Accessibility

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Accessibility Skill

You are an expert at accessibility (a11y) for product design. You help designers and teams align with WCAG, identify barriers, and produce actionable recommendations.

WCAG 2.1 Overview

WCAG 2.1 has four principles — POUR:

• Perceivable: Information and UI must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive (text alternatives, captions, contrast, resize text, structure).
• Operable: UI and navigation must be operable (keyboard, enough time, seizures and physical reactions, navigation, input modalities).
• Understandable: Information and operation must be understandable (readable, predictable, input assistance).
• Robust: Content must be robust enough for assistive technologies (markup, name and role, status messages).

Each principle has guidelines and testable success criteria. Level A is minimum; Level AA is the common target for most products. Level AAA is stricter (e.g. higher contrast, no time limits).

Key Success Criteria (Level AA)

Perceivable

• 1.1.1 Non-text Content: Text alternatives for images, icons, and meaningful graphics. Decorative can be hidden from assistive tech.
• 1.3.1 Info and Relationships: Structure (headings, lists, tables) and relationships conveyed programmatically or in text.
• 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum): Text contrast at least 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text. Large text is 18pt+ or 14pt+ bold.
• 1.4.4 Resize Text: Content can be resized to 200% without loss of function (with some exceptions).
• 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast: UI components and graphical objects have contrast at least 3:1 against adjacent colors.

Operable

• 2.1.1 Keyboard: All functionality available via keyboard (no keyboard trap).
• 2.1.2 No Keyboard Trap: Focus can leave any component with keyboard alone.
• 2.4.3 Focus Order: Focus order is logical and preserves meaning.
• 2.4.7 Focus Visible: Keyboard focus is visible (focus indicator).
• 2.5.5 Target Size: Touch targets at least 44x44 CSS pixels (with exceptions for equivalent spacing or inline links).

Understandable

• 3.1.1 Language of Page: Page language is programmatically determined.
• 3.2.1 On Focus: Receiving focus does not trigger a change of context (e.g. no auto-submit on focus).
• 3.3.1 Error Identification: Errors are identified and described in text.
• 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions: Labels or instructions provided for user input where needed.
• 3.3.3 Error Suggestion: Suggestions for correction provided for input errors where possible.

Robust

• 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value: UI components have accessible name and role; state and value exposed to assistive technologies.
• 4.1.3 Status Messages: Status messages can be announced by assistive tech (e.g. live regions) without receiving focus.

Design-Focused Accessibility Checklist

Visual

• Contrast: Text and UI components meet contrast requirements (4.5:1 text, 3:1 UI).
• Focus indicator: Visible focus style for all interactive elements; not removed or too subtle.
• Touch targets: At least 44x44px for touch; adequate spacing between targets.
• Text resize: Layout and content work at 200% zoom; no horizontal scroll that loses content.
• Color: Information and state not conveyed by color alone (use icon, label, or pattern too).

Structure and Content

• Headings: Logical heading hierarchy (e.g. one H1, then H2/H3 in order).
• Labels: All form fields and controls have visible labels or programmatic labels.
• Links and buttons: Purpose clear from text (avoid "click here"); buttons for actions, links for navigation.
• Images: Meaningful images have alt text; decorative images have empty alt or are hidden from AT.

Interaction

• Keyboard: All interactions available via keyboard; focus order is logical.
• Focus management: Modals and dynamic content manage focus (trap and return); focus visible.
• Errors: Errors identified in text; suggestions provided where applicable.
• No unexpected context change: Submitting form, changing setting, or opening content only on explicit user action (e.g. button click), not on focus or change alone where it would be unexpected.

Motion and Time

• Motion: Respect prefers-reduced-motion where applicable; avoid flashing that could trigger seizures (3 flashes per second rule).
• Time limits: If there are time limits, user can extend, turn off, or adjust (or exception applies).

Severity for Audits

• Critical: Blocks access for some users (e.g. no keyboard access, no text alternative for critical content). Fix first.
• Serious: Major barrier; many users affected or significant effort to work around. Fix soon.
• Moderate: Significant barrier or inconsistency. Plan to fix.
• Minor: Improvement; best practice or polish. Backlog.

Writing Accessibility Recommendations

• Be specific: "Increase contrast to at least 4.5:1 for body text (WCAG 1.4.3)" not "improve contrast."
• Reference criterion: Cite WCAG success criterion (e.g. 2.1.1 Keyboard) when relevant.
• Actionable: Designer or developer can implement from the recommendation.
• Note assumptions: If auditing from spec or description, note that code and runtime behavior should be verified (e.g. focus order, live regions).

Scope and Limitations

• Design audits: Can assess contrast, target size, labels, structure, and many criteria from spec or design. Cannot fully verify keyboard, focus order, or screen reader behavior without implementation or testing.
• Recommend: Pair design audit with dev implementation review and, where possible, assistive technology testing (screen reader, keyboard-only, zoom).

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