1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some form of color blindness. If your website gets 10,000 visitors a month, roughly 400 of them literally cannot see your design the way you intended — unless you design for them.
Accessibility isn't charity work. It's engineering. And in many jurisdictions (EU, Canada, US government contracts), it's also the law. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) define clear, measurable standards. This guide shows you exactly how to meet them without making your site ugly.
Domino's Pizza lost a Supreme Court case over website accessibility — a blind customer couldn't order pizza online. The court ruled that the ADA applies to websites. Settlement cost: undisclosed, but Domino's had to rebuild their entire web ordering system.
Target paid $6 million in a class-action settlement over an inaccessible website in 2008. They also had to pay $3.7 million in plaintiff legal fees.
Government websites in the EU must meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards by law (EN 301 549). Private sector websites are increasingly being held to the same standard under the European Accessibility Act.
Domino's Pizza lost a Supreme Court case over website accessibility — a blind customer couldn't order pizza online. The court ruled that the ADA applies to websites. Settlement cost: undisclosed, but Domino's had to rebuild their entire web ordering system.
Target paid $6 million in a class-action settlement over an inaccessible website in 2008. They also had to pay $3.7 million in plaintiff legal fees.
Government websites in the EU must meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards by law (EN 301 549). Private sector websites are increasingly being held to the same standard under the European Accessibility Act.
Domino's Pizza lost a Supreme Court case over website accessibility — a blind customer couldn't order pizza online. The court ruled that the ADA applies to websites. Settlement cost: undisclosed, but Domino's had to rebuild their entire web ordering system.
Target paid $6 million in a class-action settlement over an inaccessible website in 2008. They also had to pay $3.7 million in plaintiff legal fees.
Government websites in the EU must meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards by law (EN 301 549). Private sector websites are increasingly being held to the same standard under the European Accessibility Act.
Domino's Pizza lost a Supreme Court case over website accessibility — a blind customer couldn't order pizza online. The court ruled that the ADA applies to websites. Settlement cost: undisclosed, but Domino's had to rebuild their entire web ordering system.
Target paid $6 million in a class-action settlement over an inaccessible website in 2008. They also had to pay $3.7 million in plaintiff legal fees.
Government websites in the EU must meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards by law (EN 301 549). Private sector websites are increasingly being held to the same standard under the European Accessibility Act.
Domino's Pizza lost a Supreme Court case over website accessibility — a blind customer couldn't order pizza online. The court ruled that the ADA applies to websites. Settlement cost: undisclosed, but Domino's had to rebuild their entire web ordering system.
Target paid $6 million in a class-action settlement over an inaccessible website in 2008. They also had to pay $3.7 million in plaintiff legal fees.
Government websites in the EU must meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards by law (EN 301 549). Private sector websites are increasingly being held to the same standard under the European Accessibility Act.
▸ WCAG AA requires 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text. AAA requires 7:1 and 4.5:1 respectively.
▸ Don't rely on color alone to convey information. Add icons, patterns, or labels as redundant signals.
Use these free tools to apply what you learned: