Understanding Webflow Accessibility (12 Best Practices For Developing An Accessible Site)

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Understanding Webflow Accessibility (12 Best Practices For Developing An Accessible Site)

Webflow offers some of the best features for SEO, but did you know that accessibility also plays a significant role in your Webflow SEO? Websites that aren't accessible can lose over 15% of their traffic, and this is a loss no one can afford. If you're using Webflow to build your site, this article can help you learn how to make your site accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. You'll discover how to achieve this goal using Webflow's powerful features and tools to ensure your site ranks well with search engines.

NUMI's Webflow developers can help you improve your Webflow accessibility. We understand how to create accessible websites in Webflow so you can focus on other aspects of your project.

What Is Webflow?

students working on a laptop - Webflow Accessibility

Webflow is a highly acclaimed website builder that has remained dominant in the web design field due to its versatility. From crafting simple portfolio websites to more advanced eCommerce stores, Webflow’s features allow designers of all levels and specialties to quickly bring their ideas to fruition. According to Internet statistics company Builtwith.com, around 920,565 live websites are built and hosted with Webflow.

Popular Clients

Its clients include popular brands like:

  • Zendesk
  • Dell
  • Upwork

Webflow offers classic, precise design tools while also being not entirely code-dependent. Most Webflow users are web developers, so they typically create and release tools, themes, and features for other Webflow users to download and add to their own sites. 

Community-Driven Building

This community-driven approach to website building is unique to Webflow and helps new users build their sites, though some web developer knowledge is still helpful.

It's not just about design but also control, from on-page SEO to dynamic content management. With Webflow's intuitive visual editor, businesses can craft custom websites without extensive coding knowledge. This enables designers and marketers to bring their ideas to life quickly and efficiently, inspiring them to create their best work.

Responsive Design

Webflow's responsive design capabilities ensure that websites look great and function seamlessly on any device, a crucial factor in today’s mobile-first world. The built-in SEO tools and dynamic content management further empower businesses to stay agile and adaptive, responding easily to:

  • Market trends 
  • Customer needs

With Webflow, you can be reassured that your website will always be responsive to the changing digital landscape. This combination of features supports website creation and its evolution, aligning perfectly with the growth trajectories and digital strategies of modern, forward-thinking companies.    

Related Reading

Webflow Accessibility: What Does It Mean To Have An Accessible Website?

a laptop and a desktop on a table - Webflow Accessibility

Designing an accessible website means creating a site that anyone can use, regardless of their abilities. Accessibility often includes elements that assist users with disabilities. This could mean text that blind users can read with a screen reader, audio that deaf users can listen to with captions or transcripts, and no interactions or animations for users who might experience seizures. Accessibility goes beyond this. 

It’s guided by the modern definition of disability–a mismatch between individuals and their environment. This definition is elegant not only because it transforms our perspective from one that assumes disability is intrinsic and permanent to one that understands that it’s relative. Disability can be not only permanent but also temporary and situational.

Universal Access

Accessibility reduces the number and intensity of mismatches between the environments we create and those who live and work in them. The notion that the web was built for everyone is woven into its DNA. 

It’s literally in the first sentence the web ever hosted; the WorldWideWeb (W3) is a wide-area hypermedia information retrieval initiative aiming to give universal access to a large universe of documents. Today, it’s just as easy to build an inaccessible website in a text editor as in Webflow.

Startup Design With NUMI

NUMI is a webflow development agency powered by world-class webflow developers and product designers. Backed by Y Combinator, NUMI handles all of your startup's sourcing/vetting/hiring needs for design. We have a fabulous design team that ensures that all of your design work is being done well.

NUMI helps with:

  • Product design
  • Web design
  • Framer development
  • Webflow development
  • Mobile design
  • Prototyping
  • UX design, and all of your startup's design needs

Subscribe to a guild of world-class designers ready to embed on your team today. Schedule a call with us today to learn more!

Understanding ADA And WCAG  Guidelines And Levels

women working on a laptop - Webflow Accessibility

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against disabled individuals in all areas of:

  • Public life
  • Including jobs
  • Schools
  • Transportation

It also extends to public and private organizations that provide services to the general public. Title III of the law focuses on accessibility standards for public accommodations, which include websites.

