Introduction to Accessibility in UI Development: Best Practices for Beginners
Understanding accessibility
Accessibility (often referred to as a11y) ensures that everyone, regardless of ability or circumstance, can engage with and benefit from products, services, and environments. It plays a foundational role in Inclusive design, an approach that considers various personal identifiers—such as ability, race, economic status, language, age, and gender—to create thoughtful, accessible solutions.
According to Web Accessibility initiative, Web accessibility means the people with disabilities can equally perceive, understand, navigate and interact with websites and tools. Disabilities can be categorised into different types:
- Permanent: being born with a vision impairment.
- Temporary: having to do with glasses prescription that’s slightly off.
- Situational: being in bright sunlight and not being able to see the screen very well.
Disability Types and Accessibility Needs
- Physical disabilities: Affect mobility or dexterity; require keyboard navigation or voice control.
- Cognitive disabilities: Impact memory or problem-solving; need clear and simple designs.
- Hearing impairments: Require captions, transcripts, or visual indicators for audio cues.
- Speech impairments: Need text-based inputs for communication.
- Neurodiversity: Includes autism, ADHD, or similar conditions; designs should be flexible and sensory-friendly.
- Temporary impairments: Require short-term solutions like alternative interaction methods during injury or recovery.
In the digital world, accessibility ensures that products like websites, mobile apps, wearable interfaces (e.g., smartwatches), or extended reality (e.g., AR/VR) are usable for all, including people with disabilities. Digital accessibility is when the product is designed to be usable for as many different people as possible, with a focus on those with disabilities. While accessibility is essential for some, it is useful for all. By embracing accessibility, designers work within meaningful constraints that lead to better products for everyone. The benefits of accessibility are:
- Customer Reach and Retention: Accessibility enables products to reach a broader audience, increasing customer retention and growth.
- User Satisfaction: Meeting diverse user needs enhances usability, leading to improved satisfaction and loyalty.
- Market Expansion: Expands opportunities by tapping into underserved communities, fostering inclusivity.
- Legal Compliance: Ensures adherence to regulations, avoiding risks and showcasing responsible business practices.
- Brand Reputation: Builds a positive image as a socially responsible organization aligned with CSR goals.
- Fosters Innovation: Drives creativity and universal design approaches that improve experiences for all users.
Legal Framework and Standards
Accessibility is guided by a variety of global standards and regulations aimed at ensuring inclusivity for people with disabilities. Here are key aspects to consider:
Global Standards:
- WCAG: Universal benchmark for digital accessibility.
- ADA: U.S. law enforcing public and private accessibility.
- EN 301 549: EU standards for accessible ICT products and services.
Country-Specific Laws:
- Section 508 (U.S.): Accessibility requirements for federal agencies.
- European Accessibility Act (EAA): Harmonised EU accessibility standards.
- RPwD Act (India): Mandates accessibility compliance for digital platforms and public infrastructure.
- IBM and Accessibility: IBM follows WCAG and Section 508, embedding accessibility in its design and development processes.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
Overview of WCAG
WCAG is a set of guidelines and standards set by the World Web Consortium (W3C) to ensure that the web applications and the digital platforms can be used by the wide range of people, promoting inclusivity and expanding the potential audience. It outlines the core principles that guide the creation of accessible content. These principles state that the content should be:
- Perceivable: The user interface components and the information must be presented in a way that users can perceive, whether through sight, hearing, or other senses. There are four sub-guidelines under ‘perceivable’: Text Alternatives, Time-based Media, Adaptable, and Distinguishable. For example,
- Use descriptive alt text for images.
- Maintain sufficient contrast ratio. e.g., for level AA: 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text.
- Operable: The navigation and the user interface components must be operable and usable by all, including those who may rely on keyboards or assistive technologies. There are five sub-guidelines under ‘operable’: Keyboard Accessible, Enough Time, Seizures and Physical Reactions, Navigable, and Input Modalities. For example,
- Support Tab, Enter, Esc navigation for all controls.
- Understandable: Information and operation of the user interface must be clear and understandable to all the users. There are three sub-guidelines under ‘understandable’: Readable, Predictable, and Input Assistance. For example,
- Provide clear error messages with helpful suggestions (Ex: Password must be 8+ characters).
- Consistent navigation and UI design patterns.
- Robust: Content must be robust enough to work reliably with current and future technologies. There is one sub-guideline within ‘robust’: Compatible. For example,
- Use valid HTML and ARIA roles.
- Test with assistive technologies like screen readers.
Conformance Levels
According to W3C, conformance to a standard means that you meet or satisfy the ‘requirements’ of the standard. Each guideline’s Success Criterion has been assigned a conformance level by the W3C (A, AA, or AAA), which helps you identify which Success Criterion the web content needs to meet.
There are three levels of WCAG conformance: A (lowest), AA, and AAA (highest).
- Level A (Minimum): Basic web accessibility.
Success criteria – The default human language of each Web page can be programmatically determined
e.g., providing alt text for images.
