#web-accessibility

#web-accessibility

Web accessibility ( a11y) isn't an easy topic. For years, I've listened to conference talks about this important subject, identified with its importance, but somehow never managed to get started. In contrast to let's say, Australian developers (due to the Disability Discrimination Act), I haven't been forced to incorporate a11y into my projects since I work for a German employer with European customers.

I never thought I'd write a piece criticising Taylor Swift. I've been a devoted fan since becoming enraptured by her Eras Tour movie. And while my musical tastes normally veer towards post-rock, punk and metal, her pandemic opuses Evermore and Folklore reached parts of my heart I never knew pop could touch. So I genuinely believed Taylor could do no wrong. But unfortunately, her latest website is a masterclass in how not to design for inclusion.

Any audio that automatically plays for more than 3 seconds must include a mechanism to pause or control the audio's volume without affecting system volume.

Generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Claude require websites to be crawlable by AI bots for effective mentions and citations. Disabling JavaScript improves crawlability, as many AI crawlers struggle with JavaScript rendering, which differs from Google’s capabilities. This means publishers must ensure essential content is accessible even without JavaScript. AI optimization tools like Aiso can evaluate and enhance a site's crawlability, providing suggestions for improvement. Site owners must also verify their robots.txt files to allow AI bot access, as many content management systems restrict bots by default.

The Interest Invoker API allows developers to create tooltips, hover menus, and other UI elements using declarative HTML, enabling hover-triggered interactions without JavaScript.

To move the address bar to the bottom of the screen, you'll long-press on the bar and then select the option to move it to the bottom.

I later discovered the Accessibility section hidden in the Design toolbar, offering options for adding tags, alt text, and ARIA labels to elements.