As the digital sphere becomes more and more central to the way we live, work, and relate to one another, website accessibility has never been more critical. Far more than a matter of compliance, accessibility is about designing inclusive digital experiences that benefit everyone — no matter their physical disabilities, sensory impairments, or cognitive disabilities.
In 2025, innovative brands aren’t simply opening up their websites to prevent legal landmines — they’re doing it to grow audiences, enhance search engine rankings, and most importantly, to be good digital citizens.
From visual impairments to neurodivergence, accessibility strategies now embrace a wide range of user needs. Let’s jump into the top four tips for improving your website’s accessibility in 2025 and building experiences that are not just inclusive but also optimized for performance and reach.
Design With Keyboard-Only Navigation in Mind
Why it matters:
Not everybody uses a mouse or touchscreen to navigate a site. A lot of people with mobility impairments, blind users, or users with repetitive stress injuries use assistive technology such as screen readers or keyboard-only navigation. If your site is not optimized for this, you’re alienating a significant number of users.
How to improve:
- Make all interactive items (links, buttons, forms) accessible through the Tab key.
- Provide a visible focus indicator (like an outline) to indicate which element is currently active.
- Do not use hover or intricate mouse gestures without alternatives through the keyboard.
- Verify your tab order: It should mirror the page’s natural reading order.
Pro tip: Test your own site using only the keyboard. If you can’t easily reach and interact with all features, neither can your users.
Add Text to Speech and Audio Content Options
Why it matters:
Written content can be overwhelming or impossible for readers with reading disabilities, vision impairments, or cognitive variations. By implementing text to speech functionality, you open up your content to so many more potential readers.
How to improve:
- Utilize tools such as Murf.ai’s text to speech to create natural-sounding voiceovers for your written content, blog posts, or educational content.
- Provide audio playback buttons close to articles, blog posts, or how-to content.
- Provide transcripts and captions to all multimedia so that it is two-way accessible (text to audio and vice versa).
- In mobile-first designs, keep TTS buttons convenient to tap and do not interfere with content.
Pro tip: Combine TTS with controllable playback speed so that users have greater control over listening. Some readers would want faster reading speed, and others might require slower.
Implement Proper Color Contrast and Flexible Themes
Why it matters:
Color accessibility is important for low vision or color blindness users, which impacts about 300 million people worldwide. Inadequate contrast can make text difficult to read, leading to frustration and abandonment.
How to improve:
- Utilize high-contrast color pairs between text and background (e.g., black text on white).
- Strive for a contrast ratio of 4.5:1 or better for regular text and 3:1 or better for large text, according to WCAG 2.1 guidelines.
- Provide a dark mode or high contrast switch, allowing users to control the way they see content.
- Don’t depend on color as the sole means of communication (e.g., don’t simply use red for errors—include text or icons as well).
Pro tip: Utilize web-based tools such as WebAIM’s contrast checker to analyze and modify your site’s color scheme.
Write Semantic HTML and Use ARIA Landmarks Thoughtfully
Why it matters:
Your site may appear perfect on the surface, but screen readers view it entirely differently. They rely on the underlying HTML structure behind the graphics to speak and navigate content properly. When that structure is convoluted or meaningless, it may result in an unpleasant experience for users who are dependent on assistive technology.
How to improve:
- Incorporate semantic HTML elements like <header>, <nav>, <main>, <section>, <article>, and <footer>. These elements provide both structure and significance to your page.
- Utilize ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) landmarks for dynamic features or components such as sliders, modals, and tabs.
- Make sure to label all form fields correctly using the <label> tag or aria-label attributes.
- Be cautious with ARIA roles — prioritize semantic HTML first, and only add ARIA when it’s truly necessary.
Pro tip: Try testing your website with a free screen reader like NVDA (for Windows) or VoiceOver (for Mac/iOS) to see how well your structure holds up.
Conclusion
In 2025 and onwards, accessibility is no longer a nice-to-have; it is an essential part of considerate, user-centered design. When you include smart approaches such as keyboard navigation, high-contrast styles, semantic clarity, and capabilities like text-to-speech, you’re building a web experience that actually works for all of us.
Digital accessibility goes beyond just checking off a list of requirements. It’s about building websites that connect, engage, and empower all users, no matter their abilities.
So, start with small steps, keep refining your approach, and always keep in mind – designing for accessibility means designing for everyone.