User experience and accessibility: a complete guide

Source page: https://www.feelcreated.com/knowledge-hub/user-experience-and-accessibility-a-complete-guide/

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Meta

Type: knowledge_hub

Language: en-GB

Last updated: 2026-10-01

Retrieval summary

What: This guide explains how user experience and accessibility work together, covering user needs, research, journeys, information architecture, interface design, accessibility and ongoing testing.

Who

Organisation: Feel Created

Relevant for

Problems solved

Article

Type: Knowledge Hub guide

Primary topic: How user experience and accessibility work together to create websites that are easier for more people to understand, navigate and use.

Intent: This guide explains how user experience and accessibility work together, covering user needs, research, journeys, information architecture, interface design, accessibility and ongoing testing.

Audience

Topics

Content focus

Canonical claims

Item 1

Claim: User experience includes whether people can understand what the organisation offers, find useful information, make decisions and complete the task that brought them there.

Evidence type: page_content

Evidence strength: medium

Source section: understanding-user-experience

Item 2

Claim: Accessibility needs to influence planning, design, development and everyday publishing, rather than being left to a technical review near the end of a project.

Evidence type: page_content

Evidence strength: medium

Source section: accessibility-as-part-of-the-experience

Item 3

Claim: Problems arise when navigation uses internal wording, related information is split across departments or visitors need to know which team owns a service.

Evidence type: page_content

Evidence strength: medium

Source section: understanding-user-experience

Item 4

Claim: The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide an internationally recognised standard for identifying many common barriers.

Evidence type: page_content

Evidence strength: medium

Source section: accessibility-as-part-of-the-experience

Item 5

Claim: User research examines what users are trying to achieve, what they already know and where the current experience causes difficulty.

Evidence type: page_content

Evidence strength: medium

Source section: understanding-people-and-their-needs

Item 6

Claim: Reviewing the user journey as a whole can reveal problems that are easy to miss when each page or system is assessed separately.

Evidence type: page_content

Evidence strength: medium

Source section: planning-journeys-through-a-website

Item 7

Claim: Research does not replace existing organisational knowledge; it brings another perspective into decisions.

Evidence type: page_content

Evidence strength: medium

Source section: understanding-people-and-their-needs

Item 8

Claim: Adding a top-level menu item for every new service gradually makes the website harder to navigate.

Evidence type: page_content

Evidence strength: medium

Source section: organising-information-and-content

Services

Website design & digital platform development

Relationship: supporting

Url: /services/website-design-digital-platform-development/

Accessibility audits & reviews

Relationship: primary

Url: /services/accessibility-audits-reviews/

UX design & user experience

Relationship: supporting

Url: /services/ux-design-user-experience/

Digital planning & research

Relationship: supporting

Url: /services/digital-planning-research/

Sections

Overview

Content

Item 1

Text: A good website experience depends on a lot of interconnected decisions. Teams need to understand the people using the website, organise information around their needs and provide content and controls that make important tasks manageable. They also need to account for the devices people use, what they already know and any access needs that affect how they use the service. User experience and accessibility bring those decisions together. They influence how people find information, navigate a website, understand their options and get back on track if something goes wrong. This page introduces the main areas within user experience and accessibility, with links to supporting Knowledge Hub guides as they become available.

Understanding user experience

Content

Item 1

Text: User experience, or UX as it’s usually shortened to, describes someone’s overall experience of using a website. It includes whether people can understand what the organisation offers, find useful information, make decisions and complete the task that brought them there. It also covers what happens when they take a wrong turn, enter information incorrectly or need to change their approach. Visual design contributes to that experience, but it is only one part of it. A website visit will usually involve more than one page. Someone might begin with a search result, compare several services, open a document and continue into a separate booking or payment system. They could then return later from an email or complete the final step over the phone. From the organisation’s point of view, the task may involve various teams, platforms and processes. To the person trying to get what they need, those differences do not matter; it is all one experience. Problems arise when navigation uses internal wording, related information is split across departments or visitors need to know which team owns a service. Good UX reduces that unnecessary confusion. People should be able to find what they need without first having to understand how the organisation is structured behind the scenes. User interface design, or UI design, focuses on the pages, controls and visual elements people interact with. UX looks at how those elements work alongside content, accessibility, technology and the complete task.

