Fenna de Wilde

On accessibility in code and creative web design.

Week two | 2024-02-14 | sell Accessibility sell Design sell HTML

Fenna de Wilde is a Communication & Multimedia Design alumn and now works as a creative frontend developer at a Norwegian tech-driven agency. She has some very impressive websites under her belt, of which Moooi is a prime example. Her most recent pride and topic of the day is Phantom, a cryptowallet intended to look friendly, approachable and accessible. Fenna has thought out and designed a website that embodies the playfulness of the logo (a purple 'phantom' ghost), and will lecture us on accessibility in web design using Phantom as an example and good practice.

Accessibility in Phantom

Accessibility is often not taken seriously in the business world, yet it's a critical aspect for developers. Implementing accessibility practices is not just a moral obligation but also enhances the user experience for a wide range of users.

The Stack

The technology stack used for projects includes:

• NextJS + TypeScript for the front-end framework and language.
• Emotion for CSS-in-JS styling.
• Vercel for deployment.
• Sanity as the content management system.
• Framer Motion as the animation library.

Always Apply

Focus State

Focus states are essential because not all users use a mouse. They provide visual feedback on which element is currently focused. The :focus-visible pseudo-class is recommended over :focus, as it only registers keyboard focus, which is useful for accessibility.

ARIA Attributes

Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) attributes provide essential information to assistive technologies. Examples include:

• aria-label: Provides descriptive text to an element that doesn't have descriptive text or a visible label of its own.
• It's also possible to change based on states, for example, aria-label={isPlaying ? “Pause” : “Play”}.
• aria-controls links the control element to the element it controls: provide the controlled element's ID, so screen readers understand the connection and can offer more context to users.
• aria-expanded indicates the status of elements that can be expanded or collapsed, such as hamburger menus, dropdowns, etc. Switches between “true” and “false” states.
• aria-live instructs the screen reader to announce dynamic changes (JS) immediately.
  • off: if something changes, no update to the screen reader.
  • polite: if the screen reader is busy, finish first then announce.
  • assertive: if the screen reader is busy, stop and announce immediately.
• aria-live is often used together with aria-atomic.
  • false: screen readers announce changed nodes.
  • true: screen readers introduce the entire changed area as a whole.

Accessible Carousels

For accessible carousels, the container must have a role=”region” or be a section, along with aria-roledescription=”carousel” and an aria-labelledby or aria-label (depending on whether a title is available, then you refer to the title with aria-labelledby; if there is no title, then aria-label).

The slide must have role=”group”, aria-roledescription=”slide”, and aria-labelledby. You can use aria-label to clarify which slide you are on. If a slide is not visible on the screen, hide it with aria-hidden=”true” on the slide's wrapper and tabindex=”-1” on all focusable children.

Avoid li elements, as hiding them will not match the announced number of li’s with the actual number. Carousel controls must have role=”group” with an aria-label, and the control button showing the current slide has aria-disabled=”true”.

Focus Guards and ESC Key Configurations

Focus guards ensure that keyboard users can navigate without accidentally leaving the modal. Build the modal with dialog (dialog receives aria-modal=”true”). Focus is automatically sent to the close button; when the user closes, focus returns to the button that opened it. If you're not using the HTML element, use an npm package for the same effect.

Color Contrast

Color contrast is vital for readability. Use a font size of at least 16px to prevent eye strain, and keep the line length between 50 - 75 characters. The CSS unit ch is the character unit, where 1 character is the width of the '0' character. The WAI color contrast formula assigns colors a value from 1 to 21, with a minimum ratio of 4:1 for standard text and 3:1 for large text. Tools like Figma or a Lighthouse audit can identify elements with poor contrast, and Chrome DevTools can inspect elements for contrast issues, providing warnings for accessibility > contrast.

Alt Text

Alt text is essential for people who cannot see images, ensuring that they receive the information conveyed by images.

Correct Semantics

Correct semantics helps screen readers understand the structure and meaning, reducing the need for ARIA attributes. Well-structured HTML improves the visibility of content.

Further Applications:

• Skip to content (skip navigation).
• Prefers-reduced-motion.
• All autoplay videos/carousels must be able to be paused.
• Experience using a screen reader yourself.

Conclusion

Accessibility is technically not needed to keep the web running. One missing aria-label won't kill your website, and even if a blind person is unable to navigate through your headings and navigations, a staggering 96.65% of the world's population would still be able to just fine. But that's not what building a website should be about to you. If you make something beautiful, informative and cool, wouldn't you want everyone to be able to recognise that is is, in fact, beautiful, informative and cool?

Adding extra aria-labels, being clear in the way you name your elements, and putting in just a bit more effort could change the way your website is experienced for the better. That is just so worth it.