Accessible UX Design: 6 Advanced Techniques to Elevate Your Process

The WebAIM analysis shows an interesting trend: while accessibility errors have increased overall in 2024, websites that previously invested in accessibility continue to improve. This pattern tells us something powerful – when teams commit to accessibility, it makes a real difference.

If you’re reading this, you’re likely familiar with WCAG 2.2 guidelines and understand the basics of making websites accessible. You’ve checked the contrast ratios, added alt text to images, and made sure your site works with keyboard navigation. These fundamentals are valuable, but you’re ready to take your accessibility practice further.

This article builds on our previous guide, “Smooth UX: A Handy Accessible Design Checklist,” moving beyond individual fixes to show you how accessibility can become a natural part of your UX process. You’ll learn practical techniques to weave accessibility into every stage of design, from initial wireframes to final implementation.

By applying these advanced approaches, you’ll create inclusive websites and experiences that work better for everyone – not just meeting guidelines, but truly serving all your users.

According to WebAIM, 95.9% of popular websites fail basic accessibility standards, and this clearly represents countless missed opportunities to connect with users who rely on accessible design to navigate the web.

Making websites accessible isn’t just about meeting standards – it sparks innovation that benefits everyone. Think about curb cuts, those sloped areas between roads and pavements. While designed for wheelchair users, they help people with pushchairs, delivery workers with trolleys, and travellers with wheeled luggage. The same principle applies to accessible UX design: solutions created for specific needs often make experiences better for all users.

This becomes even more significant when we look at the reach: 16% of people globally experience significant disabilities. But accessibility benefits extend far beyond this group to include users like:

Let’s explore how this understanding translates into practice through two fundamental concepts.

While accessibility and usability are related, they serve different purposes in UX design. Accessibility ensures everyone can use your website, including people with disabilities, while usability focuses on making the experience smooth and efficient for all users.

Think of it like a building entrance: Accessibility means having both stairs and a ramp so everyone can enter, while usability means ensuring the door isn’t too heavy and opens in an intuitive direction. In web design, good accessibility might mean ensuring your forms work with screen readers, while good usability means making those forms clear and easy to complete.

When you combine both, you create better experiences for everyone. 

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are built on four fundamental principles:

These principles provide a framework for making websites accessible to everyone, regardless of how they interact with your site.

Moving beyond basic accessibility, these advanced techniques help weave inclusive design throughout your UX process. Rather than treating accessibility as a checkbox exercise, these approaches create naturally accessible experiences from the ground up. 

A thoughtfully crafted design system serves as your foundation for consistent, accessible experiences. Rather than retrofitting accessibility features, build them into your component library from the start.

Begin with component documentation that includes specific accessibility requirements. For each component, specify keyboard navigation patterns, required ARIA attributes and roles, focus management rules, and screen reader behaviour expectations. This helps developers implement components correctly every time.

Create accessibility-focused design tokens that standardise:

Build automated testing into your workflow to catch issues early:

Document how components should be combined to maintain accessibility. For example, explain how nesting interactive elements might affect keyboard navigation or screen reader announcements. Regular testing with actual assistive technologies helps ensure your components work as intended.

To create truly inclusive experiences, user journey mapping needs to consider diverse abilities and interaction methods. Instead of designing for a single “typical” user, map out how different people might navigate your interface.

Start by incorporating diverse participants in your research. Include people who:

Once you have your group, you can begin testing and documenting each stage of the journey. This includes potential accessibility barriers, alternative interaction paths, required assistive technology support, areas where users might need extra guidance, and points where cognitive load might be high.

The W3C’s “Stories of Web Users” provides real-world examples of how people with different abilities interact with websites. Use these insights to inform your journey mapping and identify potential obstacles early in the design process.

Finally, don’t forget to test your journeys with real users and assistive technologies. This helps uncover issues that automated testing might miss and ensures your flows work for everyone.

You don’t need to choose between beautiful design and accessibility. The trick is to use aesthetics to enhance usability rather than hinder it. Here’s how to strike that balance:

Start with a progressive enhancement approach. Build a solid, accessible foundation first, then add visual flourishes that don’t interfere with functionality. For example, begin with properly structured content and semantic HTML before adding animations or decorative elements.

Then, when working with your brand’s visual identity, try to find creative ways to meet contrast requirements while maintaining brand colours. It’s also essential to use patterns or textures instead of just colour to differentiate elements, such as buttons, links, and form errors. 

Include fallback options that maintain visual appeal:

Building effective accessibility testing into your workflow helps catch issues early and ensures consistent quality. Here’s how to set up a practical testing system:

Creating accessible websites means ensuring they work well across all devices and platforms. This goes beyond basic responsive design to consider how different devices affect accessibility features.

Start with a mobile-first approach that prioritises performance:

Consider how different devices handle assistive technologies:

Pay special attention to input methods:

Design your interface to adapt gracefully:

Understanding ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) roles and properties helps you create complex interfaces that remain accessible. Here’s how to implement ARIA effectively in dynamic content:

Focus on proper focus management in single-page applications:

Use ARIA live regions strategically:

When building custom widgets:

Watch out for common pitfalls:

Creating truly accessible websites requires moving beyond basic principles. The techniques we’ve covered – from integrating accessibility into design systems to optimising performance across devices – provide a solid foundation for building inclusive experiences.

These methods help ensure your designs work for everyone while maintaining high standards of design excellence. However, like any expertise, accessible UX design is a continuous learning process. Tools and techniques evolve, and there’s always more to learn about serving users with different needs.

Looking to deepen your accessibility knowledge? The A11Y Collective offers hands-on courses that teach you how to implement these advanced techniques effectively. You’ll learn to: