https://github.com/Heydon/inclusive-design-checklist

Aims to be the biggest checklist of inclusive design considerations ever

Inclusive Design Checklist

Aims to be the biggest checklist of inclusive design considerations ever. Includes items for accessibility, performance, device support, interoperability, and language. Pull requests welcome!

• Minify CSS and JS, and remove unused/redundant code
• Use screen reader and keyboard accessible HTML
• Compress raster images
• Optimize SVG path data
• Make sure heading levels describe a logical section/subsection structure
• Only include heading elements where they introduce sections of content
• Remove potentially insensitive or uninclusive language (use 'singular they')
• Give video content captions and transcripts
• Provide transcripts for audio content
• Make sure main body (paragraph) text is no smaller than the default (user agent) size
• Support 'pinch zoom' (remove user-scalable=no if present)
• Use relative units (em, rem, and ch), especially for font metrics
• Make sure styles and scripts are not render blocking
• Install a service worker and cache all applicable assets
• Use content-based, not device-specific, media queries
• Provide alternatives and/or descriptions for complex visualizations
• Include only clear, meaningful animations
• Honor requests to remove animation via the prefers-reduced-motion media query
• Make sure controls do not elicit unexpected or jarring behavior
• Do not include third parties that compromise user privacy
• Do not recreate supported and expected browser behaviors with bespoke scripts
• Support Windows high contrast mode (use images, not background images)
• Provide alternative text for salient images
• Apply alt="" or aria-hidden="true" to decorative images
• Make sure text and background colors contrast sufficiently
• Provide <title>s that name the site and the specific page
• Provide large touch 'targets' for interactive elements
• Use data tables (<table>) for data, not
• Make scrollable elements focusable for keyboard users
• Do not rely on color for differentiation of visual elements
• Use the same design patterns to solve the same problems
• Ensure keyboard focus order is logical regarding visual layout
• Lazy load large image assets
• Honour DNT (Do Not Track) header
• Translate / spell out acronyms the first time you use them
• Do not hijack standard scrolling behavior
• Move focus between dialogs and the controls that invoked them
• Give all form elements permanently visible labels
• Give grouped form elements group labels
• Provide status and error messages as WAI-ARIA live regions
• Provide clear, unambiguous focus styles
• Employ well-balanced, highly legible fonts (not too complex or elaborate)
• Do not use very thin font faces
• Ensure states (pressed, expanded, invalid, etc) are communicated to assistive software
• When component behaviour changes across breakpoints, ensure its presentation and state are described differently to assistive software
• Provide a default language and use lang="[ISO code]" for subsections in different languages
• Make controls look like controls; give them strong perceived affordance
• Underline links — at least in body copy
• Make sure all content belongs to a landmark element (<header>, <footer>, <nav>, <main>, etc)
• In visual designs, avoid pure white or pure black
• Mark invalid fields clearly and provide associated error messages
• Ensure content is not obscured through zooming (no fixed widths)
• Provide a manifest.json file for identifiable homescreen entries
• Indicate swipe gesture support clearly, and provide simple tap-based alternatives
• Make sure data tables wider than their container can be scrolled horizontally
• Avoid time constraints where possible; provide a clear warning and option to extend where not possible
• Label and describe the same things with the same terminology
• Ensure disabled controls are not focusable
• Do not instate 'infinite scroll' by default; provide buttons to load more items
• Avoid justified body text
• Provide enough spacing between lines of text (line-height)
• Ensure PDF content is accessible
• Provide a skip link if necessary
• Avoid all-caps text
• Ensure that content is written as clearly and simply as possible
• Provide descriptive captions for figures
• Warn users of links that have unusual behaviors, like linking off-site, or loading a new tab
• Make content easier to find and improve search results with structured data
• Use textual labels to make voice activation cues obvious
• Do not mark up subheadings/straplines with separate heading elements
• Ensure primary calls to action are easy to recognize and reach
• Avoid images of text — text that cannot be translated, selected, or understood by assistive tech
• Provide a print stylesheet (single column, with interactive content hidden)
• Use well-established, therefore recognizable, icons and symbols
• Subset fonts to just the characters you need