Inclusive Design for Websites: A Practical Guide for GAAD 2026

By Karen Fuller, Office Manager & Creative, Accent

On Thursday 21 May 2026, the industry marks the 15th Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), a date set aside to get designers, developers and business leaders thinking about digital access and inclusion. This year's GAAD theme is 'Design, Develop, Deliver', a succinct reminder that accessible websites are not the product of a single compliance check near the end of a project. They are built into how we design and how we develop, from the first wireframe to the final deployment.

If you are responsible for a website, this guide is for you. It explains what inclusive design actually is, how it differs from accessibility and universal design, the principles that underpin it, and the practical features that make a website genuinely usable for everyone. We have also included a downloadable checklist at the end.

Why accessible website design matters now

The scale of the problem is hard to ignore. The 2026 WebAIM Million report, published in February 2026, tested the homepages of the top one million websites and found 56.1 accessibility errors per page on average, adding up to over 56 million distinct errors across the sample ¹. Even more striking, 95.9% of homepages had detectable Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2 failures, reversing six years of slow improvement ¹. Low-contrast text alone was found on 83.9% of homepages ¹.

That matters because the audience is large and growing. In the UK, around 16.8 million people, or 25% of the population, are classed as disabled according to the latest Family Resources Survey ². This is up from 19% a decade ago ². Put differently, one in four of your potential users, customers or job applicants has a long-term condition that affects how they use your website.

There is a commercial dimension too. Scope estimates the collective spending power of disabled households in the UK (the so-called Purple Pound) at around £274 billion per year ³. The Click-Away Pound research found £17.1 billion was lost by UK businesses in 2019 from disabled shoppers abandoning sites they could not use ⁴. And under the Equality Act 2010, private-sector organisations have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled users, including on their digital services ⁵.

For public-sector bodies and charities with a 'general interest' remit, the bar is higher still. The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 require conformance with WCAG 2.2 Level AA, which has been the technical standard monitored by the Government Digital Service since October 2024 ⁶. And for any UK business selling digital products or services to consumers in the EU, the European Accessibility Act came into force on 28 June 2025 and now applies regardless of where the business is headquartered ⁷.

In short, designing an accessible website is the right thing to do, it is good for your business, and in many cases, it is also the law.

What is inclusive design?

Inclusive design is an approach to creating products and services that considers the full range of human diversity from the beginning of the design process, rather than bolting on accommodations at the end.

The framing most widely used in the industry today comes from Microsoft, whose 2015 Inclusive Design Toolkit has been downloaded more than two million times and adopted across dozens of universities and companies ⁸. Microsoft's definition, which we find useful at Accent, centres on identifying where people are excluded from using a product and then treating that exclusion as an opportunity to design something better for everyone.

The key insight is that disability is often situational and temporary, not just permanent. A parent carrying a child is temporarily one-handed. Someone on a bright train platform is temporarily visually impaired. A user in a noisy café is temporarily hard of hearing. Design that works for people with permanent disabilities tends to work better for everyone in these everyday situations too.

Inclusive design vs accessibility vs universal design

These three terms get used almost interchangeably, but they mean genuinely different things.

Accessibility is an outcome and an attribute. A website either meets a given accessibility standard (such as WCAG 2.2 AA) or it does not. Accessibility is usually defined by compliance with formal guidelines and is often focused on meeting the needs of people with specific disabilities.

Inclusive design is a method and a mindset. It is the process by which you arrive at accessible outcomes, and it considers a wider range of potential users, including those whose needs are not formally recognised in accessibility standards. Microsoft describes the relationship neatly: accessibility is the attribute; inclusive design is the method that gets you there ⁹.

Universal design is a slightly older idea, developed in the United States in the 1990s, that aims to produce a single design that works for as many people as possible without the need for adaptation ¹⁰. Inclusive design differs in that it acknowledges one product will not always meet every need, and it is comfortable producing different solutions for different groups where appropriate.