User Journeys Explained

Parent id: a-website-works-better-when-people-come-first

Parent heading: A website works better when people come first

Content

Item 1

Text: A great user journey makes every interaction feel effortless. Learn what user journeys are, why... 15 minutes read Read the guide

Information Architecture Explained

Parent id: a-website-works-better-when-people-come-first

Parent heading: A website works better when people come first

Content

Item 1

Text: Learn how information architecture organises website content, improves navigation and helps people find the information... 11 minutes read Read the guide

Website Accessibility Explained

Parent id: a-website-works-better-when-people-come-first

Parent heading: A website works better when people come first

Content

Item 1

Text: Learn what website accessibility means, how WCAG 2.2 applies, how accessibility is tested and how... 13 minutes read Read the guide

Designing for Different User Needs

Parent id: a-website-works-better-when-people-come-first

Parent heading: A website works better when people come first

Content

Item 1

Text: More information coming soon Coming soon

Understanding people and their needs

Content

Item 1

Text: People involved in managing a website usually know the organisation well. Visitors may know very little about it. That familiarity can make it easy to assume visitors will understand the same information, follow the route the team expects or use the same words. It can also hide differences in devices, access needs and the circumstances in which someone is trying to complete a task. Learning more about the people using the website helps teams make better decisions about what it needs to contain and how it should work. User research is the process of learning about the people who use a website. It examines what they’re trying to achieve, what they already know and where the current experience causes difficulty. Organisations may already know more about website use than they realise. Analytics can show where people arrive, which pages they visit and where they leave, while search terms, support enquiries and feedback can reveal unfamiliar wording or recurring questions. The figures do not explain everything on their own and they still need to be interpreted. Someone may leave a page because they found the answer, while an interview may uncover a problem that only affects a small number of people. The useful part comes from seeing whether the same issue appears elsewhere. Existing organisational knowledge also matters. Staff understand services, processes, constraints and recurring problems. Research does not replace that expertise. It brings another perspective into the decisions being made. People’s needs do not always stay the same after a website launches. Services change, new audiences appear and content grows. Devices and the situations in which people use the website change too. Research remains useful after launch because changes to services, audiences and content can alter what people need from the website.

How Do People Use Websites?

Parent id: a-website-works-better-when-people-come-first

Parent heading: A website works better when people come first

Content

Item 1

Text: More information coming soon Coming soon

Planning journeys through a website

Content

Item 1

Text: People usually visit a website because they need to answer a question, decide between several options or complete a task. A user journey maps the route someone takes to complete a task or reach an outcome. It considers where they begin, the steps taken, the decisions made, the alternatives available and any obstacles that slow them down or even stop them. Reviewing the journey as a whole can reveal problems that are easy to miss when each page or system is assessed separately. Journey mapping begins by showing what someone currently does to complete a task. It can then highlight where they need information, where they make decisions and where they go in a different direction. Proposed improvements should be kept separate from what is already known, so teams can see which parts still need testing. Some tasks need several stages because people need time and information before deciding what to do. For instance, choosing a course or applying for support may involve comparing options, checking requirements and understanding what happens next. A shorter route is not always better if it removes information people need. Looking at the stages together can show missing information, unclear responsibilities and points where someone is passed between teams or systems without knowing what happens next.

How do websites build confidence?

Parent id: a-website-works-better-when-people-come-first

Parent heading: A website works better when people come first

Content

Item 1

Text: Read the guide to find out more. 8 minutes read Read the guide

Organising information and content

Content

Item 1

Text: Information architecture is the planning behind how information is grouped, labelled and connected across a website. It helps people see what the website contains, understand how subjects relate and find their way between them. Content design works alongside it by deciding what information people need at each point and how it should be presented. Information architecture covers the categories used to group content, the labels applied to them and the relationships between pages. That planning can be seen through navigation, breadcrumbs, internal links, search, filters and page headings. Navigation is one way of presenting the architecture, but it is not the complete system behind it. As a website grows, adding another top-level menu item for every new service or campaign may solve an immediate need, but it gradually makes the website harder to navigate. New information should usually fit within a category people already recognise. If it does not, the categories themselves may no longer make sense. Labels matter as well. Internal service names may be accurate but unfamiliar to visitors. A useful label should use words someone is likely to recognise, while retaining any professional or legal terminology that still needs to be used. Content design considers what information should appear within that system and when. Someone may need to compare options before starting a task, check what’s needed before completing a form and understand what happens after submitting it. Planning information in this way also makes future publishing easier. New pages, guidance and services can be added without repeatedly inventing new sections or changing how the whole website works.

What is Content Design?

