🤷‍♂️ W1y d2s a11y h2e to be so b4y c9d a1d i10e? 👿
Tags: discuss, a11y, watercooler, codenewbie
Published: 2021-05-01 19:49:02

A short and simple post today, I want to know whether people agree or disagree with me on the sentiment of my question: **why does accessibility have to be so bloody complicated and inaccessible?** (W1y d2s a11y h2e to be so b4y c9d a1d i10e).

I especially want to hear from people who are new to development. Have you come across accessibility yet? Do you find it confusing? etc.

## Start of my rant!
I mean accessibility (ensuring end products are usable by people with disabilities) isn't actually that difficult, it requires a breadth of knowledge but things are actually pretty easy once you understand them.

But...between using the least accessible way possible to describe the practice, (the [numeronym](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numeronym) a11y instead of just "accessibility") through to the horrendous task of trying to understand the [Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)](https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/) why do we make it so difficult? 

And if you don't think WCAG is hard to understand then see this answer I gave on StackOverflow to the simple question:

> **"Does using a placeholder as a label comply with WCAG 2?"**

{% stackoverflow 64435051 %} 

**It shouldn't have taken me 1500 words to answer that question, the answer should be simple.** 

---

**No.**

---

(ironically I landed on "technically yes" which is unreal, read it and see if you agree!)

## The basics are easy but we over complicate things!

I mean here is all you need to know to solve 90% of accessibility issues I see every day:

1. Use semantic elements such as `<nav>`, `<main>` etc.
2. Add `alt` attributes to images that describe the image in context.
3. Add properly associated labels to forms
4. Don't skip heading levels on a page.
5. Don't use poor contrasting colours - use a [contrast checker](https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/)

That is it! If you somehow manage to do those 5 items your site / web app / app will be 90% accessible. 

If you are new to development then learning those 5 things will make you a better developer (in my eyes) than many "senior" devs who still use `<div>` soup to structure their documents! 

And the best thing? You can learn all 5 of them in less than a day!

I mean don't get me wrong, the final 10% does require a lot more knowledge, but that is all, knowledge. If the documentation was easier I am sure more people would look it up and implement it.

## Do you think we can do better?
So what do you think? Confused by [WAI-ARIA](https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/aria/), [WCAG](https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/), [ATAG](https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/atag/), [VPAT](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntary_Product_Accessibility_Template) etc? I know that even now I can really get bogged down in everything, I hate to think what people just starting out learning about accessibility feel!

I am hoping WCAG 3.0 (formerly WCAG project Silver) will fix a lot of these issues but that is over 8 years away before it becomes the standard according to current plans! 

> "WCAG 3 is not expected to be a completed W3C standard for a few more years. WCAG 3 will not supersede WCAG 2, and WCAG 2 will not be deprecated, for at least several years after WCAG 3 is finalized." - [source WCAG 3.0 Introduction on W3](https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/wcag3-intro/#timeline) 

**So in the mean time I suppose what I am asking is:** what would you like to see / do you need that would make it easier for you to learn / implement accessibility?

Oh and what do you think about converting the tag `a11y` to `accessibility` and making them synonyms on dev.to?

I look forward to your thoughts and ideas! Any good ones I will turn into a post / series!

`/end rant` 😋

p.s. I really struggled to find a meaningful cover image for this article, anyone seen a better one I can use for inspiration that isn't using the stereotypical "person in wheelchair" to denote accessibility??

Edit: thanks to @devlorenzo for finding an image that helped me pick a better one! ❤️