Accessibility Best Practices

Hey everyone, I wanted to start a thread about making our web applications accessible to everyone. This is not just a compliance issue, but a fundamental part of good design. What are your go-to resources for learning about WCAG guidelines? I've found the WCAG 2.1 Quick Reference to be very helpful.

Some key areas I focus on are:

• Semantic HTML5 usage (e.g., <nav>, <article>, <aside>)
• ARIA attributes when semantic HTML isn't enough
• Keyboard navigation and focus management
• Sufficient color contrast
• Alt text for images

Great initiative, jsmith! For tools, I highly recommend the browser extensions like Axe DevTools and WAVE. They catch a lot of common issues automatically.

Also, don't forget about screen reader testing! Using NVDA (free) or JAWS (paid) on Windows, or VoiceOver on macOS/iOS, is crucial for understanding the user experience for visually impaired users.

Adding to that, a common pitfall is dynamic content updates. Ensure that when content changes on the page (e.g., error messages, search results), assistive technologies are notified. ARIA live regions are your friend here!

Example:

<div id="status-message" role="alert">Your form has been submitted successfully.</div>

The `role="alert"` makes sure screen readers announce this message promptly.