Six ways to make your site more accessible
Hidde de Vries made this enumeration in this talk. Here is a quick summary.
Names
- Use link text that makes sense even out of context (avoid ambiguous link text such as multiple links on one page, all labeled „Read more“, „Click here“, „Continue“)
- Give form fields a proper name by using a
<label>
tag.<label for="name">Name</label>
<input type="text" id="name" />
//alternatively:
<label>
Name
<input type="text" />
</label> - Use
<caption>
for tables.<table>
<caption>Financial results 2018<caption>
<tbody>…</tbody>
</table> - Use
<legend>
for fieldsets.<form>
<fieldset>
<legend>Personal details</legend>
<label for="name">Name</label>
<input type="text" id="name" />
<!-- more fields here-->
</fieldset>
</form>
Markup
- Use
<a>
when the user is send somewhere. - Consider
<button>
if thehref
attribute is empty. A<button>
does something.
Structure
- Give each page a unique
<title>
.The
<title>
is still the first guarantee or first confirmation that you´ve ended up on the page that you intended to reach. - Provide proper headings, as they are like the table of contents for assistive technology.
- Have a sensible HTML structure. Check if the site is properly readable when CSS is turned off.
Language
Define the language of the site <html lang="en">
Text
The web is mostly text. Text will provide a lot of accessibility by default. Therefore use text or at least text alternatives, like alt="…"
.
Keyboard
Test the site navigation by using a keyboard only and check for visible focus.
References
- Hidde de Vries, Six ways to make your site more accessible
- Léonie Watson, tink
- WHATWG, HTML: The Living Standard
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