In practice, working inclusively produces websites that are accessible by design, which is a far better position to be in than trying to retrofit accessibility after launch.

The principles of inclusive design

Microsoft's Inclusive Design Toolkit is built on three principles that have become something of an industry standard ⁸:

1. Recognise exclusion. Exclusion happens when we design by default for people like ourselves. Noticing who is being left out of the experience is the first step. Ask who is not in the room, whose voice is missing from user research, and where the default assumptions sit.
2. Learn from diversity. Centre real people in the design process from the start. Spend time with users whose experience of the web differs from your own, whether that is through permanent disability, assistive technology use, age, language, or context of use.
3. Solve for one, extend to many. Design for a specific user need, especially one that arises from disability, and you will often end up with a solution that benefits a much wider audience. Closed captions were built for deaf users; they now help anyone watching a video with the sound off on a crowded train.

The UK's Design Council adds a complementary lens, noting that inclusive design should put people at the heart of the process, be flexible in use, and offer choice where a single design cannot meet everyone's needs ¹¹.

Inclusive design examples in practice

Abstract principles only get you so far. Here are some examples where designing for one group has produced a better experience for all:

• Closed captions and subtitles. Created for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, now routinely used by people watching videos in quiet offices, noisy gyms, or in a second language.
• Voice control. Developed to help users with motor impairments, now the foundation of mainstream smart speakers, in-car systems, and hands-free cooking.
• Kerb cuts. Originally campaigned for by wheelchair users, they now serve parents with pushchairs, travellers with wheeled luggage, and delivery couriers.
• Higher-contrast text and larger tap targets. Essential for users with low vision or limited dexterity, and helpful for anyone using a phone in direct sunlight or on a bumpy bus.
• Plain English. Written with cognitive accessibility in mind, and far easier for every user to read, including the 7.1 million UK adults with very poor literacy skills.
• Predictable navigation and simple forms. Built with screen-reader users in mind, they also reduce cognitive load for every user and tend to produce better conversion rates.

The pattern is consistent. When you design for the edges of your user base, the middle benefits too.

What makes a website accessible? Key features to build in

Here is what a well-built, accessible website actually does. This is not an exhaustive list, but it covers the areas that matter most, grouped broadly by the four POUR principles behind WCAG: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust ¹².

Perceivable

• Sufficient but not excessive colour contrast between text and background. WCAG 2.2 AA sets a minimum floor of 4.5:1 for normal text, and this alone would address the most common accessibility failure on the web, given that 83.9% of homepages currently fail this check ¹. Important nuance: the 4.5:1 ratio is a minimum, not a target. Pure black (#000000) on pure white (#FFFFFF) scores 21:1 and is actively harder to read for many users, including people with dyslexia, Irlen syndrome, light sensitivity, migraine, and some forms of astigmatism. The British Dyslexia Association's Style Guide recommends dark (not black) text on a light (not white) background, and suggests cream or soft pastel backgrounds rather than pure white because white can appear to 'dazzle' ¹³. Research by Rello and Baeza-Yates, published via the W3C, found that people with dyslexia actually read faster at lower contrasts than non-dyslexic readers ¹⁴. The practical answer is to stay comfortably above 4.5:1 (a dark grey such as #222 on an off-white such as #FAFAFA, for example) and, where feasible, offer users the option to switch themes or adjust contrast themselves.
• Descriptive alt text for images, so screen-reader users know what each image conveys. Decorative images should use empty alt attributes so assistive technology skips over them.
• Captions and transcripts for video and audio content.
• Text that can be resized up to 200% without breaking the layout.
• Never relying on colour alone to convey meaning (for example, do not indicate errors solely with red text).

Operable

• Full keyboard navigation. Every interactive element should be reachable and usable with a keyboard alone, in a logical order, with a clearly visible focus indicator.
• Skip links at the top of the page so keyboard and screen-reader users can bypass repetitive navigation.
• No keyboard traps. Users must always be able to tab away from any element they can tab into.
• Generous click and tap targets, ideally 44 by 44 pixels or larger (WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion 2.5.8).
• No content that flashes more than three times per second, to protect users with photosensitive epilepsy.

