Manuel Matuzović

I'm speaking at Smashing Conf Amsterdam in about two weeks. In my talk I'm sharing accessibility tips, but not the typical "use alt" or "use a button" stuff. I'm trying to share useful but uncommon advice.

What's something you would share, that I can steal and use in my talk? 😁

Apr 3 at 7:18amWeb
Show threadReimarApr 3
@matuzo I read somewhere on Mastodon (but cannot find it) that someone said some people advice to convince stakeholders to implement better accessibility by telling them it helps with SEO (the typical „the largest group of blind website visitors are google’s crawlers), or these days, AI agents. However, that is dehumanizing since we wish to care about humans, not bots. I found that really interesting, dunno if it helps : )
Show threadTerence EdenApr 3
@matuzo use Lynx or another text based browser to see how easy it is to navigate by keyboard (and check alt text etc).
CSS saturation to greyscale to see how important colour is to your navigation.
Show threadBianca KastlApr 3
@matuzo specific domains like security, accessibility and maintainability of software products are like investments or insurances. The earlier you invest in them the more you gain from them. If you don’t have any of them you will have to pay the price sometimes in the future. Be it via horrendous costs in an emergency or for further development or because you are obliged by law to deliver specific requirements in that domain.
Show threadJeremy KeithApr 3

@matuzo Okay, this one will blow. Your. MIND!:

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A button is not a div.

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Bonus:

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Put underlines on links.

Show thread✅ Evert AlbersApr 3
@matuzo In NL some webshops were fined recently because of poor a11y. One could argue this is unfair because they already missed a significant amount of turnover. 🤔
Show threadDavid O'BrienApr 3

Specify language.

On the <html> element, but also anywhere you use or link to another language.

@matuzo

Show threadKilian ValkhofApr 3

@matuzo if you have an image in a link, then the alt text of the image serves the dual purpose of describing the image and being the accessible text of the link, so should make it clear where the link goes.

This is in response to all the header logos that go the homepage with the accessible name "Logo of $company"

Show threadVasilisApr 3
@matuzo Accessibility is not the same as usability. And according to european law websites must not only be accessible, they must also be usable.
Show threadKilian ValkhofApr 3
@vasilis @matuzo we need a WCUG.
Show threadVasilisApr 3
@Kilian @matuzo … which would probably end every guideline with “test with real people”
Show threadDavid O'BrienApr 3

On the "use a button" topic, this is a doozy.

https://racheleditullio.com/blog/2026/03/bad-example-timesheet-submit-button/

@matuzo

Show threadTyler StickaApr 3
@matuzo A lot of folks know they should use alternative text but aren’t sure what to write. This post by my colleague @spaceninja wrote seems to alleviate the pressure, I’ve shared it a zillion times (and not because I drew the feature image): https://cloudfour.com/thinks/write-alt-text-like-youre-talking-to-a-friend/
Write Alt Text Like You’re Talking To A Friend

“There was this dog wearing safety glasses, surrounded by chemistry equipment, saying ‘I have no idea what I’m doing.’”

Cloud Four
Show threadAmelia Bellamy-RoydsApr 3

@matuzo Design for people with short attention spans who easily get confused. That's a lot of us these days, but the strategies also help with people who literally cannot see the whole page at once (screen reader users, screen magnifier users).

So, break forms into short steps, but also make sure there is always enough context about what has already been filled out & what will be asked in a next step. Same with information content: keep it structured, with table of contents or breadcrumb links.

Show threadHeather Migliorisi2d ago

@matuzo - more of a don’t:

Lay off the aria if you don’t know what it is for realz because I’m seeing a lot of bad things compliments of aria-label, aria-hidden and improperly using menu/menu item … and my favorite find was role=app because …. it “made all the automated accessibility errors go away.”🫠