Expert guidance to help you plan and deliver inclusive online experiences with accessible virtual tours.
Creating accessible virtual tours isn’t just good practice. It’s about ensuring everyone can explore, learn, and enjoy your space online.
We understand accessibility can be complex and easy to overlook. At Eye Revolution, we’re committed to helping our clients design tours with accessibility in mind.
What Does an Accessible Virtual Tour Look Like?
Inclusive, Thoughtful Design
Accessible virtual tours can mean many things:
- Keyboard-friendly navigation
- Screen reader compatibility for descriptive content
- Text alternatives for images
- Simple, intuitive interfaces
- Avoiding features that trigger discomfort or confusion
There isn’t a single universal standard for 360 experiences. The right approach depends on your audience, your content, and the broader context of your website.
The Limits of Overlays and Widgets
No One-Click Fix
You may see some virtual tour companies offering accessibility overlays or widgets that claim to solve everything automatically. While these tools can address some issues, they often:
- Provide only surface-level fixes
- Don’t work consistently with assistive technologies, and can often interfere with them
- Miss essential content alternatives
- Create a false sense of security around compliance
You can read more about these accessibility tools and why they’re not the quick fix they’re touted as here. We prefer a deep, thoughtful approach that considers real users and their needs.
Balancing Accessibility, Goals, and Budget
Realistic, Meaningful Improvements
We know accessibility isn’t always the top priority in every brief. But it is increasingly important, in order to meet legal guidelines.
Each of our accessible virtual tours includes core features designed to meet WCAG guidelines. Often, even deeper or more bespoke accessibility solutions can be tailored to meet your needs.
British Sign Language (BSL) in Virtual Tours
Virtual tours are primarily visual but often include written content like pop-ups, voiceovers, or video. For users who communicate with British Sign Language (BSL), we can incorporate on-screen BSL interpretation where needed.
This is especially helpful because English may be a second or even third language for many deaf people. Large amounts of written text or subtitles can be difficult to follow, since BSL is an interpretation rather than a direct translation.
If your tour includes content that would benefit from BSL interpretation, we can help deliver it effectively.
Virtual Tours as an Accessibility Tool
Virtual tours can be a powerful accessibility tool in their own right. They let people explore spaces that might be closed to the public, such as cleanrooms or private areas.
They’re especially valuable for showing areas that can’t be physically modified for access, e.g. heritage sites where ramps or lifts aren’t possible. For example, in our tour of St Magnus the Martyr, visitors can explore the Bell Tower in detail, even though its narrow, winding stairs make access for wheelchairs or those with other physical challenges impossible.
Virtual tours help ensure everyone can experience these spaces, regardless of physical barriers.
Ready for an Accessible Virtual Tour?
We’re here to help you create virtual experiences that welcome everyone. Talk to us about designing an inclusive, engaging online visit for all your audiences.
Questions? We’ve got the answers.
We plan and build tours with accessibility built in, but there’s no universal standard for “fully accessible” 360 experiences. We focus on practical, meaningful improvements tailored to your audience that help you meet WCAG guidelines.
We support best practices aligned with guidelines such as WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and ADA requirements where applicable.
In many regions, public institutions and businesses are expected to provide accessible digital experiences. Even where it’s not strictly mandatory, it’s good practice (and the right thing to do) to make your content more inclusive.
Yes. We can work with you to understand your obligations, whether it’s WCAG 2.1 AA conformance or sector-specific guidance, and plan your virtual tour accordingly.
While some widgets claim to fix everything automatically, they often miss important needs or interfere with users’ own assistive technologies.
Beyond compliance, working on better accessibility is simply the right thing to do. It demonstrates respect, improves your reputation, and can expand your audience to include those who would otherwise be excluded.