Learn Web Accessibility

Valid code syntactically is not enough for your users who are humans. Computers are enough with valid syntax, but humans are not.

You make websites for humans mainly. If people can not access your website, you fail—until you fix your website.

To know how to make an accessible website, you need to understand that web accessibility is for you in the end. For example, when you are outside, and the sun shines so brightly, ask yourself: can I read the text on my website in this situation? If you can not, other people may have the same problem.

Learning web accessibility makes you realize that all people can have temporary disabilities. Stress and anxiety are common feelings that people have when they fail repeatedly and have no idea how to fix problems. Developers and programmers should understand the feeling of helplessness. We do not want our users to get a weird error message when they fail to submit a form. We do not want them to suffer like us. So we translate computer errors into human-friendly messages. For example, the 404 error code can be translated to "Sorry, we can not find what you are looking for." This way, the users know that they have connected to your website, but they have visited a non-existent page. More importantly, they feel treated like humans.

In addition, the error message should be clear. You do not want to be overly verbose or be too friendly. For example, if the users must fill an input field, just tell them to fill the input. You do not need to make the error message conversational as if you are talking to your friends. A bad example is the following:

Hey bro/sis! You're gonna need to fill this. Cheers!

I am not going to tell you where I get that. Never.

The points of learning web accessibility are

• learning humans' weaknesses; and
• choosing simple solutions that work; and
• making mistakes as painless as possible; and
• being creative by providing alternatives; and
• being kind to others.

Learn web accessibility and be kind to your users.