Web accessibility starts with the design
An accessible website is made up of more than clean, well-written HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Yes, the code behind the scenes is important. If it’s not written with accessibility in mind, chances are the site won’t be accessible.
However, the visual design of a site is just as important when it comes to making a site accessible. Things like proper content structure and colour contrast play a part in accessibility. And the best time to think about those elements is at the design stage – before any coder opens up a text editor.
To help make the process easier, the good folks over at WebAIM have put together a great infographic to help designers in the early stages of site planning. They also have a text version of the chart available on their site. Either way, it’s a handy checklist to have in your toolkit.