Understandable

• Clear, plain-language content. Write for a general audience, explain jargon, and keep sentences short.
• A declared page language in the HTML lang attribute, so screen readers pronounce content correctly. The WebAIM 2026 report found 14.6% of homepages still lack this ¹.
• Predictable navigation and layout across the site. Users should not have to relearn how your site works on each page.
• Clear form labels, instructions and error messages. Form inputs without labels were found on a huge proportion of homepages in the WebAIM 2026 analysis ¹.

Robust

• Semantic HTML. Use the right element for the right job: proper headings, landmarks, buttons, and form controls. Do not rebuild a button out of a div unless you have a very good reason and full keyboard and ARIA handling.
• Valid, well-formed code that works reliably across browsers and assistive technologies.
• ARIA used sparingly and correctly. WebAIM's 2026 data shows pages using ARIA averaged more than twice as many errors as pages without, often because ARIA is added to paper over underlying problems rather than to fix them ¹.

The UK legal context in brief

For UK organisations, three layers of regulation apply to digital services:

1. The Equality Act 2010 requires reasonable adjustments to services, including websites, to avoid discriminating against disabled people ⁵. This applies to virtually all private-sector organisations.
2. The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 require public-sector bodies and certain charities to meet WCAG 2.2 AA and publish an accessibility statement ⁶.
3. The European Accessibility Act, in force from 28 June 2025, applies to any business (UK-based or otherwise) selling covered digital products or services to consumers in the EU ⁷. Penalties vary by member state but are designed to be 'effective, proportionate, and dissuasive'.

If you operate in more than one of these contexts, the most efficient approach is usually to design once to the highest applicable standard.

A practical inclusive design checklist

Use this as a starting point for an internal audit, a design review, or a conversation with your agency:

Content and copy

• Write in plain English at a reading age appropriate for your audience.
• Use clear, descriptive link text ('Download the 2025 report', not 'click here').
• Provide alt text for every meaningful image; use empty alt for decorative ones.
• Add captions and transcripts to video and audio.

Visual design

• Check every text and background combination meets at least 4.5:1 contrast (3:1 for large text), but avoid pure black on pure white, which can trigger visual stress for dyslexic readers and others. A dark grey on an off-white is usually more comfortable for everyone.
• Never rely on colour alone to convey meaning.
• Ensure interactive elements have a visible focus state.
• Make tap targets at least 44 by 44 pixels.

Structure and code

• Use semantic HTML: headings in order, lists for lists, buttons as buttons.
• Declare the page language in the HTML tag.
• Label every form input, including search boxes.
• Test keyboard navigation from top to bottom of every page.
• Use ARIA only where native HTML cannot do the job.

Testing

• Run an automated scan (such as WAVE or axe) as a baseline, but do not rely on it alone. Automated tools catch only a fraction of issues ¹.
• Test with real screen-reader users where possible (NVDA and VoiceOver are the most common).
• Include at least one disabled participant in usability testing.
• Publish an accessibility statement and keep it up to date.

How to get started

If this feels like a lot, it is. Most organisations do not get to fully accessible in a single sprint, and that is fine. The organisations making real progress treat accessibility as an ongoing practice rather than a one-off project, and they embed it into how briefs are written, how designs are reviewed, and how code is shipped.

If you are thinking about how to bring inclusive design into your own website, whether that is a content audit, a redesign, or a rebuild on a CMS like WordPress, we are happy to help. Our team at Accent has been building websites for UK organisations for over two decades, and accessibility is part of how we work, not an optional extra at the end.

GAAD on 21 May 2026 is a good excuse to start. Any day after that is fine too.

References

Karen Fuller is the office manager and creative of Accent, based at the Enterprise Centre, University of East Anglia. She has worked in the reprographics and photography industries for 27 years, and holds a degree in fine art and qualifications & awards in photography and design.