Ask HN: How can I learn to make accessible websites/apps

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23479203

by conradludgate • 6 years ago

4 4 6 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I'm not a front end developer at the moment, but I used to be and I remember having someone ask me about the accessibility of our platform.

So I'm curious what tools/tutorials/guides there are to simulate how some people view the apps I make and so I can learn what makes an app accessible and what makes it inaccessible.

Thanks

hackermailman• 6 years ago

I went through examples of one of those government accessible 'design systems' like https://www.digital.govt.nz/standards-and-guidance/design-an... or https://designsystem.gov.au/ and the WCAG 2.1 spec. There's probably better accessibility tests out there but I've used this https://wave.webaim.org/ which also has a browser plugin

twunde• 6 years ago

I'd take a look at https://github.com/brunopulis/awesome-a11y as a starting point. In particular take a look at the Tools section to do some simulation as well as the Development Testing and Validators for more practical tool usage that you could add to your workflow.

giantg2• 6 years ago

If using Android, the documentation site should have a user guide on accessibility best practices. It will have specific examples for Android code. I found it very useful when creating my apps.

LukeBMM• 6 years ago

There's some really good resources already listed, so I thought I'd add two broad concepts to consider.

1. There isn't a clear distinction between accessible and inaccessible. It's a spectrum - much like you can never truly make something completely "secure", but can only ever make it "_more_ secure". You can't just sprinkle accessibility on top at the end of a project and there's no single point at which you've gone from inaccessible to accessible. Your last line makes it sound as though you already have this in mind, but just highlighting it.

2. Things are accessible by default. Every thing you change potentially has ramifications. This starts with the obvious things like color contrast, typography, etc. but becomes very important as you start getting into behavior. Keyboard navigation is one key example which is vital for many folks with motor or visual impairments and often serves as a handy sniff test for "have I accidentally broken the thing that was automatically accessible by default?".

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[1] You could reach a point at which you've ensured you've met or exceeded every WCAG criteria for a given conformance level, but that's not quite identical to to the goal of "completing accessibility".

Ask HN: How can I learn to make accessible websites/apps

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