What accessibility actually requires, why it matters commercially, and the changes that deliver the most for the least effort.
Around one in four New Zealanders identifies as disabled. That is a large share of your potential customers, and a site they cannot use is a site they cannot buy from. Beyond the commercial case, government suppliers are expected to meet accessibility standards, and the expectation is spreading to the private sector.
The changes that deliver the most
- Sufficient colour contrast. Light grey text on white is the most common failure and the easiest to fix.
- Real alt text on images that carry meaning. Decorative images should have empty alt attributes so screen readers skip them.
- Keyboard navigation. Everything clickable should be reachable by tab, with a visible focus outline.
- Labelled form fields. A placeholder is not a label, and it disappears the moment someone starts typing.
- Sensible heading structure. One H1, then H2s and H3s in order, not chosen by how big they look.
How to check your current site
- Run Lighthouse in Chrome. It catches contrast, missing alt text and label problems automatically.
- Unplug your mouse and try to complete your main action using only the keyboard.
- Zoom the browser to 200 percent and see whether the layout survives.
- Turn on your phone's screen reader and try the homepage. Uncomfortable but educational.
What automated tools miss
Automated checks find perhaps a third of real issues. They cannot tell whether your alt text is meaningful, whether your headings describe the content, or whether an interaction makes sense without sight. Those need a human, but the automated third is worth fixing first because it is cheap.
Accessibility is best treated as something built in from the start rather than audited at the end. Retrofitting is considerably more expensive than doing it correctly the first time.