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Demystifying Screen Readers: Accessible Forms & Best Practices
19.4.2024
This is the 3rd post in a small series we are doing on form accessibility. If you missed the 2nd post, check out Managing User Focus with :focus-visible. In this post we are going to look at using a …
Demystifying Screen Readers: Accessible Forms & Best Practices originally published...
Setting up a screen reader testing environment on your computer
12.12.2022
Sara Soueidan with everything you need, from what screen reading options are out there all the way to setting up virtual machines for them, installing them, and confguring keyboard options. It’s truly a one-stop reference that pulls together disparate …
Setting up a screen reader...
Comparing JAWS, NVDA, and VoiceOver
1.9.2022
A screen reader is an important accessibility tool for people with no or limited vision. People who are blind or those with low vision can use a screen reader to navigate the computer. Screen readers will read contents on the …
Comparing JAWS, NVDA, and VoiceOver originally published...
Comparing Various Ways to Hide Things in CSS
27.10.2020
You would think that hiding content with CSS is a straightforward and solved problem, but there are multiple solutions, each one being unique.
Developers most commonly use display: none to hide the content on the page. Unfortunately, this way of hiding content isn’t bulletproof because now that...
Five 5-minute Videos from Ethan on Design & Accessibility
30.6.2020
Ethan:
I’ve been working with Aquent Gymnasium to produce a series of five short tutorial videos, which have been launching over the course of this past week. Since the last video just went live, I’m thrilled to share the whole list with you:
• Introduction to using VoiceOver on macOS•...
Block Links: The Search for a Perfect Solution
25.5.2020
I was reading this article by Chris where he talks about block links — you know, like wrapping an entire card element inside an anchor — being a bad idea. It’s bad accessibility because of how it affects screen readers. And it’s bad UX because it prevents simple user tasks, like selecting text.
But...
CSS Can Influence Screenreaders
23.3.2020
Ben Myers covers some clear examples of where CSS totally changes what some screen readers announce. For example, some screenreader will see text-transform: uppercase; on a button label that says "Add" and read it like an abbreviation, "A.D.D."
These cases of CSS messing with our screenreader...
How to Create a “Skip to Content” Link
17.3.2020
Skip links are little internal navigation links that help users move around a page. It’s possible you’ve never actually seen one before because they’re often hidden from view and used as an accessibility enhancement that lets keyboard users and screen readers jump from the top of the page to...
15 Things to Improve Your Website Accessibility
17.3.2020
This is a really great list from Bruce. There is a lot of directly actionable stuff here. Send it around to your team and make it something that you all go through together.
Here's a little one that prodded me to finally fix...
Most screen readers allow the user to quickly see a list of links...
Building an accessible autocomplete control
6.2.2020
Here’s a great in-depth post from Adam Silver about his journey to create an autocomplete field that’s as accessible as possible. There are so many edge cases to consider! There are old browsers and their peculiar quirks, there are accessibility best practices for screen readers, and not to mention...
Bad accessibility equals bad quality
22.1.2020
Here’s a smart post from Manuel Matuzovic where he digs into why accessibility is so important for building websites:
Web accessibility is not just about keyboard users, color contrast or screen readers. Accessibility is a perfect indicator for the quality of a website. Accessibility is strongly...
Weekly Platform News: Tracking via Web Storage, First Input Delay, Navigating by Headings
4.10.2019
In this week's roundup, Safari takes on cross-site tracking, the delay between load and user interaction is greater on mobile, and a new survey says headings are a popular way for screen readers to navigate a webpage.
Let's get into the news.
Safari’s tracking prevention limits web storage
Some...
Creating a Maintainable Icon System with Sass
28.8.2019
One of my favorite ways of adding icons to a site is by including them as data URL background images to pseudo-elements (e.g. ::after) in my CSS. This technique offers several advantages:
They don't require any additional HTTP requests other than the CSS file.
Using the background-size property...
CSS :focus-within
25.6.2019
Using :hover to display additional information or elements is a very useful technique but a big drawback to using the hover pseudo-class is that they are usually not accessibility-friendly. Not everyone uses a mouse and some users have visual impairments, so they rely on screen readers or...
Drop caps & design systems
19.6.2019
Ethan Marcotte has written up his process for how to make drop caps accessible for screen readers and browsers alike. All of that is very interesting and I’m sure I’ll use a technique like this in the near future, but the part that made me hop out of my seat is where Ethan notes his experience with...
How to Section Your HTML
18.6.2019
The sectioning elements in HTML5 are <nav>, <aside>, <article>, and <section>. <body> is also kind of a sectioning element since all content lying inside of it is part of the default document section.
Here is a brief explanation of each sectioning element...
The difference between keyboard and screen reader navigation
29.5.2019
There are a few differences between keyboards and screen readers and Léonie Watson highlights of them:
When using the tab key, keyboard focus and screen reader focus are synchronised with each other. The rest of the time, screen reader users have an enormous range of commands at their disposal...
Why, How, and When to Use Semantic HTML and ARIA
7.5.2019
Semantic HTML and Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) help create interfaces that work for everyone in the most performant, robust, and simple way possible. They add essential meaning to your content, which lets web browsers, search engines, screen readers, RSS readers, and ultimately...
Collective #497
4.3.2019
Semantics to Screen Readers * JavaScript SEO * Absurd Illustrations * MakerAds * SpriteStack * Displacement Scroll
Collective #497 was written by Pedro Botelho and published on Codrops
Too Much Accessibility
3.12.2018
I like to blog little veins of thought as I see them. We recently linked to an article by Facundo Corradini calling out a tweet of ours where we used an <em> where we probably should have used an <i>.
Bruce Lawson checks if screen readers are the victims of these semantic...