Website Accessibility Is an Ongoing Process, Not a Project

Congratulations, you’ve finished the long project of redesigning your website! And you funded accessibility considerations from the beginning. Your designers planned for color contrast and appropriate typography, and your developers ensured that the website could be navigated with only a keyboard. Your forms were labeled, the images were given alternative text, and the finished website was thoroughly tested against current accessibility standards.

Now, a few months later, is your website still as accessible as it was on launch day? Maybe.

The website build could have gone as well as possible, and yet your website has changed since the launch. And changes to the website mean that accessibility issues will start to occur.

Websites are constantly changing because someone adds pages or PDFs, or the news page is updated with pictures and videos. Forms are created, and plugins are installed. Even these small changes, over time, can introduce accessibility problems into your website even if originally (just a few months ago) it was built correctly.

Thus, accessibility should be treated as an ongoing responsibility, not a one-time project.

A Website Is Never Really Finished

Ideally, your website was designed and developed to meet established standards like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). But even so, the day after launch, as the website changes, the need to keep your website accessible continues.

One day after launch, Kate posted a new staff bio and included a headshot but forgot to add the alternative text. Then Thomas, the communications manager, posted the annual report as a PDF but didn’t tag it properly. And then Luke embedded a new registration platform that isn’t easy to navigate using just a keyboard. None of those changes were dramatic but quite common, and yet each did or had the potential to change the website’s accessibility. 

And we don’t stop updating the website’s content because of these potential issues. The staff is just doing their jobs by posting news, promoting events, updating programs, and keeping the organization moving forward.

The solution is to keep updating the website as needed but to also put processes in place to ensure that accessible publishing becomes a routine part of website management.

PDFs Are Often a Trouble Spot

PDF’s can be a problem with maintaining accessibility. They tend to multiply like dandelions. Annual reports, research papers, meeting minutes, policy documents, brochures, applications, newsletters, and downloadable resources can quickly turn a relatively accessible website into a library of inaccessible documents.

The person uploading the PDF, unless they are trained, may just assume that everyone can use it.

But a document may lack a logical reading order, proper headings, descriptive links, alternative text for images, or correctly structured tables. A scanned document may essentially be an image of a page rather than readable text. Someone using assistive technology can encounter a very different document from the one a sighted user sees on the screen.

Regular accessibility reviews should include the documents being published on the website, not just the pages surrounding them.

Forms and Third-Party Tools Change the Equation

Modern websites rarely operate alone. 

They connect with CRMs, donation platforms, event registration systems, job boards, payment processors, chat tools, mapping applications, social feeds, and countless other services.

Every integration adds functionality, but it can also introduce an accessibility issue that wasn’t present when the original website was built.

A new form, for example, might look perfectly normal while missing labels that allow a screen reader to explain what information belongs in each field. An event registration widget might be difficult to navigate without a mouse. An embedded calendar might behave differently when someone enlarges the page to 200 percent.

This is particularly important because organizations don’t always control the underlying code of third-party products.

Accessibility therefore needs to be considered when selecting new website technology and not only after it has been installed.

Automated Testing Helps, But It Isn’t Enough

Accessibility monitoring tools can identify many common problems, including missing alternative text, contrast issues, improperly structured headings, and certain form errors.

They’re extremely useful, particularly on large websites where manually reviewing every page every week would be unrealistic.

But automated testing cannot tell the whole story.

An image can have alternative text and still have terrible alternative text. A page can technically contain headings while using them in a confusing order. A link labeled “click here” may pass certain automated checks while still providing very little context to someone navigating with assistive technology.

Accessibility requires both technology and human judgment.

That’s why a good accessibility program combines automated monitoring with periodic manual reviews, particularly for important pages, forms, user journeys, and newly introduced functionality.

Make Accessibility Part of Website Maintenance

The easiest way to prevent accessibility problems from accumulating is to make accessibility part of normal website maintenance.

When a new feature is developed, test it. When a major third-party tool is introduced, evaluate it. When important new content is published, review it. Periodically scan the broader site for problems that may have appeared since the previous review.

Organizations should also give the people who publish content some basic accessibility guidance. Editors don’t need to become WCAG experts, but they should understand why heading structure matters, when images need alternative text, why descriptive link text is important, and what to consider before uploading another PDF.

A little knowledge and work at the publishing level can prevent hundreds of accessibility problems later.

Website accessibility Is an Ongoing Process, Not a Project

At New Target, we help organizations approach accessibility as part of the larger lifecycle of their digital presence. That can include accessibility audits and remediation, accessible design and development, ongoing testing, content guidance, and website maintenance that identifies problems before they have years to accumulate.

The goal isn’t simply to pass an accessibility test. The goal is to make sure that the people who need to use your website can continue to use it tomorrow, six months from now, and years after the original website launched.

Because accessibility on your website doesn’t stay that way unless someone keeps paying attention. Contact us, we can help.