Digging into the Details of WCAG Levels

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is part of W3’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). It directly covers the web content side of accessibility to help websites meet Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. The WCAG uses a rating system that user experience (UX) and product designers can study and reference during the design process–Level A is the minimum acceptable threshold for accessibility features and doesn’t achieve broad accessibility.

Accessibility Levels

It must be navigable with a keyboard and convey meaning through non-visual elements. This level includes rules around:

  • CAPTCHA presentation
  • Alternatives to text for prerecorded audio and video content
  • Prerecorded captions and text alternatives to sensory content

Level AA means a site has acceptable compliance — most visitors find it usable, including disabled people. Websites at this level must have the following:

  • Alt text
  • Consistent navigation elements
  • Logical headings

Optimal Accessibility

These designs also include accessibility options such as live video captions and prerecorded audio descriptions, depending on the site’s content. Level AAA is optimal for site design and includes everything covered in the first two levels:

  • Maximum contrast options
  • The three-flash rule (no more than three flashes in one second)
  • Sign language interpretation for audio or video content
  • Expanding abbreviations

Although there’s no such thing as a perfectly accessible website, those at this level are as close as they can get, according to WCAG standards.

Why It's Critical To Consider Accessibility For Your Webflow Site

man working on a laptop - Webflow Accessibility

Sixteen percent of the world’s population has some form of disability. This group often faces discrimination, so we must ensure its members are presented with a fair and equitable online experience.

It’s interesting to note that the disability community has trillions of dollars in disposable income. When your Webflow website is accessible, you welcome people with various disabilities to explore your products and services and allow them to spend their hard-earned money on your offerings.

Web Accessibility Legal Obligations

If you operate in the U.S., Canada, or the European Union, you may be legally mandated to ensure your Webflow website is accessible to people with disabilities.

While nothing has yet been codified into law, it’s generally accepted that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to the online domain and businesses’ physical structures. U.S. courts today apply this law to websites, often referencing WCAG as the standard that should be met under the ADA. 

Another prominent American law that includes clauses regarding web accessibility is Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. This law applies to:

  • Governmental bodies
  • Federally funded organizations
  • Service providers to such organizations

Section 508 points to WCAG 2.0 Level AA as its standard for compliance. Relevant bodies must ensure their websites and other information and communication technology (ICT)—such as:

  • Videos
  • PDFs
  • Email

Ontario-registered businesses must comply with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). Under this law, your Webflow website must conform to WCAG 2.0 Level AA. 

Related Reading

Is Webflow Good For Accessibility?

woman working on a laptop - Webflow Accessibility

HTML5 Tagging UI: A Smart Approach to Accessibility

HTML5 tagging UI allows users to add descriptions to their tags. The feature will even tell you which tag best defines your element or section.

ALT Attribute Fields For Images: Essential for Accessibility

Alt attributes were made more apparent in image settings, added to the asset manager, and defaulted to producing empty alt attributes. This factor is the ideal solution for images only used as decoration.

Accessible Prebuilt Layouts: Great for Even the Untrained Eye

Prebuilt layouts, one of Webflow’s most recent innovations, were designed to be accessible immediately. The feature also follows recommended practices for accessibility, such as:

These features are small steps that take them closer to achieving their new mission, enabling Webflow to achieve website accessibility. They are committed to working further and have shared their road map for the future.

12 Webflow Accessibility Best Practices To Develop An Accessible Site

woman working on a laptop - Webflow Accessibility

1. The Role of Alt Text in Webflow Accessibility

Alt text is a short description that explains the content and purpose of an image on a webpage. This is crucial for users with vision impairments who rely on screen readers to understand pictures they can't see. In Webflow, you can easily add alt text directly in the Asset panel for each image.

Image Accessibility

If you're working with images in a CMS collection, ensure an alt text field is mapped to each one. For the Multi-Image field, provide alt text for each image included.

Pro Tip: If an image is purely decorative and doesn’t add informative value, mark it as decorative in Webflow. This can be done in the image settings within the Assets panel or by selecting the None: image is decorative option for Alt Text in Rich Text images. This helps screen readers skip over non-essential images, making the experience smoother for users.

