This resource introduces how disabled people use the web, including people with age-related impairments. It helps developers, designers, content creators, and others understand the reasons behind creating accessible digital products — including websites, apps, browsers, and other web tools.

I figured this might be worth sharing here. A practical guide from the Web Accessibility Initiative over at the W3C. A bit more friendly than technical standards like WCAG.

a mobile web design accessibility thing that i have never seen addressed but impacts my daily life so much:

tons of websites just become unusable when you have your device's text display set to a larger size. text floats all over, button hitboxes overlap, images get pushed out of bounds etc

large text helps so much and i have it set up on both phone and tablet. but for a lot of websites the only way to get them functional is to go into desktop mode, which makes the text even tinier and i have to squint and suffer and zoom in and scroll horizontally every two words

eta: a lot of the time these websites are very important for people to be able to access, like identity document renewal info, healthcare info, nutrition and allergens info. there's ways around it, yes, but it just kind of sucks that it has to hurt or take more time to navigate these things if you have poor eyesight or migraines etc

WCAG is the baseline accessibility standard referenced by most legal frameworks. The specific success criteria I'm talking about here (Resize Text) has been around for a long time. It works alongside the Reflow success criteria to improve accessibility for low-vision users.

Web and mobile developers just continue to fail it.

This is just a sort of post into the ether here but it really is disheartening how the big assistive technology conference thing (CSUN) just has 0 COVID precautions at this point. So many disabled folks functionally and systematically excluded from a seat at the table for influencing digital accessibility. I just kinda have to grin and bear it at my job as all my coworkers get to enthuse about how much collaboration and connection they got to get up to.

IDK, I guess I shouldn't really expect better from the lanyard set. It sucks regardless, even outside of my own lack of access.

Disclaimer

This is not an excuse to bully or deride requests for communication and progress on accessibility needs. Do not tone police people asking for these things, please.

Dark Mode and Accessibility

"Dark Mode" in specific is not something covered by most accessibility guidelines directly, because there is very much no one-size-fits-all design criteria. In general, you should be making it possible for users to personalize the styling of your website (or software) to fit their needs. As long as you are not blocking users from being able to make those changes, you have done your duty from a legal and international standard perspective re: Dark Mode.

Of note: providing your own dark mode can actually be an issue, because you are now responsible for making it work with all color-related success criteria in addition to whatever the default theme for your site is.