 

Let’s take this a step further though, because this second story could also be an example of poor accessibility. You were NOT able to access the information or content that you desired, or maybe even needed. It may have been poor UX design that led to this issue. But there may also have been poor accessibility features on the site.

For users with certain disabilities or impairments, they may find they are unable to use a site that may be perfectly usable to someone else. While most users may have an easy time when paying their electric bill, a user with accessibility needs might find themselves stuck on the homepage, or unable to navigate the site with their keyboard.

What is website accessibility?

“Only 2% of websites pass 70% or more of testable accessibility criteria,” –AudioEye Accessibility Report, 2025

Every internet user should be able to navigate the web, find the information they need and complete tasks with minimal friction. And the majority of users likely do find it easy, and seemingly intuitive, to use most websites.

However, that isn’t the case for all users. There are instances where users need information to be accessible to them in a different format. But these users have a right to expect that same access and positive user experience.

Some examples of users who might need information accessibility to look a little different are:

1. Users with visual impairments such as low vision, color blindness, loss of visual field, etc.
2. Users with auditory impairments such as deafness, loud environments, and auditory processing disorders.
3. Users with motor impairments such as  limited fine motor control, paralysis, strain injuries, tremors, etc.
4. Users with cognitive and neurological impairments such as memory issues, learning disorders, brain injuries, etc.

Every user has a legal right to the same ability to access information. Good UX includes good accessibility practices. Ensuring that all people who access a website have equivalent opportunities to navigate the site and access the information provided is the purpose of website accessibility. 

The scenario where the user is unable to complete their payment, and experiences a lot of friction on the site, is often a reality for users with one of the impairments mentioned above. As developers, when we think about our user’s experiences with a site, it is imperative that we consider the needs of all users, and provide accessible accommodations for them.

Why do I need to make my website accessible?

Aside from the moral position that it’s the right thing to do, websites are considered “public accommodations” under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). They must be accessible to every person, without exception. 

Unlike physical facilities, the ADA does not give specifications for digital accessibility. And yes, being liable for failing to meet undefined requirements poses certain problems. Consequently, there has been a lot of litigation over this, and Federal courts now recognize the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as the technical standard developers must follow when building a website. As of 2024, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, which administers the ADA, specifically references WCAG version 2.1, Level AA, in its regulations.

*A note of caution: Because the ADA requires outcomes, not efforts, it is possible to meet WCAG and still be found to fail some specific issue. But as Diaz v. Kroger showed, meeting WCAG is extremely helpful in showing ADA compliance. It also showed that immediately fixing problems when you become aware of them can help get a case against you dismissed.

What makes a site accessible or inaccessible?

There are three different levels of WCAG compliance: A, AA, and AAA. Imarc recommends websites aim to hit the industry and legal standard and benchmark of (at least) AA compliance.

Here is a brief overview of some common issues on a site that can improve or hinder accessibility, and the WCAG requirements web developers must meet to conform to WCAG standards. This is by no means comprehensive, but rather a snapshot of some of the features needed to help all users have a positive, accessible user experience.

Keyboard navigation

Websites are legally required to be fully navigable via keyboard. A user should be able use their tab, shift, and arrow keys to navigate through menus and headings and other elements on the site. Often, users who use a keyboard will also have screen reading software on their device that reads out headings, text, and important information on the site as they tab through. 

Web developers are responsible for ensuring users can tab successfully through the site in a linear manner, and providing code that prevents things like keyboard traps, where a user is unable to exit a portion of the site, such as a pop up, without their mouse. 

Semantic markup, landmarks, and ARIA attributes

The way screen readers read out information to users on a site is rooted in the foundational building blocks of a site: Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML). This structure is built by the site developer and includes tags like:

Landmark tags

These tags tell users which part of the site they are on. Screen reader users can use this information to quickly navigate between important parts of the page.

<header>
<main>
<asider>
<footer>

Heading tags

Heading tags should be used appropriately to indicate text that leads into a new section. Headings out of order (ex. H2 before H1) is an accessibility error. 

<h1>
<h2>
<h3> 

These are just a few examples of semantic tags. There are many more landmark and semantic tags developers use to make sites accessible by informing the user of where they are on the page and what information is being conveyed.

ARIA attributes

ARIA attributes are another way developers can provide additional information to users about the content they are interacting with and its importance. 

The Accessible Rich Internet Applications Suite (WAI-ARIA)is a group of web standards that defines a way for developers to add additional information into websites to provide context to users with screen readers that isn’t available in HTML.

ARIA provides the ability to add roles (what this is, ex. role=”toolbar”), states (what state is this currently in, ex. aria-checked), and properties (aria-label, aria-hidden) to html tags to provide that additional information. 

Incorrect usage or lack of use of ARIA attributes will mean that certain elements on a site are inaccessible to screen reader users. HTML on its own does not provide a full range of accessibility features and must be supplemented with ARIA attributes when needed. 

Alt text

Alternative text (alt text) is a textual description of an image. Alt text is required if an image is conveying important information that a user would miss out on if they are unable to view the image. Alt text is optional for decorative images, but it can provide a more rich experience for users who use screen readers, provided it is adequately visually descriptive. 

Color contrast

A certain amount of contrast is necessary to read text on a webpage. For example, black text on a white page has a very high contrast ratio of 21:1 and is easily readable. White text on a light gray background might have a contrast of 1.34:1, and be very difficult to read. 

To meet WCAG 2.0 level AA standards requires a contrast ratio of: 

• at least 4.5:1 for normal text (below 18.66px)
• and 3:1 for large text. (18.66px and bold, or 24px+)

Web designers should always be designing with this standard in mind, and developers have a variety of tools to verify color contrast meets these standards as they build.

Focus indicators

A focus indicator is usually a thin, colored border that is visible when a user is navigating a site via keyboard. It provides a visual indication of what part of the site the user is engaged with. These are included in all browsers and there are typically default focus indicators on every site. When modifying focus indicators for aesthetic purposes, developers must provide a comparable alternative to ensure a visual indicator is still present for keyboard navigation.

How does Imarc make our sites accessible?

Imarc follows the four principles of accessibility:

1. Perceivable - Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.
2. Operable - User interface components and navigation must be operable.
3. Understandable - Information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable.
4. Robust - Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.

Accessibility is built in from the start 

We keep web accessibility top of mind, incorporating it from the start of development.

Imarc builds in semantic markup and landmarks natively. Both our designers and developers keep a close eye on color contrast as we create websites. Our developers have a checklist of accessibility items to build into new sites which includes: page layout and semantics, keyboard control, alt text, ARIA labels, color contrast, skip links, forms, button and link behaviors, and more. 

Testing

We utilize multiple tools as we build and when we audit sites to ensure things are accessible. This can include:

• ANDI
• WAVE
• Axe Dev Tools
• Google Lighthouse
• Manual keyboard operability; Tab, arrow, esc. keys
• Voice-over tools
• Color contrast tools

The core of UX

For as many as one in four internet users, accessibility is the core of their user experience. 

Accessibility and UX are deeply intertwined for those users and it is important that as we design and develop our site’s UX, we keep users with accessibility needs top of mind. All users have a right to access the web and find the information they need without frustration and roadblocks. 

WCAG is its own set of standards specially created for individuals that need it, but those standards also make up a large portion of a positive user experience for anyone using a website. 

Would you like to improve the accessibility and UX of your website? We do regular audits of our current clients and offer accessibility audits and remediation to get all websites compliant. Just say hello to get yours going.