Parent id: a-website-works-better-when-people-come-first

Parent heading: A website works better when people come first

Content

Item 1

Text: More information coming soon Coming soon

Designing usable interfaces and navigation

Content

Item 1

Text: Research, journey planning and information architecture eventually need to become pages and interactions that people can use. The interface should make available actions easy to recognise, show which information matters and explain what will happen next. People also need to know whether an action has worked, what needs correcting and where they are within a process. People bring habits from other websites with them. They expect links to look like links, menus to open in familiar ways and buttons to describe the action they perform. Forms should explain what needs fixing rather than leaving someone to work it out. These familiar patterns reduce the amount people need to learn before they can use a website. They do not prevent an organisation from creating something distinctive. Typography, colour, imagery, layout and interaction can all express its identity without making ordinary actions difficult to recognise. Interface wording should tell people what an action will do. “Check your eligibility” is more useful than “Continue”, while navigation labels should use terms visitors are likely to recognise. The interface also needs to respond as people use it. Buttons and links should show that they have been activated, forms should identify errors and a completed submission should confirm that the information has been received. When an action is unavailable, the reason should be explained rather than leaving an apparently inactive control. Mobile layouts need more than a desktop design squeezed into a smaller space. Controls need room to use comfortably, content should remain in a sensible order and navigation must still be easy to follow. Repeated tasks should behave consistently throughout the website. Controls that perform the same action should look and work the same way, so people do not have to relearn them from one page to the next. Shared layouts also make the interface easier to maintain than a collection of one-off designs.

Accessibility Beyond Compliance

Parent id: a-website-works-better-when-people-come-first

Parent heading: A website works better when people come first

Content

Item 1

Text: More information coming soon Coming soon

Accessibility as part of the experience

Content

Item 1

Text: Web accessibility means removing barriers that can stop people from finding, understanding or using a website. It affects written content, navigation, forms, documents, video, audio and interactive features. Accessibility, therefore, needs to influence planning, design, development and everyday publishing, rather than being left to a technical review near the end of a project. People use websites in many different ways. Some navigate with a keyboard instead of a mouse. Others use screen readers, voice control, magnification or adapted browser and device settings. People may zoom substantially, increase text size, reduce animation or change colours to suit their needs. Accessibility problems can appear at any point in a website’s life. An editor might publish vague link text or an inaccessible document. Elsewhere, colour may be carrying information on its own, a control may not work by keyboard or an external booking system may create barriers that the main website does not. An inaccessible PDF, missing heading structure or poorly labelled image can affect a page even when the underlying website has been built well. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, usually known as WCAG, provide an internationally recognised standard for identifying many common barriers. They give organisations, suppliers and auditors a shared set of testable requirements. Accessibility is shared work. Content, design and development decisions all affect it, as do later updates and the third-party systems an organisation chooses. Website owners need to make sure it remains part of ongoing website management.

Animation With Purpose

Parent id: a-website-works-better-when-people-come-first

Parent heading: A website works better when people come first

Content

Item 1

Text: More information coming soon Coming soon

Helping people feel confident

Content

Item 1

Text: People continually judge whether they understand a website and whether they can rely on what it tells them. Outdated information, unexplained requests, inconsistent wording and unexpected behaviour can all create doubt. A polished design may make a strong first impression, but confidence depends on what happens as someone moves through the website. People gain confidence when the website gives them clear signs that it is accurate, up to date and dependable. The information should explain whether a service applies to them, what they need to do and what will happen next. Any claims made need enough support for the decision someone is trying to make. That can include prices, timescales, policies, qualifications, case studies or named sources. The website does not need to prove everything in the same way, but people should be able to check the information that matters. Forms often have a strong effect on confidence. People need to know why information is being requested and how it will be used. Errors should explain what needs fixing, while a completed submission should confirm what has happened and when the organisation is likely to respond. Basic organisational details matter too. Contact information, named teams and important policies should be easy to find and consistent across the website. Small problems can weaken confidence quickly. A service described differently on several pages, an old date in a document or a button that behaves unexpectedly may make someone question the rest of the experience. People become more confident when the website behaves consistently and gives them the information they need at each stage.

What Is User Experience (UX)?

