Digital accessibility watch February-March 2025

Hello, on the occasion of a celebration celebrating the 20th anniversary of the French 2005 law, the beginning of the implementation of digital accessibility (fr, https://www.lalutineduweb.fr/loi-accessibilite-numerique-20-ans/), even if it's not moving very quickly, happy birthday!
We're finally moving on to the official translation of WCAG 2.2 into French, (fr) https://www.w3.org/Translations/WCAG22-fr/, good news.
With the arrival of the EAA, I thought that salaries in a11y were sure to improve, at least in Europe, and cause a shortage of professionals. Here's a way to compare https://webaim.org/projects/salary/.
A reflection on the A11y expert job (https://blog.hello-bokeh.fr/2025/01/07/accessibility-operations-reflexions-sur-le-metier/) following reading Devon Persing's The Accessibility Operations Guidebook, which echoes my concerns. It makes me want to read it...

Accessibility in laws, standards, and recommendations #

• Commentary on the official translation of WCAG 2.2 into French (fr): https://access42.net/publication-traduction-francais-wcag-2-2/
• A draft of the WAI "Accessibility of Machine Learning and Generative AI": https://raw.githack.com/w3c/ai-accessibility/FPWD-ai-accessbility/index.html
• EAA (European Accessibility Act) in detail: https://tetralogical.com/blog/2025/03/19/understanding-the-eaa/
• EAA explained, even better: https://digitalaccessibilitycentre.org/blogs/NewEAA-20241217.html
• EAA requirements, including EN301549, by technology and by disability: https://digitalaccessibilitycentre.org/blogs/EN-301-549-Requirements.html
• France's report for the WAD (Web Accessibility Directive): (fr) https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/redirection/document/113780, https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/dae/redirection/document/113781
• Call for comments on the Accessibility Roles and Responsibilities Mapping (ARRM) draft: https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-wai-announce/2025JanMar/0001.html
• The ARRM draft: https://www.w3.org/WAI/planning/arrm/

Accessibility Implementation Strategy #

• E-commerce and A11y: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/e-commerce-et-accessibilité-numérique-ce-que-prévoit-la-directive/
• An uncommon type of digital disability and how to do things well: https://www.tpgi.com/an-aura-of-accessibility/
• Collaborative approach to A11y: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/accessibility-blame-game-fallacy-lazy-developer-jason-day-gzhfe/
• Clear responsibilities: https://cerovac.com/a11y/2025/03/accessibility-requires-clear-responsabilités-or-it-will-fail/
• A11y for autism, ADHD, and dyslexia: https://intopia.digital/articles/making-digital-spaces-more-inclusive/

Testing accessibility #

• Automatable or not for all WCAG criteria, a quick overview: https://html5accessibility.com/stuff/2025/03/27/mind-the-wcag-automation-gap/
• A brief overview of WCAG criteria that can be automatically tested (spoiler: there aren't many): https://html5accessibility.com/stuff/2025/03/24/a-tools-errand/
• Feedback from A. Roselli on "A11y will soon be fully testable by AI" at the AxeCon, not so sure about that: https://adrianroselli.com/2025/03/be-wary-of-accessibility-guarantees-from-anyone.html
• Eric Eggert explains why his values ​​(and ours) contradict companies selling dreams via AI: https://yatil.net/blog/values
• A "how-to" on testing A11y, well done: https://www.a11y-collective.com/blog/how-to-check-web-accessibility/
• The crucial aspect of user testing in A11y, to read: https://nicolas-steenhout.com/usability-testing-is-critical/
• What automated testing tools do and don't: https://www.a11yproject.com/posts/automated-tools-can-ensure-full-accessibility-compliance/
• FAQ on A11y user testing (UX search): https://makeitfable.com/article/accessibility-research-faqs/
• User testing and A11y, it's essential: https://nicolas-steenhout.com/usability-testing-is-critical/
• "WCAG SC 2.5.2 Pointer Cancellation" testing with a bookmarklet (fr): https://www.temesis.com/blog/pointer-cancellation-inspector-un-outil-pour-verifier-l-application-de-wcag-2-5-2-rgaa-13-11/
• Functional tests for a progressive implementation of A11Y: https://assistivlabs.com/articles/end-to-end-testing-and-continuous-accessibility
• A bookmarklet for testing "WCAG SC 1.3.5 Identifying the input objective", very useful: https://github.com/MewenLeHo/detectAutocomplete

Technical points #

• Cascading problems during a responsive reflow, some tips: https://adrianroselli.com/2025/02/1-4-10-adversarial-conformance.html
• A quick look at skip links: https://www.tempertemper.net/blog/skip-links-what-why-and-how
• Accessible star rating, the basics: https://netzartist.de/notes/accessible-rating-stars/
• Popover and a11y, where are we?: https://www.scottohara.me/blog/2025/03/14/popovers.html
• Form and A11y, some points: https://blog.pope.tech/2023/09/26/form-accessibility-and-usability-beyond-the-basics/
• Update of the visually-hidden CSS class for accessible hiding (fr): https://www.ffoodd.fr/masquage-accessible-de-pointe/
• Keyboard and navigation menu: https://www.tempertemper.net/blog/how-navigation-should-work-for-keyboard-users
• Keyboard and button group navigation: https://www.tempertemper.net/blog/how-button-groups-should-work-for-keyboard-users
• Tutorial for creating an accessible burger button for mobile web (fr): https://ideance.net/blog/3025/creer-un-bouton-menu-hamburger-accessible/

