Over 4,500 ADA digital accessibility lawsuits were filed in the U.S. in 2024. That number grew by 14% from 2023. Magazine publishers face legal risk if their content excludes users with disabilities.
Digital magazines are often built for visuals. This creates barriers for people with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive impairments. Traditional tools make accessible design harder. Most teams lack time and support.
But there’s hope. Modern digital publishing platforms now allow organizations to craft fully accessible magazines without compromising design integrity. You will find out how to do exactly that, from legal insights to actionable steps.
Flipsnack recognized this accessibility challenge early. The team understood that accessibility couldn’t be an afterthought. So they built features that make it part of the publishing process, easy to use, even for teams without technical backgrounds.
By the end, you’ll understand both the business case and practical roadmap for publishing digital magazines that meet accessibility standards and resonate with every reader.
1. Reach more people
Over 1 billion people globally have disabilities. In the U.S., 1 in 4 adults lives with some form of impairment. Making your magazine accessible unlocks a larger audience and aligns with inclusive brand values. Notably, over 40% of Gen Z consumers consider inclusivity when engaging with brands.
2. Improve visibility in search
Accessible content is easier for search engines to index. Using screen-readable text, descriptive image tags, and logical headings can improve your organic reach and traffic.
3. Increase user satisfaction
Accessible features like alt text, readable fonts, and keyboard navigation improve the experience for everyone, not just people with disabilities. They enhance usability, retention, and trust.
4. Reduce legal risk
Recent lawsuits against publishers like Condé Nast and Hearst show the risks of inaccessible content. Section 508 compliance now includes third-party content. Issues like unreadable PDFs or missing alt text can trigger legal action.
Before improving accessibility, identify what’s broken. Here are typical issues:
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) define standards that help digital content work for users with disabilities. Key principles include:
1. Prioritize semantic structure over visual layout
Use HTML heading tags to create a logical flow. Organize content into clear sections and utilize semantic elements, such as lists and landmarks.
2. Make rich media and interactivity accessible
Add descriptive alt text to images. Caption all videos and label every button. Test interactivity using only the keyboard.
3. Choose accessible color and typography
Check color contrast and avoid relying solely on color for meaning. Let users scale fonts and choose legible, flexible typefaces.
4. Build for keyboard and assistive tech navigation
Include skip-to-main-content links. Make tabbing through content logical and visually indicated.
5. Test with real users and refine
Go beyond automated audits. Invite users with disabilities to test your content and iterate based on feedback.
Here is a digital magazine example with the accessibility feature applied, so you can test it out yourself:
Flipsnack integrates accessibility into your magazine publishing workflow. It’s built to support compliance with ADA and WCAG standards. Whether you create lifestyle features, branded reports, or data-rich editorials, Flipsnack helps make your content usable for everyone.
What is going to help you?
Flipsnack integrates accessibility directly into your publishing workflow. Built for compliance with ADA and WCAG standards, it empowers teams to create inclusive, high-quality content. Whether you’re designing digital magazines for customers, internal teams, or partners, Flipsnack ensures your publications can be easily navigated and understood by all users, including those using assistive technologies.
In the Accessibility tab of the Design Studio, you can select Generate AI Summary. This tool scans your flipbook and auto-generates plain-text descriptions for each page. These summaries enhance readability for screen readers and help users who rely on alternative text formats. You can easily review, edit, or rewrite the descriptions using the Manage content button to ensure clarity and relevance.
The Extract text option in the Accessibility panel pulls visible text directly from your flipbook into the Accessibility tab. This ensures a one-to-one content match between your design and the screen-readable version. It significantly speeds up your compliance process and reduces manual effort, while preserving consistency and improving accessibility for all users.
Accessibility isn’t a one-time task; it’s a collaborative, ongoing process. Flipsnack supports this with built-in workflow tools that help your team stay aligned and compliant.
Use comment threads and tagging to assign accessibility-related feedback to designers, editors, or compliance leads. Version tracking ensures changes are properly documented, creating a transparent audit trail in case of legal or organizational reviews.
Flipsnack also provides reader behavior analytics, including how users navigate with keyboards or screen readers. These insights help you identify what’s working, what needs improvement, and how to evolve your accessibility strategy over time. With these tools, accessibility becomes a repeatable, measurable, and team-driven part of every publication.
Flipsnack offers ready-to-use magazine templates crafted with accessibility and design in balance. These templates go beyond aesthetics; they follow accessible layout principles from the first page, making it easier for publishers to create inclusive digital issues.
This template is perfect for lifestyle and entertainment publications. It features clean contrast, large legible fonts, and logical reading order. Designed for a relaxed but polished visual experience, it suits publishers focused on fashion, culture, and human interest stories.
Structured for business professionals and corporate content. This template emphasizes clarity with bold headers, accessible navigation, and data-friendly formatting. Perfect for industry updates, leadership insights, or company news issues.
Built for editorial teams and storytellers, this bold layout supports video embeds, layered content, and strong visual hierarchy. Optimized for accessibility, it includes defined sections, caption-ready media spaces, and intuitive interactivity.
Built for editorial teams and storytellers, this bold layout supports video embeds, layered content, and strong visual hierarchy. Optimized for accessibility, it includes defined sections, caption-ready media spaces, and intuitive interactivity.
Accessible design is smart business. It reaches more users, meets legal rules, and improves your reputation. With the right tools, accessible magazines are simple to build. There’s nothing wrong with APA style formatting or other formats like MLA citation style– it’s clean and clear, helping the reader find the information he is looking for, but it might be a little too stiff for a magazine.
Creating accessible digital magazines isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s a competitive advantage. It expands your reach, protects your brand from legal risk, and improves the reading experience for everyone.
With Flipsnack, accessibility becomes a natural part of your workflow, not an extra burden. From AI-generated summaries to keyboard navigation and high-contrast display modes, Flipsnack gives you the structure, tools, and templates to meet WCAG and ADA standards without compromising on creativity.
You don’t need to code. You don’t need to install extra plugins. And you don’t need a separate compliance team. Accessibility in Flipsnack is built-in, transparent, and designed for collaboration, so your designers, editors, and marketers stay aligned while creating inclusive content.
Whether you’re publishing lifestyle features, business reports, or editorial storytelling, Flipsnack lets you design once and deliver universally. Upload a PDF or start from an accessible template, and Flipsnack will help you bring it to life, beautifully and accessibly.
Start now and publish digital magazines everyone can read, navigate, and enjoy.
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