Photo: Francis Clarke for Wikimedia

The tweet that started it all

i'm curious to know: if you have a disability, what's the hardest thing about browsing the web? rt for visibility, please and thanks! — Safia Abdalla (@captainsafia) June 3, 2017

In this article I’ll summarize and group the main topics that people bring up in the thread.

But do click on the tweet and read through all the answers. It’s an awesome read for anyone interested in making the web a better place for all. And, in my opinion, a far better place to learn about accessibility than reading any checklist or standard.

Lack of captions

Videos without captions (subtitles) was by far the obstacle that most people commented on. Here is what a few had to say:

Being deaf, got to say captioning videos is number one issue for me — Jay Jackson (@jjackson) 4 juni 2017

Video/audio with no captioning or transcript. — Katelyn Reilly (@k_hack) 4 juni 2017

I’m hard of hearing so big pain for me is video with no captions. tweet or article just says “can u believe he said this?” & no summary — Carol Carpenter (@carolmcarpenter) 3 juni 2017

Also, my sister says that she hates it when she comes across videos that are not closed captioned. She’s Deaf. — Erica Boleyn (@radcrochetqueer) 3 juni 2017

Non-existing captions is something that can completely exclude users who are deaf or hard of hearing. But it affects many others as well. Anyone on the bus who forgot their headphones. Or some autistic users:

I’m Autistic and when I get overloaded, it’s harder to process auditory input. Especially if the person talking is offscreen or something — act up, fight back (@UntoNuggan) 3 juni 2017



Many are hoping that automatic captioning solves this problem. But alas, not yet!

Not really YouTube’s auto subtitling is not accurate enough. — Robin (@tohereknowswhe) 3 juni 2017



And the auto-captioning feature sadly isn’t available for most languages. So it’s still up to the video creators to caption.

Motion, animations and cluttered pages

Motion and animation can be annoying to anyone, but is extra frustrating to many users with cognitive impairments:

ADHD: If there’s a “subtle” animation always running, I cannot focus. Biggest offender: https://t.co/KgfCA4a7lB‘s header gradient — Taylor Hunt (@tigt_) 3 juni 2017

Assuming ADHD counts, it’s hard to locate content on overly busy pages and animations are a nightmare of distraction. #clickthemonkey — mkb (@mojinations) 4 juni 2017

related, I’m also autistic and can get frustrated with, or repelled by, glitzy mouseover effects/animations, sudden autoplay, etc. — back at the holler (@elementnumber46) 3 juni 2017

Do your users a favor by not distracting them with autoplaying videos, advertisements or image carousels.

Wall of text

Many replies, especially from people with dyslexia or cognitive impairments, were about large chunks of text.

Dyslexic – not really seen as a disability, but large walls of text is painful.

Also never ending sentences and over complicated language. — Mustafa Kurtuldu (@Mustafa_x) 3 juni 2017

When ppl type large blocks of text w/ no spaces added — Dead Ass (@MeBeShe4815) 3 juni 2017

Huge paragraphs. A page on Wikipedia often consists of many long paragraphs with long sentences. I lose my place within seconds. — Ava Jarvis Art (@AvaJarvisArt) 3 juni 2017

ADHD + large, uninterrupted blocks of text or small bits of animation not part of the main content of a page — back at the holler (@elementnumber46) 3 juni 2017

Large paragraphs, too many moving images, too much content as videos (especially help files), no subtitles, pages with too much going on. — Polenth Blake (@Polenth) 3 juni 2017

The solution is so simple. Just create more paragraphs and sub-headings! And throw in more bullet-lists. Voilà!

Small font size

Amazingly there’s no minimum font size requirement in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Even though it affects so many low-vision users.

Nearly blind in my left eye. Tiny, thin font with low contrast to the background — ⚡️Andrew So⚡️ (@AndrewDixonSo) 3 juni 2017

Fonts are often too small and sites break when I increase font sizes. — Brandon Savage (@brandonsavage) 3 juni 2017

Tiny font size and certain animations. — Morgan Estes (@morganestes) 3 juni 2017

Zooming problems

Some users with low vision point to layout and navigation problems when zooming or increasing font-size.

My daughter has low vision and has to use 300-500% magnification. Many web sites are hard to navigate at this level — Kir Kolyshkin (@kolyshkin) 3 juni 2017

Neurological vision problems due to CFS/ME. Small fonts, I browse everything with fonts enlarged, but sometimes it screws up the layout. — Maija Haavisto (@DiamonDie) 3 juni 2017

for visually challenged, it is understanding the layout — VAMSI KRISHNA (@VamsiJKrishna) 3 juni 2017

Low contrasts and image of text

One of the cornerstones of accessibility, color contrast, is still a major problem in a lot of interfaces.

Lack of contrast between font color and background color. Photo backgrounds that overpower the text on top of them. — Megan Lynch (@may_gun) 4 juni 2017

Text rendered as graphics instead of text with no alt tags, no image description. From websites to memes. — Megan Lynch (@may_gun) 4 juni 2017

That’s definitely lack of contrasts in colors — charles dominic (@gamescharlie79) 3 juni 2017

So it is vital for web designers and art directors to understand how to measure and create accessible color schemes. Check out our list of seven great, free color contrasts tools.

Bright color schemes

Bright color schemes can be a big problem for users with low vision and is something that gets too little focus in accessibility discussions. It was interesting how many commented on it in the thread, and the different strategies they had to get around the problem:

(cont) so this is fairly simple but I really appreciate the “night” modes that some things have. Less eye strain that way. — Callie 🌈 (@cxllielayne) 4 juni 2017

re: frequent & debilitating migraines, so many sites are coded with light color scheme&I can’t use them even w/ sunglasses on & monitors dim — Pyrrh-T900XV1 (@xpyrrh) 3 juni 2017

I need to be able to get the article onto my Kindle Oasis to avoid backlight. I’ve also found the reader feature to be hit-and-miss. — Kal Cobalt (@kalcobalt) 4 juni 2017

Relying only on color

This is also a cornerstone of accessibility that so many miss.

Colourblind. Text on background is usually fine, but things like colour-coded toggles, heatmaps, etc can be hard. — Dan 🇪🇺 (@phrawzty) 4 juni 2017

It’s really easy to test, just view your site in greyscale. Here’s an example of a toggle that’s really difficult to understand when you take colors away. Which one is on and which one is off?