What accessibility means for your website, and the steps we take to make things clearer and more inclusive for everyone.
What is Accessibility?
Accessibility means your website can be used by all visitors, including those relying on tools such as screen readers. Correct accessibility ensures that your content is easy to understand, smooth to navigate, and visually described where needed. This covers visitors with cognitive, visual, auditory, or any other type of impairment.
While it’s generally seen as a positive aspect for all websites, accessibility is only a legal requirement for public sector bodies, charities, and some regulated industries in the UK. If your organisation falls under these categories, you can read more about the current legislation on the UK government’s accessibility requirements page.
Legalities
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) came into force on June 28, 2025, introducing new requirements for digital accessibility across the EU. While it sounds sweeping, it mainly applies to eCommerce platforms and certain digital services, not every website. For existing sites, there’s a generous five-year window to make changes, so there’s no immediate pressure to overhaul anything. This guide gives a clear breakdown of what’s included and who it affects.
Do you need to consider accessibility?
Accessibility should be considered as a strategic decision, not just a technical requirement. As a business, you’ll need to decide how important accessibility is to you and your audience. This isn’t a one-off task but an ongoing commitment that may influence how the website is designed, built, and maintained over time.
The level of accessibility you choose will impact both the technical setup and your responsibilities, including how content is written and structured, how buttons are labelled and named, what colour combinations can be used, and whether a third-party audit should be engaged to ensure accessibility before launch. Search engines increasingly favour accessible websites, so this also supports long-term SEO and user experience.
What accessibility tools we use
By standard, Silktide is our tool of choice for conducting assessments as part of the development process to audit key accessibility criteria, including structure, colour contrast, navigation, and common content formats. We also apply best-practice coding techniques such as semantic HTML, meaningful ARIA roles, and keyboard-friendly navigation.
A score of 80 or above is generally considered a good level of accessibility and provides a helpful benchmark for evaluating the quality of accessibility. However, it is important to note that automated tools like Silktide can only detect a subset of accessibility issues.
Getting an external review
While we follow best practices during implementation, we cannot guarantee legal compliance and long-term accessibility due to the evolving nature of standards and ongoing content changes. Where accessibility is a legal requirement, we strongly recommend an external review by a specialist third-party provider, who will conduct manual testing to uncover additional areas for improvement.
Technical Details
What do we do, and what are your responsibilities if making a website accessible?
What The Hideout does:
Design & Code
- Semantic HTML
We use native HTML5 elements to structure content clearly and improve screen reader compatibility. - ARIA attributes
Applied where needed to enhance interaction context (e.g. aria-label, aria-expanded, aria-live), supporting assistive technologies. - Colour & Contrast
Design choices meet contrast ratio requirements: 4.5:1 for body text, 3:1 for large text. - Responsive layouts
Layouts adapt across devices and support zooming up to 200% for text and up to 400% for reflow without breaking.
Navigation & Forms
- Keyboard navigation
All site features will be operable via keyboard. - Focus states
Visible focus indicators are maintained and tested across components. - Skip links
“Skip to content” or similar links are included to help users bypass repetitive content. - Form fields & errors
Input fields will have appropriate labels and clear error messaging. Structure allows screen readers to identify grouped inputs (e.g. name, address).
Media Handling
- Image alt text structure
All imagery will support alt=”” attributes. Placeholder alt text will be added, but responsibility for descriptive accuracy lies with the content provider/client. - PDFs & file uploads
Where provided, we’ll flag non-compliant documents. Accessibility-optimised PDF production is not included as standard but can be quoted separately. - Video/audio content
Client-supplied media must include captions and/or transcripts. We can guide this, but we are not responsible for creation unless explicitly scoped.
Testing
- Automated testing with Silktide
Used during development to flag missing tags, colour issues, link purpose, and overall structure. - Manual spot checks
Key user journeys are tested using a keyboard and a screen reader (VoiceOver on Mac). - Baseline target
Aim for a minimum score of 890% or higher on Silktide for AA-level compliance at handover.
What’s not included as standard?
- Formal accessibility certification or legal compliance guarantee
- Third-party accessibility audits
- Content writing or rewriting for accessibility (alt text, link naming, etc.)
- Live captioning or transcription for video/audio
- Legacy document remediation (e.g. old PDFs)
- Accessibility fixes for post-launch content changes (unless on Aftercare).
Optional ongoing support
It’s worth keeping in mind that the technical setup for accessibility is just the beginning, and that content also plays a significant role. We can handle the development side, but it’s important to keep content optimised, plan for regular checks with third-party tools or specialists, and factor this into your budget from the start. The following can be added to an Aftercare Package for continuous improvement.
- Monthly Silktide audits and issue resolution or advisory services
- Priority response to critical accessibility issues
- Training and guidance for content teams on maintaining accessible publishing.
Your responsibilites:
Content input
Ensure that the supplied content (text, PDFs, images, and video) meets accessibility requirements. We’ll provide guidance, but we can’t adjust all materials after upload.
Alt text and link labels
You’ll be responsible for reviewing or supplying accurate alt text and non-generic link text (e.g. avoid “click here”).
Compliance assurance
If your organisation is legally required to meet accessibility standards (e.g. public sector or certain charities), we strongly recommend independent third-party testing in addition to our work.
If accessibility is something you’re actively working towards, we’re here to support you.
Our role is to guide you through the technical setup, flag key considerations, and make sure your site is built with best practices in mind. Accessibility needs ongoing attention, and some elements will sit with your team to maintain or review. If you have questions or would like to discuss what’s possible, we’re always happy to chat.
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