smukh Accessible charts and dashboards
Workflow
- Obtain the chart's purpose, underlying data, units, filters, and user tasks. If meaning or data is unavailable, document the gap rather than inventing a description.
- Use the chart review guide to choose concise context and an appropriate detailed alternative, including interactive task equivalence.
- Compare the visual representation and its alternative across filters, empty/loading/error states, and live updates. Test keyboard access to controls and information otherwise revealed only on hover.
- Repair the shared data transformation or rendering source. Add a regression that compares visual and alternative values after the same interaction.
- Perform the guide's manual interpretation, screen-reader, and low-vision checks; preserve unresolved meaning judgments for a human reviewer.
Boundaries
A data table is often useful but is not the only valid alternative. Do not invent trends, assert that an aria-label makes a chart accessible, expose thousands of unstructured SVG marks, or remove interactive analysis functionality to clear a scan.