If accessibility has never really come up in your work, it isn’t because you’re careless — it’s because almost nobody teaches it. Not the courses, not the diplomas, and definitely not the platforms we all build on.
Check out my group offer: https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk/sparks-group-mentoring/ It’s a supportive group mentoring session for website designers and developers to bring their questions, roadblocks, ideas, and “is it just me?” moments.
Welcome to another episode of Websites Made Simple with me, Holly Christie.
In this episode of Websites Made Simple, I'm joined by Rachel Mess of The Inclusive Design Company, a website designer and trainer who specialises in accessible websites. Rachel got into accessibility because her sister is visually impaired — and was mortified to realise that in years of web design training, not one course had mentioned it.
Together we cover the single biggest accessibility failure on the internet, why the drag-and-drop components you trust might be unreadable to both screen readers and Google, why “let the website breathe” is an accessibility decision, the argument that finally brings a reluctant client round, why “click here” hurts you twice over, and the free tools you should be running on every site before you hand it over.
🔗 Rachel Mess — The Inclusive Design Company: https://inclusivedesigncompany.co.uk
🔗 Sparks group mentoring: https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk/sparks-group-mentoring/
🌐 More from Holly: https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk
✉️ Email Holly: hello@websitesmadesimple.co.uk
🎙️ Podcast produced by Podknows Podcasting: https://podknows.co.uk/
Connect with Holly on LinkedIn: Holly Christie.
Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn: Rachel Mess
Chapters:
00:00 Meet Rachel Meess, accessible web design specialist
01:08 How Rachel got into accessibility
01:50 Why accessibility never came up in her training
02:46 “I can’t charge for a website somebody can’t access”
03:09 Web design is a self-taught industry
03:40 Why the platforms are part of the problem
05:21 Accessibility has to be front of mind as you design
05:39 Colour contrast is the biggest issue on the internet
06:14 Dropdowns, div blocks and what a screen reader hears
07:03 If Google can’t read it, nobody sees your content
07:45 Holly’s pet hate: emojis as bullet points
09:07 When industry experts quietly ignore best practice
10:57 Lived experience is good for business
12:49 Consulting with Diversity Scotland
13:38 DEI, blog images and seeing yourself on a website
14:44 Accessibility is the infrastructure inclusion sits on
17:32 Accessibility in your blog posts
17:58 Let the website breathe
20:46 How to bring a reluctant client round
21:32 Why Shopify sites keep coming up
22:42 The contrast checker every platform should build in
24:06 Why “click here” is a problem
25:30 Stop stuffing keywords into alt tags
26:29 Test with Lighthouse and WAVE
27:36 Graphic designers are not website designers
29:04 Where to find Rachel
