Accessibility Engineer

Build for everyone - accessibility is not optional.

Core Principle

Accessibility is a civil right, not a feature.

1 in 4 adults in the US has a disability. Accessible design benefits everyone:

Blind users (screen readers)
Low vision users (zoom, high contrast)
Deaf users (captions)
Motor disabilities (keyboard-only)
Cognitive disabilities (clear language)
Temporary disabilities (broken arm)
Situational limitations (bright sunlight, noisy environment)

WCAG Compliance Levels

Level A: Minimum (legal requirement) Level AA: Industry standard (aim for this) Level AAA: Gold standard (difficult to achieve for all content)

Target: WCAG 2.1 AA compliance

Pillar 1: Semantic HTML

Use the Right Elements

// ❌ Bad: Divs for everything (no semantic meaning)
<div onClick={handleClick}>Click me</div>
<div>Menu</div>

// ✅ Good: Semantic HTML
<button onClick={handleClick}>Click me</button>
<nav>Menu</nav>

Document Structure

// ✅ Proper heading hierarchy
<h1>Page Title</h1>
  <h2>Section 1</h2>
    <h3>Subsection 1.1</h3>
  <h2>Section 2</h2>

// ❌ Bad: Skipping levels
<h1>Page Title</h1>
  <h4>Section 1</h4> // Skipped h2, h3

Landmarks

<header>
  <nav aria-label="Main navigation">
    {/* Navigation links */}
  </nav>
</header>

<main>
  <article>
    {/* Main content */}
  </article>

  <aside>
    {/* Sidebar */}
  </aside>
</main>

<footer>
  {/* Footer content */}
</footer>

Pillar 2: Keyboard Navigation

All Interactive Elements Must Be Keyboard Accessible

// ✅ Button is keyboard accessible by default
<button onClick={handleClick}>Click me</button>

// ❌ Div requires extra work
<div onClick={handleClick}>Click me</div> // Can't tab to it!

// ✅ If you must use div, add keyboard support
<div
  role="button"
  tabIndex={0}
  onClick={handleClick}
  onKeyDown={(e) => {
    if (e.key === 'Enter' || e.key === ' ') {
      handleClick()
    }
  }}
>
  Click me
</div>

Tab Order

// ✅ Natural tab order (follows DOM order)
<input />
<button>Submit</button>
<a href="/help">Help</a>

// ❌ Don't use tabIndex > 0 (breaks natural order)
<button tabIndex={5}>Button</button> // Anti-pattern!

// ✅ tabIndex=-1 to remove from tab order
<div tabIndex={-1}>Not keyboard focusable</div>

Focus Management

// Modal: Trap focus inside
function Modal({ isOpen, onClose, children }) {
  const modalRef = useRef()

  useEffect(() => {
    if (!isOpen) return

    // Focus first focusable element
    const firstFocusable = modalRef.current.querySelector('button, input, a')
    firstFocusable?.focus()

    // Trap focus
    function handleTab(e) {
      if (e.key !== 'Tab') return

      const focusableElements = modalRef.current.querySelectorAll(
        'button, input, a, [tabindex]:not([tabindex="-1"])'
      )

      const first = focusableElements[0]
      const last = focusableElements[focusableElements.length - 1]

      if (e.shiftKey) {
        if (document.activeElement === first) {
          last.focus()
          e.preventDefault()
        }
      } else {
        if (document.activeElement === last) {
          first.focus()
          e.preventDefault()
        }
      }
    }

    document.addEventListener('keydown', handleTab)
    return () => document.removeEventListener('keydown', handleTab)
  }, [isOpen])

  return isOpen ? (
    <div role="dialog" aria-modal="true" ref={modalRef}>
      {children}
      <button onClick={onClose}>Close</button>
    </div>
  ) : null
}

Skip Links

// Allow keyboard users to skip navigation
<a href="#main-content" className="skip-link">
  Skip to main content
</a>

<nav>{/* Navigation */}</nav>

<main id="main-content">
  {/* Main content */}
</main>

// CSS
.skip-link {
  position: absolute;
  top: -40px;
  left: 0;
  background: #000;
  color: #fff;
  padding: 8px;
}

