I had Simon Godsave’s website open on my phone, stood in direct sunlight, and I could not read a word of it. Simon is a photographer based in Harrogate. He has a trained eye. He can spot a colour cast in an image from across the room, the kind of thing most of us would never notice. But the text on his own website was set in a thin, light grey font. In daylight, on a phone screen, it just disappeared.
Why I did not lead with accessibility
I did not sit Simon down and tell him his website was not accessible. That conversation rarely gets you anywhere.
So I told him what it was costing him instead. If someone cannot read your prices or your contact details on their phone in the street, they do not stand there squinting. They leave, and they do not come back.
That is the bit most business owners miss. This is not really an accessibility problem. It is a lost customer problem.
The most common mistake I see on phone screens
Simon’s site is not unusual. Thin, pale type is the most common mistake I see on small business websites across North Yorkshire.
Type that looks fine on a laptop in an office often falls apart on a phone screen outdoors, in daylight, held by someone half paying attention while they walk. Font size and contrast that work indoors at a desk can be close to useless on the street.
What I actually changed
For Simon, the fix was not complicated. I changed the font to Jost, kept it regular weight in the body text, and moved to Demi Bold in the headings. No redesign. No new layout. Just heavier ink on the page.
The proof was a phone in the sun, not a spreadsheet
Simon had been happy with how the old site looked the whole time he had it. He only understood the problem once he saw it for himself.
I asked him to look at his own website on his phone, outside, in the sun. Before the change, he could not read it. After, he could. That was the whole test, and it was enough. He came round to the new font properly once he had seen the difference with his own eyes.
How to check your own website
You can run the same checks on your own site right now. No technical knowledge needed.
Take it outside. Open your website on your phone in direct sunlight and try to read your own homepage. If you have to shield the screen or tilt it to make out the words, your customers are doing exactly the same thing outside your shop.
Try the squint test. Step back from your screen and squint at the page. If you cannot tell the headings from the body text, your contrast and your sizing need attention.
Hold it at arm’s length. Look at your phone the way someone glances at it while walking past. If your price list or your phone number blurs into the background, it needs changing.
It is still your website, just easier to read
Simon’s site looks almost exactly the same as it did before. Same photos, same layout, same person behind it. The only difference is that people can now actually read what he has written.
A website that looks good but cannot be read in daylight is not doing its job. If you are not sure about yours, take your phone outside and have a look. You might be surprised by what you find.