Parent id: a-website-works-better-when-people-come-first

Parent heading: A website works better when people come first

Content

Item 1

Text: Learn what user experience means, how UX research and testing work, and why reducing unnecessary... 18 minutes read Read the guide

Testing and improving the experience

Content

Item 1

Text: The people who planned and commissioned a website already know how it is intended to work. That makes it difficult for them to fairly assess the experience in the same way a first-time visitor would. Testing shows whether people can understand the information, use the controls and complete important tasks. Usability testing focuses on what people do and where they struggle, rather than whether they like the design. Task-based usability testing involves asking people to attempt realistic activities using a prototype or live website. The person leading the session observes what happens rather than teaching the intended route. Completing the task does not necessarily mean it was easy. Someone may have visited several wrong pages before finding the right one or fixed a form error without knowing why it happened. Observing someone as they work through these activities can show where the website made them work harder than it should. Website features are usually easier to test before they go live. Development teams will often have a separate test environment where navigation, page order, wording and interactions can be reviewed while changes are still straightforward to make. Once the website is live, testing can include the real content, devices and systems people rely on. Analytics, form data, feedback and support enquiries can all point towards areas worth investigating. They may show where people arrive, which routes they take and where they leave or run into problems. Those figures still need interpreting. Leaving a page may mean someone found what they needed, while a heavily visited page may be useful or difficult to understand. The value comes from using the evidence to decide what should change, then checking whether the change improved the task. That work should continue as the website develops and new content, features or external systems are added.

Reducing Cognitive Load

Parent id: a-website-works-better-when-people-come-first

Parent heading: A website works better when people come first

Content

Item 1

Text: More information coming soon Coming soon

Usability Testing Explained

Parent id: a-website-works-better-when-people-come-first

Parent heading: A website works better when people come first

Content

Item 1

Text: More information coming soon Coming soon

A website works better when people come first

Content

Item 1

Text: A good website experience begins with understanding the people expected to use it. That understanding should influence how information is organised, how tasks are planned, how interfaces behave and how barriers are removed. Testing then shows where those decisions are working and where the website still needs attention. The strongest websites are not built around internal structures or assumptions. They are planned around what people need to understand, decide and do.

Entities

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

User interface (UI) design

Information architecture

User experience (UX)

User journey mapping

Interface design

Mobile usability

Content design

Accessibility

User research

Analytics

WCAG

Concept relationships

Item 1

Subject: Analytics

Predicate: can show

Object: where people arrive, pages visited, and where they leave

Item 2

Subject: Information architecture

Predicate: covers

Object: grouping, labelling and connecting content

Item 3

Subject: User experience (UX)

Predicate: includes

Object: understanding what the organisation offers

Item 4

Subject: User journey mapping

Predicate: reveals

Object: problems in completing tasks

Item 5

Subject: User experience (UX)

Predicate: includes

Object: finding useful information

Item 6

Subject: Information architecture

Predicate: influences

Object: navigation usability

Item 7

Subject: Content design

Predicate: works alongside

Object: information architecture

Item 8

Subject: Interface design

Predicate: requires

Object: familiar patterns

Item 9

Subject: Content design

Predicate: supports

Object: future publishing

Item 10

Subject: Consistency

Predicate: improves

Object: user experience

Implementation patterns

Item 1

Pattern: Information architecture planning

Description: Planning how information is grouped, labelled and connected across a website, visible through navigation, breadcrumbs, internal links, search, filters and page headings.

Benefit: Helps people see what the website contains and find their way between subjects

Item 2

Pattern: Journey mapping

Description: Showing what someone currently does to complete a task, highlighting where they need information, make decisions, and go in a different direction.

Benefit: Reveals problems that are missed when assessing pages or systems separately

Item 3

Pattern: Ongoing accessibility management

Description: Accessibility is considered in every update and third-party system choice, not just at launch.

Benefit: Reduces the risk of barriers appearing over time.

Item 4

Pattern: User research

Description: Process of learning about the people who use a website, examining their goals, existing knowledge and difficulties.

Benefit: Helps teams make better decisions about website content and functionality.

Item 5

Pattern: Consistent information presentation

Description: Contact details, named teams, and policies are easy to find and consistent across the website.

Benefit: Builds user confidence and trust.

Item 6

Pattern: Responsive mobile design

Description: Designing mobile layouts with comfortable control space, sensible content order, and easy navigation.

Benefit: Usable experience on mobile devices.

Item 7

Pattern: Clear form design

Description: Forms explain why information is requested, how it will be used, and confirm submission outcomes.

Benefit: Improves user confidence and reduces errors.

Item 8

Pattern: Consistent interaction design

Description: Controls that perform the same action look and work the same way throughout the website.

Benefit: Users do not have to relearn interactions from one page to the next.

Practical guidance

Item 1

Guidance: Map user journeys to show current behaviour, highlight decision points and identify where improvements are needed, keeping proposed improvements separate from known facts.

Importance: medium

Item 2

Guidance: Conduct user research to understand what users are trying to achieve, what they already know and where the current experience causes difficulty.

