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Can you build WCAG accessible Umbraco sites?

The short answer

Yes, and with public sector proof behind the claim. I have built Umbraco sites to WCAG standards for the Scottish NHS and for British Red Cross Training, environments where accessibility is a legal and contractual requirement audited by people who know what they are looking at, not a nice-to-have paragraph in a proposal. Accessible builds start in the architecture: semantic templates, a content model that makes alt text and heading structure the path of least resistance for editors, and components tested with keyboards and screen readers rather than assumed fine. If your organisation faces public sector accessibility regulations or simply wants a site everyone can use, this is familiar ground.

Proof, not promises

Most suppliers say the word accessible; fewer have shipped where it is enforced. My WCAG work includes builds for the Scottish NHS and British Red Cross Training, public sector and charity environments where accessibility compliance is checked by audit, demanded by contract and required by law. Passing those bars changes how you build permanently, in the way that passing a driving test in the rain changes how you drive.

Accessibility is an architecture decision

A site becomes accessible or inaccessible at the design of its templates and content model, long before anyone runs a checker. Semantic HTML, a single sensible heading hierarchy, focus states that survive restyling, and forms that announce their errors are all decisions made once in the build. On the editing side, the content model has to make the right thing easy: required alt text where it matters, block components that cannot be assembled into an unreadable page, and previews editors can trust. Retrofitting all this after launch costs multiples of doing it at the start, which is why it belongs in the initial development conversation.

Keeping it accessible after launch

The audit you pass on launch day is a snapshot. Sites drift as content grows and features are bolted on, so accessibility is also a maintenance discipline: reviewing new components against the same standards and catching regressions while they are cheap. That fits naturally into consultancy reviews or an ongoing retainer.

Where you might be starting from

Perhaps you have public sector obligations, a procurement questionnaire asking for WCAG conformance, or an existing site that just failed an audit. All three are workable starting points. Tell me which one you are holding and I will map the realistic route from where you are to where the auditors need you to be.

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