from Hacker News

1M homepages scanned, and 95% failed basic accessibility checks

by wgx on 5/6/24, 7:08 AM with 20 comments

  • by Y_Y on 5/6/24, 3:17 PM

    https://www.ada.gov/resources/web-guidance/ (for those of us from non-default countries please modify as apply)

    Why is it that you can get people to take the law seriously when it comes to ensuring there's a wheelchair ramp for a new building, but not for a comparatively simpler and cheaper thing like a website that a screen reader can use?

    I know that laws are slow to change and the changers of laws mostly treat computers with bewilderment and suspicion. I know that only thirty years ago the web really was the wild west whereas there have been building codes for thousands of years.

    What I don't understand is how there seems to be neither voluntary compliance not significant enforcement.

  • by superkuh on 5/6/24, 3:07 PM

    This would be drastically different pre-2010 before everything became a javascript application. Back then the majority of web sites and their pages actually contained text for readers to read. Nowadays everything is just unreadable javascript code that might execute and produce accessible text if all the stars are aligned.

    The web as a javascript application delivery system is the worst thing that has happened for accessibility in the last 30 years. But it sure does make it cheaper for companies/institutions to develop in teams and run. And they can even monetize the user this way.

  • by maxglute on 5/6/24, 4:45 PM

    Looking forward to AI assistant reformats websites into plain reading mode text.

  • by johncoltrane on 5/6/24, 7:15 AM

    Which is perfectly fine.