Summary
Universal design isn't a special feature for a few users. It makes a website easier for everyone, and in Norway it's also the law. Here's what it means in practice.
Universal design (or universell utforming, UU, as we say in Norway) is the idea that one solution should work for as many people as possible, regardless of age, ability or background. Not a main website plus a separate "accessible version" on the side. One website that works for everyone.
It's easy to think of accessibility as something for a small group of users. In practice, it helps almost everyone at some point. Captions help people with hearing loss, and they also help the commuter on a quiet train. Readable text helps people with low vision, and anyone who left their reading glasses at home. Keyboard navigation helps people with limited motor control, and anyone nursing a sore wrist.
Closing the gap
When what a service demands doesn't match what a person can do, a gap appears. You can close that gap from two sides. One is to support the individual: glasses when your eyesight gets worse, a wheelchair when your body needs it. The other is to lower the demands of the service itself, so it doesn't shut people out in the first place.
Universal design is the second approach. As people who build websites, that's the part we're responsible for.
What you get out of it
The goal is to make the main solution so easy to use that special solutions are rarely needed. That gives you:
- Fewer solutions to build and maintain
- Little or no need for separate solutions for people with disabilities
- A simpler, better experience for all users
- More ways to use the same website
- More people who can actually use it
What it looks like on a website
There's no single checklist that makes a site accessible, but these are the areas we keep coming back to.
Images and graphics
Images help a lot of people understand text-based information. But if information only lives in an image, people who can't see it are left out. Give meaningful images a proper alt text, and don't put important text inside pictures.
Video and audio
Video should have captions. If something important happens on screen that isn't said out loud, an audio description lets blind and visually impaired users follow along. Audio clips are a great way to share information, since many people find listening easier than reading, but they should come with a text version too.
Keyboard navigation
Some people can't use a mouse, and some simply prefer not to. Everything on the site, including menus, forms, buttons and pop-ups, should be reachable and usable with the keyboard alone, with a visible focus state so you can see where you are.
Colour and contrast
Colour is great for structure and meaning, but it can't be the only way information is shown, because people see colour differently. A red border on a form field needs an error message next to it. And text needs enough contrast against its background to be read comfortably.
Click and tap targets
Buttons and links need to be easy to hit, both for people with reduced precision and for everyone using a touchscreen. Size matters, and so does the spacing between targets.
Links
Links tie a website together. They should look like links, and it should be clear where they lead. "Click here" and "read more" don't tell anyone much, especially not someone using a screen reader that lists every link on the page.
Sign-up and login
Registration and login are where many people get stuck, and if they can't get through, they're locked out of everything behind it. Clear labels, helpful error messages and no unnecessary hurdles go a long way.
Documents
PDFs and other downloadable documents count too. Use real headings and styles, clear contrast, proper table structure and image descriptions, just as you would on the web page itself.
Clean, valid code
Standards are what let websites, browsers and assistive technology understand each other. Semantic HTML and well-structured CSS are the foundation that everything else builds on.
How we work with it
We don't treat accessibility as a final check before launch. It's part of the structure, the design and the code from the start, and we test along the way. The nice surprise is how often the accessible choice is simply the better choice for everyone: simple, clear and functional tends to win.
In Norway, it's the law
The Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act (likestillings- og diskrimineringsloven) requires ICT solutions to be universally designed. That covers websites, apps and self-service machines, and it applies to both private and public businesses and organisations. New solutions have had to meet the requirements since 1 July 2014, and existing solutions since 1 January 2021.
So if your website hasn't had an accessibility check in a while, now is a good time. Not just because it's required, but because it makes the site better for everyone who visits it.