- Level AA (Recommended): Addresses the most common barriers.
e.g., contrast ratio of text to background (minimum 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text)
- Level AAA (Optimal): Highest standard but not always feasible.
e.g., contrast ratio of at least 7:1, and no reliance on sensory characteristics (Ex: color alone).
Accessibility in UI: Best Practices
Creating inclusive user interfaces ensures your application is accessible to users with diverse needs, including those relying on assistive technologies. Adopting these best practices aligns with accessibility standards like WCAG and improves the overall user experience.
- Semantic HTML: Employing semantic HTML elements is foundational to web accessibility. Elements like
<header>, <nav>, <main>, <section>, and <footer> convey meaningful structure to assistive technologies, facilitating better navigation and understanding of web content.
|
<header>
<nav>
<ul>
<li><a href="#home">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="#about">About</a></li>
<li><a href="#contact">Contact</a></li>
</ul>
</nav>
</header>
|
- ARIA Integration: The Web Accessibility Initiative – Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) provides attributes that enhance the accessibility of dynamic web content. ARIA attributes can be incorporated to define roles, states, and properties, thereby improving the interaction between your application and assistive technologies. For instance, adding
aria-label, aria-required, or role attributes to elements can clarify their purpose and state.
|
<button aria-label="Submit your form" role="button">
Submit
</button>
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- Focus management: Proper focus management ensures that users navigating via keyboard or assistive devices can interact with your application seamlessly. Implementing these practices can prevent issues where focus is lost or misplaced, which is particularly important for users relying on keyboards or screen readers. Managing focus involves:
- Handling Dynamic Content: When components are conditionally rendered or updated, ensure that focus is directed to meaningful elements. For example, after displaying a modal, set focus to the modal's first focusable element.
- Maintaining Focus Order: The tab order should follow a logical sequence that matches the visual layout, preventing confusion during navigation.
- Restoring Focus: When closing dialogs or modals, return focus to the element that triggered the action to maintain context for the user.
|
<div className=”modal” tabindex=”-1” aria-hidden="false">
<input aria-label="Enter text" autofocus />
<button>Close</button>
</div>
|
- Accessible forms: Forms should include labels for all input elements to ensure users understand the purpose of each field. This can be achieved by associating
<label> elements with their corresponding inputs using the htmlFor attribute, which matches the id of the input element. Additionally, providing clear error messages and instructions enhances form usability.
|
<form>
<label htmlFor="name">Name:</label>
<input type="text" id="name" name="name" />
<label htmlFor="feedback">Your Feedback:</label>
<textarea id="feedback" name="feedback"></textarea>
<button type="submit">Submit</button>
</form>
|
- Keyboard accessibility: Ensuring that all interactive elements are operable via keyboard is vital. This includes verifying that the
Tab key navigates through interactive elements in a logical order and that custom components are accessible using standard keyboard interactions. Ensure that all interactive elements are operable via keyboard:
- Interactive Elements: Use native HTML elements like <button>, <a>, and <input> for interactive controls, as they come with built-in keyboard support.
- Custom Components: When creating custom components, manage keyboard events to mimic native behaviour, ensuring users can navigate and interact without a mouse.
- Testing and validation: After implementing accessibility features, it's important to test your app for accessibility compliance. IBM Accessibility Checker tool is a powerful tool that identifies accessibility issues based on the WCAG and other standards. There are other alternatives/ complementary tools such as Axe, Lighthouse and Pa11y. IBM Accessibility Checker is part of IBM’s Equal Access Toolkit and can be integrated into development workflows. The following are the features of IBM Accessibility Checker tool:
- Automated Testing: Quickly scans for accessibility violations.
- Standards Compliance: Ensures compliance with WCAG 2.1 AA, Section 508, and other accessibility standards.
- Detailed Reports: Provides actionable insights and suggestions for fixing issues.
- Browser Integration: Available as a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox.
- Developer Tools Support: Integrates with tools like Storybook, and Node.js for seamless testing in development workflows.
Other assistive technologies
- Screen readers (e.g., JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver)
- Alternative input devices (e.g., adaptive keyboards, voice control)
- Speech-to-text software (e.g., Dragon NaturallySpeaking)
- Magnification software (e.g., ZoomText)
- Hearing assistive technologies (e.g., hearing loops, captioning)
Accessibility Compliance: A Checklist for Developers
Ensuring accessibility compliance not only makes your application inclusive but also aligns it with legal and ethical standards. Following the WCAG Level AA guidelines provides a solid foundation for creating applications that accommodate users with diverse needs. These guidelines address crucial aspects like alternative content, color contrast, and ease of navigation.
- Provide Text Alternatives: Add meaningful alt attributes to all images to describe their content for screen readers. Include transcripts or captions for multimedia content (like videos and audio files) to ensure users with hearing impairments can access the information.
- Ensure Adequate Color Contrast: Verify that text and interactive elements have sufficient contrast against their background to support readability for users with visual impairments.
- Support Keyboard Navigation: Design interfaces that can be fully navigated using a keyboard, allowing users who cannot use a mouse to interact with your application effortlessly.
By implementing these practices, developers can create applications that are accessible to a broader audience and improve usability for everyone, including those with disabilities.
Additional Resources
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