IT Glossary
What is web accessibility?
The practice of building websites that people with impaired sight, hearing or mobility can actually use.
Roughly one in four Europeans lives with some form of disability, and a website that cannot be read by a screen reader or operated from the keyboard alone loses every one of them in the first second. Web accessibility is not a vague aspiration; it is a set of concrete construction rules. Sufficient contrast between text and background. Descriptions for images. Controls that work without a mouse. Form fields with labels a screen reader can announce. Since June 2025 the European Accessibility Act has obliged online shops and digital services across the EU, Romania included, to meet these standards — so this has moved from a reputational nicety to a legal requirement with penalties attached. The good news for your company is that the same rules make the site easier for everyone: better structure, clearer labels and stronger contrast help a hurried customer on a phone in bright sunlight, and they help search engines parse your pages correctly too.
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Why it matters for your business
Compliance with EU legislation
The European Accessibility Act has applied to online commerce since 2025; a compliant site spares you both penalties and a rushed rebuild under deadline pressure.
A larger addressable market
Millions of users with disabilities, plus a fast-growing older population, can only buy from you if the site physically allows them to complete a purchase.
A free bonus in usability and SEO
Clean heading structure, alternative text and readable contrast help search engines and every impatient customer, not only assistive technology.
Frequently asked questions
Is my company legally required to have an accessible website?
If you sell online to consumers in the EU, then very probably yes — the European Accessibility Act has covered e-commerce since June 2025. Micro-enterprises below ten employees and two million euro turnover have limited exemptions, but those exemptions are narrower than most owners assume.
How do I quickly check whether my site is accessible?
Start free: run automated tools such as Lighthouse or WAVE, then do the practical test — try to complete a purchase using only the keyboard, and then with a screen reader switched on. Major failures surface within minutes of trying this yourself.
How expensive is it to retrofit accessibility?
It depends entirely on how the site was built. Contrast and labelling fixes are cheap; a site assembled from images of text or with improvised form controls may need rebuilding. That asymmetry is the argument for specifying accessibility at the construction stage, where it costs almost nothing.
Let’s talk about your project
Message us on WhatsApp or send an email — you talk directly to a developer.
office@northdan.com · +40 752 070 247