Feedback #

• A story from a blind web user: https://www.iamtamara.design/fr/blog/aveugle-internet
• Report on the 2022-2024 UK government websites (A11Y), interesting: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/accessibility-monitoring-of-public-sector-websites-and-mobile-apps-from-2022-to-2024/
• The role=tooltip, yes, but for non-essential content: https://www.tpgi.com/tooltips-are-presentational/

Mobile app, mobile web #

• State of accessibility Mobile Apps in 2025, a look back at one of the presentations from axe-con 2025: https://youtu.be/RCVIOPTx7GM
• Another conference from axe-con 2025, on the work of the "Mobile Accessibility Task Force" within the W3C-WAI: https://youtu.be/v7cn-JG__Sg
• Abra Academy offers a 45-minute online course on iOS and Android accessibility, a simple and effective way to get to grips with the subject: https://academy.abra.ai/courses/kick-off
• Our friends at Temesis have given us an article on accessible development on Flutter## Assistive technologies## Assistive technologies (fr): https://www.temesis.com/blog/ameliorer-laccessibilite-de-vos-applications-flutter/
• Mobile accessibility experts, you'll struggle (a little) less. Thank you, Luxembourg, for this welcome update: https://accessibilite.public.lu/fr/news/2025-02-20-RAAM1.1
• Android's "Expressive Captions" feature uses artificial intelligence to add emotion to captions: https://blog.google/products/android/google-android-expressive-captions/
• Tutorials for creating accessible apps on Apple platforms, cool: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuw8_F_SfjQZiNRa4Gjl_mEy9OVl71d5H
• New Eye Tracking feature on iPhone (iOS 18) and iPad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QquF_QqsdE

Assistive technologies #

• Reading of special characters by ATs: https://www.elevenways.be/en/articles/screenreaders-special-characters
• How to use aria-describedby: https://www.a11y-collective.com/blog/aria-describedby/
• An interesting point of view, don't use screen readers for testing: https://www.erikkroes.nl/blog/dont-test-accessibility-with-a-screen-reader/

Ergonomics, UI & UX #

• Figma and a11y, some tips: https://www.alsacreations.com/article/lire/1939-Priorite-a-l-accessibilite--pour-des-maquettes-inclusives.html
• Design for cognitive disabilities: https://www.a11y-collective.com/blog/cognitive-accessibility/
• A text label instead of an icon: https://www.chrbutler.com/in-defense-of-text-labels
• And another article on this icon/text topic: https://webdesignerdepot.com/why-icon-only-design-is-failing-users-the-case-for-text-labels/

AI #

• General considerations on AI and alt text for images, to read: https://equalentry.com/alt-text-accessibility-ai/
• Still on AI and alt text, comparative tests: https://tetralogical.com/blog/2025/03/24/can-generative-ai-write-contextual-text-descriptions/
• CSUN ATC 2025 slides on AI and images: https://fr.slideshare.net/slideshow/verbose-ai_-the-accessibility-challenge-1-pptx/276534405
• A perspective on AI and a11y: https://karlgroves.com/ai-is-the-future-of-accessibility/
• Léonie Watson's conference on AI, always relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij-GLix2QUQm
• Testing 12 GenAI for alternative texts in images: https://dri.es/comparing-local-llms-for-alt-text-generation

Resources #

• S. Walter, a great accessible UI and UX designer, explains how to do it right during the design phase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2juq00vrvl0
• Smashing Magazine and a11y, some great videos: https://css-tricks.com/smashing-meets-accessibility/
• A recap of the CSUN Assistive Technology Conference 2025: https://adrianroselli.com/2025/03/csunatc-2025-recap.html
• Many other recaps of the CSUN ATC 2025: https://www.webaxe.org/csun-2025-reviews/
• CSUN 2025 Resource Lists: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OqmkBLPSfPDtRq_pMWcKcVCCWpfvwdeXHDtM7xk0ZHM/edit?gid=80757841#gid=80757841
• Eric Eggert offers us a random, fun W3C-WAI resource per day: https://yatil.net/blog/wai-a-day
• WCAG with a Pokémon twist, catch 'em all!: https://a11ynews.substack.com/p/the-pokedex-of-accessibility
• A nice list of lots of PDF tools, open-source, paid, free, etc. Always good to know: https://pdfa.org/tools-for-accessible-pdf/

Other #

• A new type of open-source captcha announced as WCAG 2.2 compliant, let's have a look: https://altcha.org/
• The 5 C's of A11Y: https://buttondown.com/access-ability/archive/63507476the-five-cs-of-accessibility/
• Accessible games library: https://abletoplay.com