
Ask HN: How can I learn to make accessible websites/apps - conradludgate
I&#x27;m not a front end developer at the moment, but I used to be and I remember having someone ask me about the accessibility of our platform.<p>So I&#x27;m curious what tools&#x2F;tutorials&#x2F;guides there are to simulate how some people view the apps I make and so I can learn what makes an app accessible and what makes it inaccessible.<p>Thanks
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hackermailman
I went through examples of one of those government accessible 'design systems'
like [https://www.digital.govt.nz/standards-and-guidance/design-
an...](https://www.digital.govt.nz/standards-and-guidance/design-and-
ux/accessibility/) or
[https://designsystem.gov.au/](https://designsystem.gov.au/) and the WCAG 2.1
spec. There's probably better accessibility tests out there but I've used this
[https://wave.webaim.org/](https://wave.webaim.org/) which also has a browser
plugin

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LukeBMM
There's some really good resources already listed, so I thought I'd add two
broad concepts to consider.

1\. There isn't a clear distinction between accessible and inaccessible. It's
a spectrum - much like you can never truly make something completely "secure",
but can only ever make it "_more_ secure". You can't just sprinkle
accessibility on top at the end of a project and there's no single point at
which you've gone from inaccessible to accessible. Your last line makes it
sound as though you already have this in mind, but just highlighting it.

2\. Things are accessible by default. Every thing you change potentially has
ramifications. This starts with the obvious things like color contrast,
typography, etc. but becomes very important as you start getting into
behavior. Keyboard navigation is one key example which is vital for many folks
with motor or visual impairments and often serves as a handy sniff test for
"have I accidentally broken the thing that was automatically accessible by
default?".

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[1] You could reach a point at which you've ensured you've met or exceeded
every WCAG criteria for a given conformance level, but that's not quite
identical to to the goal of "completing accessibility".

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twunde
I'd take a look at
[https://github.com/brunopulis/awesome-a11y](https://github.com/brunopulis/awesome-a11y)
as a starting point. In particular take a look at the Tools section to do some
simulation as well as the Development Testing and Validators for more
practical tool usage that you could add to your workflow.

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giantg2
If using Android, the documentation site should have a user guide on
accessibility best practices. It will have specific examples for Android code.
I found it very useful when creating my apps.

