Know About Accessibility

  • Colorful mosaic of a tree with swirling branches, surrounded by birds, butterflies, and flowers against a vibrant blue and yellow background.

    All of us should know about accessibility.

    Welcome to Know About Accessibility. We’re happy you’re here! We are Sarah Horton and David Sloan, co-authors of the book, What Every Engineer Should Know About Digital Accessibility. We created this website to support and extend the themes and topics from the book. All of us have a role to… continue reading

  • 5 simple fixes that make digital spaces calmer—for neurodivergent and all users.

    By Lē Silveus — When we talk about accessibility, most engineers think of screen readers, alt text, and color contrast. These are essential, but they’re only part of the picture. Digital spaces must also support people whose minds process information differently—people who are autistic, ADHD, dyslexic, or otherwise neurodivergent. In… continue reading

  • Accessibility is a team effort. It is not exclusive to user research or front‑end development.

    By Yasmine Elglaly — Accessibility is still often viewed as a niche area in software development, where only a select few individuals—such as user researchers and front‑end developers—are expected to have knowledge and expertise in this field. These individuals may be tasked with not only identifying and addressing accessibility issues… continue reading

  • Auditory Disabilities

    By Sarah Horton and David Sloan — Some people have disabilities that affect the auditory channel and are not fully correctable through a hearing aid. The phrase “hard of hearing” categorizes conditions that cause people to have some hearing loss, which may reduce their ability to distinguish some sounds from… continue reading

  • Illustration of Carol, an older woman with light skin and white hair, in an armchair next to a Tiffany-style table lamp, reading a large-print book and holding a gray fluffy cat on her lap. A large-button phone is on the table in front of her.

    Carol: Grandmother with macular degeneration

    An accessibility persona from A Web for Everyone — Carol has always loved reading, so her fading eyesight is a real sorrow to her. She tried recorded books, but she didn’t like listening instead of seeing the words in front of her. My grandkids are dragging me into the world… continue reading

  • Chronic Illness

    By Sarah Horton and David Sloan — Some people have chronic illnesses, such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, and endometriosis, which limit the amount of physical and mental energy they may have in a given day. The impact of chronic illness may vary within and between days and is likely to… continue reading

  • Cognitive Disabilities

    By Sarah Horton and David Sloan — Some people have disabilities that affect cognitive functioning, including the ability to read, learn, process, remember, and communicate information in various formats and in different contexts. The group of people with accessibility needs related to cognitive functioning is large and varied, yet it… continue reading

  • Content and functionality must be machine readable.

    By Makoto Ueki — An important keyword for making digital content more accessible is “machine readability.” In this context, “machine” means the user agents such as browsers, assistive technologies like screen readers, search robots, and so on. Take a website, as an example. A web page has several headings: a… continue reading

  • Content and Output

    By Sarah Horton and David Sloan — There is a range of assistive technologies that support user accessibility needs relating to access to content, including providing alternative ways to output content and adapting content to better address user accessibility needs. These are mainly software‑based solutions provided through dedicated applications and… continue reading

  • Custom UI components need extra information to be accessible.

    By Kate Kalcevich — Interactions on the web are notorious for being inaccessible to people with disabilities and are often part of the most critical functions, such as: When you use HTML form elements like <input>, <select>, and <button>, information about the element is passed to the DOM (Document Object… continue reading