Importance: medium

Item 3

Guidance: Organisations should avoid using internal wording in navigation and structure information around user needs rather than internal departments.

Importance: high

Item 4

Guidance: Use analytics, search terms, support enquiries and feedback to identify potential issues, but interpret them with other evidence.

Importance: medium

Item 5

Guidance: Review the whole journey to spot missing information, unclear responsibilities and handoffs between teams or systems.

Importance: medium

Item 6

Guidance: Teams should learn about the people using the website to make better decisions about content and functionality.

Importance: high

Item 7

Guidance: Combine research findings with existing organisational knowledge about services, processes and constraints.

Importance: medium

Item 8

Guidance: Integrate accessibility into all stages of website planning, design, development, and content publishing.

Importance: high

Risk areas

Item 1

Risk: Accessibility problems can emerge at any point in a website's life, including from third-party systems.

Impact: Barriers may affect users even if the main website is built well.

Item 2

Risk: Inaccessible PDFs, missing heading structure, or poorly labelled images can affect a page.

Impact: Users may be unable to access content despite a well-built website.

Item 3

Risk: Assessing pages or systems separately without considering the whole journey

Impact: May miss cross-page or cross-system problems

Item 4

Risk: Assuming visitors understand internal organisational structure

Impact: Visitors may struggle to find what they need, leading to confusion and task failure.

Item 5

Risk: Misinterpreting analytics figures without qualitative context

Impact: May lead to incorrect conclusions about user behaviour

Item 6

Risk: Removing information from a user journey to shorten it

Impact: Could remove essential information people need, harming the experience

Item 7

Risk: Splitting related information across departments

Impact: Visitors may have to piece together information, increasing cognitive load and frustration.

Item 8

Risk: Using internal service names as labels

Impact: Visitors may not recognise them

Common misconceptions

Item 1

Misconception: Accessibility is only a technical review at the end of a project.

Clarification: Accessibility needs to influence planning, design, development and everyday publishing.

Item 2

Misconception: Visual design is the main part of user experience.

Clarification: Visual design contributes to the experience but is only one part; UX also includes content, accessibility, technology and the complete task.

Item 3

Misconception: Analytics figures alone explain user behaviour

Clarification: Figures need interpretation and should be combined with other evidence like interviews and organisational knowledge

Item 4

Misconception: Familiar patterns prevent distinctive design

Clarification: Typography, colour, imagery, layout and interaction can express identity without making actions difficult to recognise.

Item 5

Misconception: A polished design ensures user confidence.

Clarification: Confidence depends on what happens as someone moves through the website, not just first impressions.

Item 6

Misconception: A shorter user journey is always better

Clarification: A shorter route may remove information people need, so it is not always better

Technical context

Accessibility standards: WCAG

Assistive technologies: screen readers, voice control, magnification, adapted browser and device settings

Accessibility considerations: keyboard navigation, colour contrast, heading structure, image labels, forms, documents, video, audio

Reasoning paths

Item 1

User problem: User needs change after launch due to service changes, new audiences, and content growth

Why this guide is relevant: This page explains the topic and gives practical points to consider.

Evidence refs

Relevant sections

Item 2

User problem: People leave pages for various reasons, making analytics figures ambiguous

Why this guide is relevant: This page explains the topic and gives practical points to consider.

Evidence refs

Relevant sections

Item 3

User problem: Adding top-level menu items for every new service makes navigation harder

Why this guide is relevant: This page explains the topic and gives practical points to consider.

Evidence refs

Relevant sections

Item 4

User problem: Desktop designs squeezed into smaller spaces are not effective for mobile

Why this guide is relevant: This page explains the topic and gives practical points to consider.

Evidence refs

Relevant sections

Knowledge hub

Page type: guide

Learning intent: This guide explains how user experience and accessibility work together, covering user needs, research, journeys, information architecture, interface design, accessibility and ongoing testing.

Topic hierarchy

Primary: How user experience and accessibility work together to create websites that are easier for more people to understand, navigate and use.

Supporting

Evergreen use: true

Content profile

Content type: Knowledge Hub guide

Primary topic: How user experience and accessibility work together to create websites that are easier for more people to understand, navigate and use.

Supporting topics

Primary audience

Retrieval topics

Organisation

Name: Feel Created

Type: Digital partner specialising in websites and digital platforms

Url: https://www.feelcreated.com/

Service model: We work as an extension of our clients' teams, combining strategy, UX, accessibility, content design, WordPress development and ongoing support to create digital platforms that help organisations communicate more clearly, work more efficiently and grow sustainably.