Coding for accessibility

Introduction

You should always write and test accessible code, even in prototypes.

Fixing accessibility issues later on can be very costly in both time and effort. Not considering accessibility when coding will increase your technical debt, and make it harder for people to use your app or service.

Learn web fundamentals

All front-end developers should build a good foundation of web fundamentals. The most important language to get right is HTML.

CSS and JavaScript should be learnt before composite libraries or frameworks like StencilJS and React.

Common accessibility issues are avoided by following HTML, CSS and JavaScript best practices.

Test whilst developing

Spotting and fixing accessibility issues early saves time later in the development lifecycle.

Use automated browser testing tools whilst developing, in code editors, linting and CI/CD workflows.

Keyboard-only testing should be done as often as possible, especially on significant changes.

Planning for full manual testing will help address any limitations of automated accessibility testing .

Using third-party libraries and frameworks

The Design System and its UI Kit includes automated, manual and user-led accessibility testing. We are confident our components and patterns exceed minimum accessibility standards.

Check whether other third-party external libraries you use have been tested. Consider if the vendor or community is performing enough accessibility testing.

References

The content in this section has been adapted from the following resources:

HTML Style Guide and Coding Conventions . W3Schools. Accessed 10 November 2021.
20 HTML Best Practices You Should Follow . WebFX. Accessed 10 November 2021.
10 HTML best practices for beginners . TBH Creative. Accessed 10 November 2021.
15 HTML Best Practices That Developers Should Know . Medium. Accessed 10 November 2021.
10 Best Practices for HTML . Medium. Accessed 10 November 2021.
30 HTML Best Practices for Beginners . Envato Tuts Plus. Accessed 10 November 2021.
HTML Best Practices . GitHub. Accessed 10 November 2021.
Writing Your Best Code, Learn to Code HTML & CSS . Shay Howe. Accessed 10 November 2021.
30 Best HTML5 Practices , Themelocation. Accessed 10 November 2021.
Best Practices in HTML that Web Developers Should Adopt . Aspiration Hosting. Accessed 10 November 2021.
Allow end-user styling overrides . DEV.to. Accessed 10 November 2021.

Last reviewed 15 November 2022 .