5 questions about accessibility in front-end development

In our "5 questions about" series, our experts provide answers to important topics relating to OpenTalk, open source software, digital sovereignty and current industry trends.

This time with: Oleksii (Aljoscha) Sukhodolskyi. 

Oleksii (Aljoscha) Sukhodolskyi is a front-end developer at OpenTalk. As an advocate of clean code, he considers code reviews to be essential. He likes to look at OpenTalk from the user's perspective and likes to ask himself and others the question: What would the user say? He answers 5 questions about accessibility in front-end development:

Why is accessibility important in front-end development and what advantages does it offer for different user groups?

Accessibility in front-end development is crucial because the front-end is the interface with which all OpenTalk users come into direct contact. An illustrative example is accessibility in public transportation: as the father of a small child, I have come to appreciate the importance of elevators at train stations. Without an elevator, it is almost impossible to reach the train with a baby carriage. The situation is similar in the digital realm: barrier-free design in the front end allows us to give many more people access to our video conferencing and thus enable them to participate more in virtual life.

The following aspects of accessibility are particularly relevant for OpenTalk:

• Keyboard operation: Users who are unable to use a mouse due to illness must be able to access all elements of the app using the keyboard. Special keyboard patterns must also be taken into account.
• Restricted vision: There are different groups here:
  • People with defective vision: the app must look good and be operable even with a strong zoom, with colors, contrasts and focus playing an important role.
  • Blind people: They are dependent on screen readers, special software that reads out the screen content.

What are the best practices for implementing accessible user interfaces?

The implementation of accessible user interfaces begins with a well thought-out structure and a consistent design of the app. Important questions are, for example: Is it a collection of loose buttons or a clearly structured control bar? Can users get to important buttons quickly or do they first have to fight their way through many other elements?

A clean HTML structure and the use of appropriate HTML elements (semantic HTML) are crucial. Developers should also take the user's perspective into account by occasionally operating the app with the keyboard only or using a screen reader.

What basic principles and standards should developers follow when creating accessible video conferencing solutions?

The principles and standards for accessibility originally come from the area of classic websites. However, as web apps have a different structure and philosophy, it is sometimes difficult to adopt these rules 1:1. It is therefore important to have the software tested regularly by affected users and to obtain feedback in order to continuously improve accessibility.

What are the common challenges in implementing accessibility and how can they be overcome?

Some common challenges are:

• Lack of knowledge and experience: Accessibility is a relatively new topic in the industry. It helps to learn from accessibility experts and get their feedback.
• Complexity of screen reader use: There are many different screen readers, browsers and operating systems. In theory, a web app should work for all combinations, which is often not the case in practice. It is therefore important to focus on the most important combinations and test them thoroughly.
• Clean HTML structure: Dynamically generated HTML code can cause screen readers to read the content incorrectly. It is therefore sometimes necessary to revise and manually adjust the HTML structure to ensure that it is understandable for screen readers.

What else would you like to say about accessibility in front-end development?

A digital product that integrates accessibility gains in value. It's satisfying to know that we can make it accessible to more people. In addition, when I consider accessibility in my software, I become a better front-end developer. Accessibility is not only a benefit for users, but also for the quality of software development as a whole.