2. Why Color Contrast Matters for Accessibility

Color contrast is a vital element of web accessibility. According to WCAG, the minimum contrast ratio between text and its background should be 4.5:1 for standard text and 3:1 for large text (above 18pt). This helps ensure that your content is readable for users with vision impairments, including those with color vision deficiencies. 

But it’s not just about text—graphical objects, form input fields, and essential icons should also have sufficient contrast to be easily distinguishable.

3. Choosing Fonts for Accessibility

Choosing readable fonts isn’t just about accessibility but also user experience. Fonts that are easy to read help everyone, including people who skim content rather than reading every word. To ensure legibility across different devices, use CSS relative units like REM for font sizes in Webflow. 

This ensures your text scales appropriately with the browser's default font size, making it readable on any device.

4. The Importance of Descriptive Link Texts

Links are essential for navigating your website, so making them accessible is crucial. Use clear and descriptive anchor text that tells users exactly where the link will take them. 

This is particularly important for screen reader users who often navigate by jumping from one link to another. You've done great if your link text can stand alone and still convey meaning.

5. Why Captions and Transcriptions Matter for Video Accessibility

Videos are a great way to engage your audience, but they can be challenging for users with hearing impairments. Adding captions, text descriptions of dialogue and significant sounds, ensures these users can fully understand your video content. While platforms like YouTube and Vimeo offer automatic captions, reviewing and correcting them for accuracy is essential to meet WCAG standards.

Providing a text transcript of your video is another way to enhance accessibility. Transcripts include all spoken dialogue and describe significant visual elements benefiting those with hearing impairments or who prefer reading.

6. How to Make Sure Your Online Documents Are Accessible

If your Webflow site includes downloadable documents like PDFs, ensure they are accessible. This means:

  • Including proper tags for screen readers
  • Using legible and large text
  • Providing good color contrast
  • Adding alt text for images
  • Using descriptive link text

7. Use a Proper Heading Structure

Headings help users navigate your site, especially those with screen readers or cognitive disabilities. A proper heading structure is like a table of contents for your content. Use:

  • H1 for the main title (only once per page)
  • H2 for major sections
  • H3 for subsections, and so on. 

This logical hierarchy makes your content more accessible to understand and navigate.

Bonus Tip: Simply increasing the text size doesn’t turn it into a heading. Use heading tags so screen readers can recognize the text correctly.

8. Ensure Site Navigation Solely via Keyboard

Some users rely on keyboard navigation due to motor disabilities or use assistive technology like screen readers. Ensuring that your entire site is navigable via keyboard alone is crucial. 

Tools like Webflow’s accessWidget can help by running automated audits of your site and applying necessary remediation measures for screen reader compatibility and keyboard-only navigation.

9. Add Focus States and Visual Cues for Navigating with a Keyboard

Some website visitors rely solely on their keyboard to navigate a website. They do so by tabbing through all of the actionable items. Web browsers generally add a default outline around links and other actionable items when keyboard users tab them. 

This helps keyboard users understand what they are engaging with. Some Webflow elements, such as dropdown menus, are not recognized as actionable items, and without a focus state applied, browsers will not pick them up.

Keyboard Focus

In Webflow, you can ensure that all elements that can be tabbed are given a Keyboard Focus state. You can add this state in the Style panel in the style selector dropdown. It is important to add visual cues to all actionable items for all website visitors, not just those using a keyboard for navigation. 

Significantly, these visual cues should not be solely based on color. Cues only based on color leave out website visitors with varying forms of color blindness and can be easily missed by others, as well. Color alone is a poor indicator or descriptor for when prompting a website visitor to take action. Think of other ways to show a visitor an item is actionable.

Style States

You can style several states besides Focus in Webflow. These include: 

  • None: The default state
  • Hover: When an element is hovered over. Note that this does generally not work on most touch devices 
  • Pressed: The state when an element is clicked 
  • Visited: Indicates that a link has been previously visited

A note on logical tab order: Tab order should be logical on a web page to ensure keyboard users can sequentially navigate items. An easy way to check if your website can be properly navigated ‌solely via keyboard is to open a web browser and hit the tab key. Every actionable item should have a recognizable Focus State and be in sequential tab order as you move down the page.

