Building a website is a lot like building an actual house. When architects design buildings, they don’t sketch the blueprints and then ask, “Where should we add the doors and ramps?” Access points and pathways are built right into the foundation from day one. This same approach should apply to web development teams too.
Imagine this: you launched a gorgeous e-commerce site, everything looks perfect, then a customer calls saying they can’t complete their purchase because your checkout form doesn’t work with screen readers. Suddenly, you’re scrambling to retrofit accessibility features that should have been there from the start.
The numbers speak for themselves: Companies that prioritize accessibility are four times more likely to outperform competitors in shareholder returns. People with disabilities control $13 trillion in annual disposable income globally. That’s a lot of potential customers who might not be able to use your site if it’s not accessible.
This backwards approach is expensive. Research shows companies end up paying about 10% of their total website costs on retrofitting accessibility, but building it in from the beginning typically costs just 1-3% of the project budget.
Think about it this way: You wouldn’t build a house and only add the doorways after finishing construction. When creating a website, everything should be planned before you write the first line of code. Making your site work for the 1 in 4 adults with disabilities in the U.S alone, means more visitors can actually use your site, which translates to more traffic and revenue.
Why You Need to Think About Accessible Design Before You Start Coding
It is not uncommon to see teams that build their website first, then run it through an accessibility checker to “fix” problems. It’s like painting a room after you have already hung some pictures. Sure, you can fix it, but it’s going to take way more time and effort than doing it right the first time.
Research shows that fixing a coding issue during development takes about 5 hours, compared to 15 hours if it’s only discovered in production. Additional findings estimate that addressing a defect post-release can cost four to five times more than resolving it during the design phase. The same principle applies to accessibility: building it in from the beginning saves significant time, effort, and resources down the line
Smart accessible design starts with planning:
Foundation Planning
Just like you wouldn’t start building without knowing where the electrical outlets go, your website needs accessibility built into its basic structure from day one.
Visual Design for Everyone
Choose brand colors and visual elements that work for people with different vision abilities. Making these decisions early avoids expensive redesign work later.
Inclusive UX Strategy
Clear, well-organized content benefits all your visitors and makes your entire site more effective. Inclusive UX design considers diverse user needs from the outset, creating seamless experiences for everyone.
The bottom line? Planning for accessibility from the beginning means building a website that actually works for the broadest possible audience.
Learn more: WCAG 2.1 Guidelines | WebAIM’s Accessibility Principles
How to Keep Accessibility in Development While You’re Building
Here’s where a lot of development teams mess up. They start with good intentions but get busy with deadlines and forget about accessibility until the end. The trick is making accessibility checks as routine as testing if your site works on mobile.
Test As You Build
Don’t wait until everything’s done to see if it works. Check each piece as you create it to catch problems early when they’re easier to fix.
Use Proper Code Foundation
Building with the right HTML structure from the start makes your site naturally more accessible and saves time later.
Make It a Team Effort
Accessibility in development works best when everyone is involved, from designers to content creators to project managers. This collaborative approach ensures inclusive UX remains a priority throughout the entire process.
Combine Tools and Real Testing
Automated tools catch many of the issues, but you also need real people testing your site to find the issues that matter most to users.
The key is building these checks into your regular workflow, so accessibility becomes second nature, not an afterthought.
Learn more: Building Accessible Websites
Keeping Your Site Accessible After Launch
Launching an accessible website is just the beginning. The real challenge is keeping it accessible when you add new content, update features, or change your design.
Choose a Smart Content Management Platform
Your CMS and the people using it make a huge difference. Pick tools built with accessibility in mind and train your team on the basics.
Stay on Top of Changes
Schedule regular check-ups and test new features before they go live. Having a plan for accessibility issues keeps small problems from becoming big ones.
Use a Hybrid Accessibility Tool
That will regularly monitor and advise you about issues on your site, combining the power of AI and a human touch.
Scale Across Multiple Sites
If you’re managing multiple websites, create standard patterns and workflows that maintain accessibility consistently across all your properties.
The key is treating accessibility as an ongoing part of your website maintenance, not a one-time project.
LegalTips: Web accessibility-related legal action is becoming increasingly common and persistent. Even in 2023, the number of federal website accessibility lawsuits exceeded 2,700 cases, continuing a trend of thousands of filings every year since 2017. While this data refers to lawsuits, many of these cases begin with a ‘letter before action’- also known as demand letters, and the number of such letters has increased significantly in recent years.
- Follow WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines as your minimum standard
- If you serve customers in Europe, learn about the European Accessibility Act (EAA)
- Keep records of your accessibility efforts to be presented in case of need
- Have a plan for responding quickly to accessibility complaints
Why This Approach Pays Off
Just like you would not consider hiring an architect who builds no doors in his designs, don’t build your sites without proper accessibility solutions. It is not just about avoiding lawsuits. It’s about creating better websites that are inclusive for everyone.
Plus, accessibility features often make sites better for everyone. Captions help people watching videos in noisy places. Good contrast helps people using phones in bright sunlight. Clear navigation helps everyone find what they’re looking for faster.
For web agencies, accessibility expertise is becoming a major way to stand out from the competition. Clients increasingly want partners who can deliver inclusive experiences from the start, not band-aid solutions that might not work.
Ready to see where your current sites stand? The first step toward building accessibility into your workflow is understanding what needs improvement. Get your free website accessibility audit to find out the accessibility status of your website.
Want to see how the right tools can make accessibility easier throughout your entire development process? Book a free demo to discover how Pluro helps teams maintain high accessibility standards without slowing down delivery, from developing the first design mockup through ongoing maintenance.
