Every year, World Usability Day reminds us that technology is meant to serve everyone, not just those who find it easy to use. Yet, twenty years after global accessibility standards were introduced, millions of websites still fail to meet even the most basic usability benchmarks.
This final article in our World Usability Day 2025 series explores where the internet really stands today: what has improved, what has not, and why accessible design remains the missing layer in digital progress.
Usability Day: The state of web accessibility today
A website that is usable and accessible works well for all kinds of users, including those with visual, hearing, or physical challenges. As people go online every day to manage bills, find information, or access services, usability has turned into a basic requirement for any website. Yet, many websites still overlook basic accessibility features such as readable text, keyboard navigation, or proper colour contrast.
What the 2025 WebAIM Million study found
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are global standards created by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to make digital content usable for everyone, including people with disabilities. They cover everything from text readability and colour contrast to keyboard navigation and image descriptions. Websites that meet WCAG Level A or AA ensure that users with visual, hearing, motor, or cognitive challenges can navigate and interact with content smoothly.
Each year, WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind) analyses the accessibility of the top one million home pages. In 2025, researchers found 50.9 million accessibility errors, averaging 51 errors per page. While that’s a 10.3% improvement from 2024’s average of 56.8 errors per page, it still shows that many websites remain difficult to use for people with disabilities. Moreover, only 5.2% of the top million websites meet basic accessibility standards.
Websites are getting more complex
Websites continue to grow more complex. The 2025 study examined over 1.2 billion individual page elements. The average home page now contains 1,257 elements, up 7.1% from 2024 and 61% higher than six years ago.
This increase in complex content also raises the chances of usability issues. Roughly 4.1% of all page elements contained an error, meaning that users are likely to encounter a problem in 1 out of every 24 page elements they interact with.
Low contrast text
Low-contrast text remains the biggest challenge. It appeared on 79.1% of home pages in 2025. Each page had an average of 29.6 instances of low-contrast text, slightly better than 34.5 in 2024 but still widespread.
When text doesn’t stand out clearly from the background, users with low vision or colour blindness struggle to read it, making the content effectively invisible to them.
Images and the missing alternative text problem
Web pages are also becoming more visual. The analysis found 58.6 million images, or about 58.6 images per page, a 5.4% rise from 2024. However, accessibility hasn’t kept up. About 18.5% of images (roughly 11 per page) lacked alternative text, which describes the image for screen readers used by people with visual impairments.
When it comes to linked images, 44% of images without alt text were clickable, meaning users couldn’t tell where those links led. One in five linked images lacked alt text.
Even when alt text was included, 13.4% of it was repetitive or meaningless, with ambiguous phrases like “image”, “graphic”, or file names. Overall, nearly one-third of images on popular websites lacked or had poor-quality alt text, leaving a significant usability gap.
Website navigation and pop-ups still fail accessibility tests
An accessiBe study scanned and analysed tens of thousands of websites across regions, about 85% from the U.S. and Canada, and 15% from Europe and Asia. Almost 98% of websites failed accessibility tests for menus, meaning only a small fraction met the standards outlined in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Menus guide users through a website. If they don’t function properly, people lose patience and leave. Poorly designed menus can trap users in dropdown loops, force them to click repeatedly to find information, or prevent them from easily closing pop-up menus.
Picture a user on a tight schedule trying to renew a travel booking or pay a utility bill. The navigation bar keeps expanding every time they hover, and pressing the Esc key doesn’t close it. After a few seconds of frustration, they abandon the site altogether.
For people with mobility disabilities, using a mouse might not be possible. Many rely on a keyboard or adaptive tools to navigate. Imagine using a mouth stick or sip-and-puff device to press the Tab key hundreds of times to reach a specific link hidden in a drop-down menu.
Pop-ups that block the experience
The study also found that about 89% of websites fail basic accessibility checks for pop-ups, even when using accessible plugins. The problem is that many pop-ups don’t work well for people who use keyboards or screen readers.
For example, when a pop-up appears, the focus should move to the pop-up so users can interact with it easily. They should be able to use the Tab key to move between buttons or fields, close it with the Esc key, and return to where they left off once it’s closed. Most websites don’t follow these rules, so pop-ups often block the entire screen and make it hard to continue using the site.
Think of a shopping website where a signup box suddenly appears and you can’t close it or move around without a mouse. It’s frustrating, and many people will just leave the site.
How usable are India’s government websites?
A 2024 study examined the usability and accessibility of 45 government ministry websites in India. The study chose these websites from national and global digital rankings to understand how well citizens can navigate and use them.
Of the 45 sites tested, 52% passed the usability checks, while 48% failed. The findings show that mobile usability continues to get low priority. Many websites still perform better on desktops but offer a poor experience on mobile devices, even though most people now access government services on mobile devices.
Researchers used the Deadlink Checker tool to identify broken or inactive links. About 62% of the websites had no broken links, 7% had fewer than five, and 31% had more than five. One site even had 58 broken links. Overall, 38% of government websites experienced link-related issues, highlighting a clear gap in routine maintenance and content updates.
Even large platforms like IRCTC, India’s leading train ticket booking site, show usability problems. Slow navigation, cluttered design, and frequent pop-ups make it frustrating for users, especially during peak booking hours.
As digital governance expands, improving usability is necessary for inclusion. A well-designed, accessible website helps every citizen, regardless of device or ability, connect smoothly with public services.
The final thoughts on web accessibility this Usability Day
As World Usability Day 2025 approaches, the websites still have a long way to go before they become truly usable and accessible for everyone. From global corporations to local government portals, many sites continue to overlook the basics, such as clear navigation, readable text, working links, and responsive design.
Making the internet more accessible starts with awareness and small, consistent changes. Testing websites for accessibility, following WCAG standards, and designing with empathy can transform how people experience the web. As more of our lives move online, usability must be at the core of every design decision.
Changeincontent perspective
At Changeincontent, we see usability as a moral measure of technology.
When a person with visual or motor challenges cannot read a page, navigate a form, or close a pop-up, the issue is not technical, but ethical. Accessibility is not a bonus feature; it is a baseline expectation for inclusion.
As the world celebrates World Usability Day 2025, the web still has a long way to go. The real innovation now lies not in faster algorithms but in building digital spaces that everyone can enter with equal ease.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are based on the writer’s insights, supported by data and resources available both online and offline, as applicable. Changeincontent.com is committed to promoting inclusivity across all forms of content. We broadly define inclusivity as media, policies, law, and history. It encompasses all elements that influence the lives of women and marginalised individuals. Our goal is to promote understanding and advocate for comprehensive inclusivity.