10. Semantic Lists and Accessibility

The main building blocks of Webflow websites are div blocks. These can easily be used for nearly any design task. Webflow also provides a specific list element that should be used whenever there is a grouping or list. 

Using semantic lists informs screen readers that the content they engage with is a list of items. It also lets screen reader users know if the list is in sequential order and how many items are in it.

11. Keep a Simple Layout

Keep a simple and straightforward layout. Consistency in page layout makes it easy for visitors to navigate your website and find what they want. Webflow is a blank canvas that allows infinite layout options, so it is important to keep the user manageable.

12. Add HTML Tags for Accessibility

HTML is the building block of any website. Despite being a visual development platform, Webflow provides all the necessary tools to build a very solid and accessible structure for your website.

In Webflow, you do this by setting up your essential landmark elements. These include: 

  • <NAV> 
  • <MAIN> 
  • <SECTION> 
  • <FOOTER>

HTML Landmarks

You can apply HTML tags to any div using the dropdown in the settings panel on the right hand side of the screen. Alternatively, you can use ‌Webflow pre-styled elements, such as Navbar or Section, which already have pre-applied element tags. Creating these landmarks helps assistive technologies understand the base structure of your website. 

Third-party ADA Compliance Solution Provider

students working on a laptop - Webflow Accessibility

UserWay: Your Fast-Track to Webflow Accessibility

UserWay makes improving Webflow accessibility easy. By using UserWay’s accessibility widget, you can improve your site’s usability and accessibility right away. UserWay is compatible with all Webflow templates, both purchased and pre-made designs.

Free Widget

It doesn’t matter how many Webflow sites you manage or how many pages each has. Installing UserWay’s Accessibility Widget is entirely free. With UserWay, your site’s accessibility gets a substantial boost immediately, and you get to pass those benefits on to your users. 

Adhering to the WCAG 2.0 AA requirements is also an excellent way to avoid lawsuits and legal claims related to accessibility, the ADA, and Section 508.

accessiBe: The AI Solution for Webflow Accessibility

When you use accessiBe, you no longer have to pick between visual appeal and accessibility. AccessiBe’s an AI-driven, automated solution that ensures existing Webflow websites comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and meet WCAG 2.2 AA standards.

AccessiBe’s solution is session-based, meaning only people with impairments will view the modified design elements. Hence, the rest of your design remains unchanged.

Related Reading

How To Test Your Webflow Website’s Accessibility Level

women working on a laptop - Webflow Accessibility

Assess Your Webflow Website’s Accessibility With Automated Testing Tools

To test whether your Webflow website is accessible, you can use automated testing tools, such as accessScan, and rely on expert service providers, like accessServices.

To use accessScan, you must submit your Webflow website’s URL, after which the tool will run a quick, automated audit of your web page and check whether it conforms to WCAG 2.1 Level AA. After the audit, you will be presented with detailed results that will help you address non-accessible website elements (if any exist).

Get Manual Help From Expert Accessibility Service Providers

accessServices can be relied on to audit and remediate your Webflow website and manually. Webflow websites are generally more complex and require a more in-depth audit to determine if they accommodate all visitors. 

Many Webflow website owners rely on accessServices to thoroughly inspect their online stores and make the necessary adjustments to ensure they are fully accessible.

Use Automated Tools and Expert Services for a Comprehensive Accessibility Audit

It’s crucial to understand that both approaches complement each other. Many Webflow website owners rely on automated tools for an initial audit of their online store and then turn to expert service providers to help examine and remediate accessibility issues.

Subscribe To A Guild of World Class Webflow Developers with Our Webflow Development Agency Today

NUMI is a webflow development agency powered by world class webflow developers and product designers. Backed by Y Combinator, NUMI handles all of your startup's sourcing/vetting/hiring needs for design. We have a fabulous design team that ensures that all of your design work is being done well. 

NUMI helps with:

  • Product design
  • Web design
  • Framer development
  • Webflow development
  • Mobile design
  • Prototyping
  • UX design, and all of your startup's design needs

Subscribe to a guild of world-class designers ready to embed on your team today. Schedule a call with us today to learn more!

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