This post was originally written for my work engineering blog. Check us out and see some interesting articles from my coworkers at goats.scripted.com.
According to the 2012 U.S. Census, almost 60 million Americans (nearly 20 percent of the U.S. population) have some form of disability. While not all of these disabilities may affect the way people interact with your website, a large population of your potential users probably can’t use your website the way you expect them to. For any company, but especially ones like Scripted that prides themselves on words, this is often an overlooked trap.
Accessibility is not just about making it easier for people with disabilities to interact with your site. Instead, making information easier to consume and understand should be your primary goal. These tweaks can be simple, such as using the appropriate H1 tag versus a stylized div for your main header and having links that are descriptive on their own rather than just saying ‘click me’ or ‘here’. Keeping accessibility in mind also allows you to build a better organized, more SEO-optimized, and easier-to-navigate app for all of your users.
A good place to start optimizing is by running your site through Addy Osmandi’s A11y tool. Running the online A11y URL checker against a page will give you a list of warnings.
In Scripted’s case, the home page had some warnings about hidden links and was missing some alt tags for images.
Scripted’s order page had some severe shortcomings regarding labeling inputs. Without input labels, many screen readers can only guess what your forms are trying to collect. And as a secret bonus, input labels make the clickable surface of your input bigger. A tiny radio button without a label means the user can only click on the radio dot to choose an option. With labels added, they can click anywhere on the radio or surrounding label to make a choice.
<label for="content">
Custom Content
<input type="radio" name="content" value="custom">
</label>
After adding the labels and making some of the other suggested tweaks to both the homepage and the order flow, the report is looking much better, but one file change won’t solve all your problems. Someone on your team might make a change next week and forget to include an alt on an important image without thinking about the impact. You need a plan! Whether it’s running the URL checker on a regular basis or asking the team to keep accessibility in mind during code reviews (and training them on what to look for), figure out a path that will help you maintain the accessibility of your site. For both quick fixes and good basics on accessibility, a great resource to start your team with is the A11y project.