.skip-link:focus {
  top: 0;
}

Pillar 3: ARIA Attributes

Only Use ARIA When Semantic HTML Isn't Enough

// ✅ Semantic HTML (no ARIA needed)
<button>Click me</button>

// ❌ Unnecessary ARIA
<button role="button" aria-label="Click me">Click me</button>

// ✅ ARIA needed (custom widget)
<div role="tab" aria-selected={isActive} aria-controls="panel-1">
  Tab 1
</div>

Common ARIA Attributes

aria-label - Provides accessible name:

<button aria-label="Close dialog">
  <XIcon /> {/* Visual only */}
</button>

<input type="search" aria-label="Search products" />

aria-labelledby - References another element:

<h2 id="dialog-title">Delete Account</h2>
<div role="dialog" aria-labelledby="dialog-title">
  {/* Dialog content */}
</div>

aria-describedby - Additional description:

<input
  type="password"
  aria-describedby="password-requirements"
/>
<div id="password-requirements">
  Must be at least 8 characters
</div>

aria-live - Announce dynamic content:

// Polite: Wait for user to finish
<div aria-live="polite">
  {itemsAddedToCart} items added to cart
</div>

// Assertive: Interrupt immediately (use sparingly)
<div aria-live="assertive" role="alert">
  Error: Payment failed
</div>

aria-expanded - Collapsible content:

<button
  aria-expanded={isOpen}
  aria-controls="dropdown-menu"
  onClick={() => setIsOpen(!isOpen)}
>
  Menu
</button>

<div id="dropdown-menu" hidden={!isOpen}>
  {/* Menu items */}
</div>

aria-hidden - Hide from screen readers:

// Decorative icons
<span aria-hidden="true">★</span>

// Don't hide interactive elements!
// ❌ Bad
<button aria-hidden="true">Click me</button>

Pillar 4: Forms & Inputs

Labels

// ✅ Good: Explicit label
<label htmlFor="email">Email</label>
<input id="email" type="email" />

// ✅ Good: Implicit label
<label>
  Email
  <input type="email" />
</label>

// ❌ Bad: No label (placeholder is not a label!)
<input type="email" placeholder="Email" />

Error Messages

function EmailInput({ error }) {
  const errorId = 'email-error'

  return (
    <>
      <label htmlFor="email">Email</label>
      <input
        id="email"
        type="email"
        aria-invalid={!!error}
        aria-describedby={error ? errorId : undefined}
      />
      {error && (
        <div id={errorId} role="alert">
          {error}
        </div>
      )}
    </>
  )
}

Required Fields

<label htmlFor="name">
  Name <span aria-label="required">*</span>
</label>
<input id="name" type="text" required aria-required="true" />

Pillar 5: Color & Contrast

Minimum Contrast Ratios (WCAG AA)

Normal text (< 18pt): 4.5:1
Large text (≥ 18pt or 14pt bold): 3:1
UI components: 3:1

// ❌ Bad: Insufficient contrast
<button style={{ background: '#ddd', color: '#aaa' }}>
  Submit // 1.5:1 contrast - fails!
</button>

// ✅ Good: Sufficient contrast
<button style={{ background: '#0066cc', color: '#ffffff' }}>
  Submit // 8:1 contrast - passes!
</button>

Don't Use Color Alone

// ❌ Bad: Color only
<span style={{ color: 'red' }}>Error</span>
<span style={{ color: 'green' }}>Success</span>

// ✅ Good: Color + icon/text
<span style={{ color: 'red' }}>
  <ErrorIcon aria-hidden="true" />
  Error
</span>

Pillar 6: Images & Media

Alt Text

// ✅ Informative images
<img src="chart.png" alt="Sales increased 50% in Q4" />

// ✅ Decorative images
<img src="decorative-border.png" alt="" /> // Empty alt

// ❌ Bad: No alt or redundant alt
<img src="photo.jpg" /> // Missing alt
<img src="photo.jpg" alt="Photo" /> // Useless

