Articles by Hidde de Vries
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How accessibility trees inform assistive tech
The web was designed with built-in features to make accessibility possible; these have been part of the platform pretty much from the beginning. In recent times, inspectable accessibility trees have made it easier to see how things work in practice. In this post we look at how “good” client-side code (HTML, CSS and JavaScript) improves the experience for users of assistive technologies, and how developers can use accessibility trees to help verify that these users aren't left out.
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Indicating focus to improve accessibility
Focus indicators make the difference between day and night for people who rely on them. Focus is something that happens between the interactive elements on a page. In this post I will explain what we mean by focus, show you how focus outlines make your site easier to use for anyone who relies on the keyboard, and share examples of why it's a best practice to never remove them.