An event website that is inaccessible to people with disabilities is not just poor design -- in the UK, it may also be unlawful. The Equality Act 2010 requires service providers (which includes event organisers) to make reasonable adjustments to ensure disabled people are not placed at a substantial disadvantage. Your website is part of your service, and if someone cannot use it to buy a ticket or find essential information, you are potentially in breach of the law.
Beyond the legal requirement, accessible websites reach more people. In the UK, disabled people and their households have a combined spending power estimated in the hundreds of billions of pounds annually. An inaccessible event website is turning away potential customers.
What web accessibility means
Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with your website. This includes people who are blind or have low vision (using screen readers or magnification), people who are deaf or hard of hearing (needing captions or transcripts), people with motor disabilities (using keyboards, switches, or voice control instead of a mouse), and people with cognitive disabilities (needing clear language and predictable navigation).
The international standard for web accessibility is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). WCAG 2.1 at Level AA is the generally accepted standard for compliance in the UK and is referenced in the public sector accessibility regulations. While the Equality Act does not specify a technical standard for private sector websites, meeting WCAG 2.1 AA is considered strong evidence of making reasonable adjustments.
Common accessibility issues on event websites
Missing alt text on images
Screen reader users rely on alt text (alternative text) to understand what an image shows. Event websites frequently use images for event posters, venue photos, and maps without providing alt text. A screen reader encountering an image without alt text either skips it entirely or reads the filename, which is usually meaningless.
Every meaningful image on your website needs descriptive alt text. For an event poster, the alt text should convey the key information: "Poster for Summer Music Festival, 15 July 2026, Victoria Park, featuring Artist A, Artist B, Artist C." Decorative images that add no information can use an empty alt attribute (alt="") to tell screen readers to skip them.
Poor colour contrast
Event websites often use brand colours that look stylish but fail colour contrast requirements. WCAG 2.1 AA requires a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. Light grey text on a white background, or coloured text on a coloured background, frequently fails these ratios.
Use a colour contrast checker (freely available online) to test your text against its background. If your brand colours fail the contrast test, consider using them for decorative elements rather than text, and use high-contrast colours for all readable content.
Inaccessible ticket purchase forms
The ticket purchase process is often the most complex interaction on an event website, and therefore the most likely to have accessibility issues. Common problems include:
- Form fields without visible labels (using placeholder text as the label, which disappears when the user starts typing)
- Error messages that are not associated with the specific field that has an error
- Time limits on the purchase process that do not allow users who interact more slowly to complete the transaction
- CAPTCHA challenges that are impossible for screen reader users
- Payment iframes that do not inherit the accessibility properties of the parent page
If you use a third-party ticketing platform, the accessibility of the checkout process is largely in the platform's hands. Before choosing a ticketing provider, test their checkout flow with a screen reader and keyboard-only navigation. If it is not accessible, your attendees with disabilities will not be able to buy tickets.
Keyboard navigation failures
Many users cannot use a mouse and navigate websites using only a keyboard (Tab key to move between interactive elements, Enter to activate). Event websites that rely on hover effects, drag-and-drop interactions, or custom JavaScript widgets often break keyboard navigation entirely.
Test your website by unplugging your mouse and navigating using only the keyboard. Can you reach every link, button, and form field? Can you see where the keyboard focus is (a visible outline around the currently focused element)? Can you complete the ticket purchase process? If not, you have a keyboard accessibility issue.
Missing video captions
Promotional videos without captions exclude deaf and hard-of-hearing users. They also exclude anyone watching in a noisy environment or with their phone on mute (which is how most social media video is consumed). Captioning your event videos is an accessibility requirement and a practical improvement for all viewers.
How to audit your event website
A basic accessibility audit involves three steps:
1. Automated testing
Use a free automated testing tool (such as WAVE, axe, or Lighthouse in Chrome DevTools) to scan your website for common issues. These tools can identify missing alt text, contrast failures, missing form labels, and structural issues. Automated tools typically catch around 30-40% of accessibility issues, so they are a starting point, not a complete solution.
2. Manual testing
Test your website manually using keyboard-only navigation and a screen reader. On Windows, NVDA is a free screen reader. On Mac, VoiceOver is built in. On mobile, both iOS and Android have built-in screen readers (VoiceOver and TalkBack respectively). Navigate through your key user journeys: finding event information, buying a ticket, locating the venue, and contacting the organiser.
3. User testing
The most valuable form of testing is having people with disabilities use your website and report their experience. Organisations such as AbilityNet and the Digital Accessibility Centre offer user testing services where panels of disabled users test websites and provide detailed feedback.
Quick wins for improving accessibility
If you cannot overhaul your website immediately, these changes make the biggest difference for the least effort:
- Add alt text to all meaningful images, starting with the most important pages (homepage, event listing, ticket purchase page)
- Ensure all form fields have visible, associated labels
- Fix colour contrast on body text and navigation links
- Add a visible focus indicator for keyboard navigation (a coloured outline around focused elements)
- Add captions to all videos
- Ensure all pages have a logical heading structure (one H1 per page, followed by H2s and H3s in order)
- Make your contact information (phone, email) easy to find and accessible, so people who cannot use the website can reach you by another method
Accessibility as ongoing practice
Digital accessibility is not a one-time fix. Every time you update your website, add new content, or change the design, new accessibility issues can be introduced. Build accessibility checks into your content publishing workflow: before any new page goes live, check images for alt text, test the page with keyboard navigation, and run an automated scan.
The goal is not perfection on day one. It is a commitment to continuous improvement and a recognition that your event website should work for everyone who wants to attend your event. That is good ethics, good business, and good legal practice.
