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Web frameworks are already quite far from any "normal" use of HTML and Web technologies, TBH. They are the problem. Build your website using semantic HTML, tes

Web frameworks are already quite far from any "normal" use of HTML and Web technologies, TBH. They are the problem. Build your website using semantic HTML, test it in a text-mode, JS-free browser, and 90% of common accessibility issues are going to be solved for you, with the remaining 10% still being quite easy to address.

mcguire 7y ago
Alternatively, there is the approach taken by segments of the US government: choose (and buy) an accessibility test system, point it at the apps, and fix what it reports. Pro tip: single-page apps will routinely pass with no changes. Sigh.
dreamcompiler 7y ago
This. I have a strong suspicion that the web was inherently more accessible 10 years ago when it was written in -- you know -- HTML. But now it's not written in HTML as much as in Javascript frameworks, most of which are necessary only to add "flash" (no pun intended) to modern websites but which also hinder accessibility. Web developers need to decide if their job is to impress or to inform. Usually users want to be informed, while the VP of marketing (your client) wants to be impressed. The two goals do not have to be in conflict with each other but the blind use of frameworks and client-side rendering often puts them in conflict.
- robocat 7y ago
  Component frameworks can choose to have deep support for the ARIA accessibility tags e.g. Dojo had it in 2007 - https://dojotoolkit.org/reference-guide/1.10/dijit/a11y/statement.html https://dojotoolkit.org/reference-guide/1.10/dijit/a11y/stat... Using a framework that is designed for accessibility should be better than using plain HTML that is not designed for a11y.
dymk 7y ago
Claiming that "web frameworks" are the problem is such a general blanket that it ceases to be a useful statement at all. React and declarative frameworks make it as easy as vanilla HTML to include ARIA compliant content.

mcguire 7y ago

Alternatively, there is the approach taken by segments of the US government: choose (and buy) an accessibility test system, point it at the apps, and fix what it reports. Pro tip: single-page apps will routinely pass with no changes. Sigh.

dreamcompiler 7y ago

This. I have a strong suspicion that the web was inherently more accessible 10 years ago when it was written in -- you know -- HTML. But now it's not written in HTML as much as in Javascript frameworks, most of which are necessary only to add "flash" (no pun intended) to modern websites but which also hinder accessibility. Web developers need to decide if their job is to impress or to inform. Usually users want to be informed, while the VP of marketing (your client) wants to be impressed. The two goals do not have to be in conflict with each other but the blind use of frameworks and client-side rendering often puts them in conflict.

robocat 7y ago
Component frameworks can choose to have deep support for the ARIA accessibility tags e.g. Dojo had it in 2007 - https://dojotoolkit.org/reference-guide/1.10/dijit/a11y/statement.html https://dojotoolkit.org/reference-guide/1.10/dijit/a11y/stat... Using a framework that is designed for accessibility should be better than using plain HTML that is not designed for a11y.

dymk 7y ago

Claiming that "web frameworks" are the problem is such a general blanket that it ceases to be a useful statement at all. React and declarative frameworks make it as easy as vanilla HTML to include ARIA compliant content.