DEV Community

Cover image for Principles of Web Accessibility
Alvaro Montoro
Alvaro Montoro

Posted on โ€ข Originally published at alvaromontoro.com

4 1

Principles of Web Accessibility

Heydon Pickering recently shared some "Principles of Web Accessibility," a set of twelve high-level guidelines on how to approach web accessibility.

I highly recommend reading the whole thing โ€“it's a short textโ€“, but here's a summary of them if you want a quick "too long; didn't read" version:

๐Ÿ’Ž Perfection is the enemy: nothing will be 100% accessible, but you can make a real difference by making it just a little bit better.

โžก๏ธ By default or death: accessibility is not something to be added later to a complete product. An inaccessible product is an incomplete product.

โš–๏ธ Parity is paramount: the goal is not to create "better experiences" but "comparable experiences" for different people.

๐Ÿ“ Design for implementation: accessibility shouldn't be an afterthought in the development process, it should be there since the early stages.

๐Ÿ“Š Structure first: an intuitive interface that is well-structured and easy-to-use is better than a poorly-structured interface with no discrete errors.

๐Ÿ’ฌ Use your words: develop your writing and editing skills or include writers and editors in your process. What is written is as important as how it's written.

๐Ÿ› ๏ธ Tools are not identities: disabilities are not uniform. Don't design for a single person or user, design to support the capabilities of the assistive software.

โ†•๏ธ Less is less: don't overdo it! Reducing complexities โ€“keeping things simpleโ€“ not only reduces errors, it also improves comprehension.

๐Ÿ’ฐ Get paid: accessibility is a job in itself. Include it in your role, be valued, and get recognized for it. Don't let people diminish its (your) importance.

๐ŸŽฃ Fishing, not fish: working on accessibility goes beyond solving specific problems. Set the stage and structure to facilitate it.

๐Ÿ† No points for performance: Companies tend to prioritize looking accessible over being accessible. Demand action and not only performance.

๐Ÿ‘ฟ Let evil rot: there is plenty of inaccessibility; protect your reputation and mental health, and prioritize working with receptive companies and projects.


What do you think? Anything that you would add or change?

Billboard image

Imagine monitoring that's actually built for developers

Join Vercel, CrowdStrike, and thousands of other teams that trust Checkly to streamline monitor creation and configuration with Monitoring as Code.

Start Monitoring

Top comments (0)

Cloudinary image

Video API: manage, encode, and optimize for any device, channel or network condition. Deliver branded video experiences in minutes and get deep engagement insights.

Learn more

๐Ÿ‘‹ Kindness is contagious

Discover a treasure trove of wisdom within this insightful piece, highly respected in the nurturing DEV Community enviroment. Developers, whether novice or expert, are encouraged to participate and add to our shared knowledge basin.

A simple "thank you" can illuminate someone's day. Express your appreciation in the comments section!

On DEV, sharing ideas smoothens our journey and strengthens our community ties. Learn something useful? Offering a quick thanks to the author is deeply appreciated.

Okay