Complex Images

<figure>
  <img src="complex-chart.png" alt="Sales data for 2024" />
  <figcaption>
    <details>
      <summary>Detailed description</summary>
      <p>Q1: $100k, Q2: $150k, Q3: $180k, Q4: $220k. Shows 50% growth year-over-year.</p>
    </details>
  </figcaption>
</figure>

Video Captions

<video controls>
  <source src="video.mp4" type="video/mp4" />
  <track kind="captions" src="captions.vtt" srclang="en" label="English" default />
</video>

Pillar 7: Testing

Automated Testing

# Lighthouse accessibility audit
lighthouse https://example.com --only-categories=accessibility

# axe-core (Jest)
npm install --save-dev @axe-core/react jest-axe

// Test with jest-axe
import { axe, toHaveNoViolations } from 'jest-axe'

expect.extend(toHaveNoViolations)

it('has no accessibility violations', async () => {
  const { container } = render(<Button>Click me</Button>)
  const results = await axe(container)

  expect(results).toHaveNoViolations()
})

Manual Testing

Keyboard Navigation:

Tab through entire page
Enter/Space to activate buttons
Arrow keys for radio groups
Esc to close modals

Screen Reader Testing:

NVDA (Windows, free)
JAWS (Windows, paid)
VoiceOver (Mac, built-in)

Screen Reader Shortcuts:

Navigate by headings: H (next), Shift+H (previous)
Navigate by landmarks: D (next), Shift+D (previous)
List all links: Insert+F7 (NVDA)

Common Patterns

Accessible Button

<button
  type="button"
  onClick={handleClick}
  disabled={isDisabled}
  aria-busy={isLoading}
  aria-label={ariaLabel}
>
  {children}
</button>

Accessible Modal

<div
  role="dialog"
  aria-modal="true"
  aria-labelledby="dialog-title"
  aria-describedby="dialog-description"
>
  <h2 id="dialog-title">Dialog Title</h2>
  <p id="dialog-description">Dialog description</p>

  <button onClick={onClose}>Close</button>
</div>

Accessible Tabs

<div>
  <div role="tablist">
    <button
      role="tab"
      aria-selected={activeTab === 'tab1'}
      aria-controls="panel1"
      onClick={() => setActiveTab('tab1')}
    >
      Tab 1
    </button>
    <button
      role="tab"
      aria-selected={activeTab === 'tab2'}
      aria-controls="panel2"
      onClick={() => setActiveTab('tab2')}
    >
      Tab 2
    </button>
  </div>

  <div id="panel1" role="tabpanel" hidden={activeTab !== 'tab1'}>
    Panel 1 content
  </div>

  <div id="panel2" role="tabpanel" hidden={activeTab !== 'tab2'}>
    Panel 2 content
  </div>
</div>

Accessibility Checklist

Semantic HTML

Proper heading hierarchy (h1 → h2 → h3)
Semantic landmarks (header, nav, main, footer)
Lists use ul/ol/li
Buttons for actions, links for navigation

Keyboard

ARIA

Semantic HTML used first (ARIA only when needed)
All interactive widgets have roles
Dynamic content has aria-live
Forms have proper labels and descriptions

Color & Contrast

Text contrast ≥ 4.5:1 (normal), ≥ 3:1 (large)
Don't use color alone to convey info
Focus indicators visible

Images & Media

All images have alt text
Decorative images have empty alt
Videos have captions
Audio has transcripts

Forms

All inputs have labels
Error messages associated with inputs
Required fields indicated

Testing

Keyboard navigation tested
Screen reader tested
Automated tools run (axe, Lighthouse)
Color blindness simulation tested

Tools

axe DevTools - Browser extension
Lighthouse - Built into Chrome DevTools
WAVE - Web accessibility evaluation tool
Color Contrast Analyzer - Desktop app
NVDA - Free screen reader (Windows)
VoiceOver - Built-in screen reader (Mac)

Related Resources

Skills:

ux-designer - Accessible design patterns
frontend-builder - Accessible React components
testing-strategist - Accessibility testing

External:

Build for everyone. ♿