Accessibility: The Checks That Take Ten Minutes

Around one in six people has a disability that affects how they use the web. But the fixes are not special accommodations — bright text, clear contrast and sensible heading structure help everyone, and they are exactly the same things that make a page pleasant on a small screen in bad light. Accessibility work and good design are the same work.

• Contrast. If body text does not have a strong contrast ratio against its background, it is hard for everyone, especially outdoors on a phone.
• Readable text. Avoid long stretches of small, low-contrast body copy. If it is hard to read, it is hard for everybody.
• Alt text on meaningful images. Describe the information in the image, not its appearance — and leave decorative images empty so screen readers skip them.
• Keyboard operation. If you cannot tab through a page and use it without a mouse, neither can many people. Focus indicators must be visible.
• Real heading structure. Screen readers navigate by headings. Skipping levels, or using bold text as a heading, makes a page very hard to navigate.
• Labels on form inputs. A placeholder disappears the moment someone starts typing, which makes the field unlabeled for anyone still filling it in.

• Do not convey meaning by colour alone — add a label, an icon or a pattern as well.
• Link text should say where it goes. 'Click here' is unusable out of context, especially on a screen reader.
• Captions and transcripts for audio and video. Most people watch video without sound.
• Plain language helps everyone, and disproportionately helps people reading in a second language or under stress.