Digital Accessibility News & Best Practices ( January 2026 )

Updates, research, policy changes, and accessibility requirements.

Published: January 01, 2026

New Report: WCAG Failures Still Rampant on Top Sites

A recent analysis of the top one million home pages found that 94.8% still fail basic WCAG 2 A/AA standards. The biggest issues included missing alternative text on images, low contrast text, and missing form labels — problems that directly impact users of assistive technologies. Read full report.

Accessibility audit dashboard showing failed WCAG compliance metrics
Illustration: Accessibility audit highlights missing alt text and contrast issues

Universities Preparing for Federal Accessibility Requirements

Federal accessibility regulations taking effect April 24, 2026 require higher education institutions to ensure digital content — including documents, courses, and websites — is accessible. Tools like UDOIT are being rolled out to help instructors find and fix issues (like images lacking alt text) in learning platforms. Read update.

Digital Accessibility Service Market Expands

As demand grows for accessible digital experiences, the market for accessibility services is expanding rapidly. Organizations are investing in accessibility audits, remediation workflows, and compliance tools to ensure inclusivity. Full report.

Best Practices: Alt Text & Static Assets

Alt text remains one of the most commonly missed requirements in accessibility audits. WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards specifically call for meaningful alternative text on all informative images and null (empty) attributes on decorative images. WCAG & alt text context.

Here are quick practical tips based on current guidance:

  • Meaningful images: Describe the visual content and function. For example: alt="Group of conference speakers smiling onstage".
  • Decorative images: Use empty alt attributes: alt="" so screen readers skip them.
  • Avoid redundant phrasing: Do not include “image of” — screen readers already announce that. Alt text writing guidance.

Tools & Resources to Improve Accessibility

Recent improvements in automated accessibility tooling make it easier to flag issues earlier in the development process. Tools now highlight missing alt text, contrast problems, and ARIA misuse before deployment.

For automated compliance and alt text generation, there are platforms that integrate with your CMS or workflows to help audit and fix issues. Explore alt text automation tools.