# Better accessibility

> Use when a project needs checking against accessibility standards and best practices.

Helps your project comply with accessibility standards and best practices.

## Facts

- Type: Agent skill
- Discipline: Design
- Author: Jakub Krehel (https://github.com/jakubkrehel)
- Upstream: https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/skills/better-accessibility/SKILL.md
- Source file: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jakubkrehel/skills/main/skills/better-accessibility/SKILL.md (8254 bytes, sha256:59a0d8ad310be843566a18bfd839a38f46335110aa31673c4468c9e0172c5350)
- Licence: MIT
- Upstream copy last changed: 2026-09-17
- Status: listed, not yet ruled on by the curator

## Use it

I want to use the Better accessibility skill by Jakub Krehel.
This is what it does, in the author's own words: Helps your project comply with accessibility standards and best practices.
Download the whole folder at https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/tree/main/skills/better-accessibility, SKILL.md and every file beside it, into your skills directory: ~/.claude/skills/better-accessibility/ for Claude Code, ~/.agents/skills/better-accessibility/ for Codex, ~/.cursor/skills/better-accessibility/ for Cursor. Get it from the author's repo, not from startupskills.dev.
Then tell me the path you installed it to and how to invoke it.

Nothing here is vendored: install from the author's repo, not from this site. A verbatim copy of the author's file follows for reading, under the licence reproduced after it; the current file is in the author's repo.

## Links

- Page: https://startupskills.dev/jakubkrehel/better-accessibility
- Author: https://startupskills.dev/jakubkrehel
- Index: https://startupskills.dev/llms.txt

## The file itself

---
name: better-accessibility
description: Helps your project comply with accessibility standards and best practices.
---

# Accessibility

Most accessibility is free if you use the platform. Native elements ship with keyboard support, real labels announce themselves and a visible focus ring is one CSS rule.

Write every fix in the project's styling system, and use the exact values below rather than familiar-looking substitutes.

Reviewing means two walks. Keyboard-only, where every flow completes without a mouse. Then screen-reader, where every control announces a name, a role and its state. When unsure, take the platform default over a custom rebuild, and remove ARIA rather than add it.

Contrast measurement and color fixes belong to `better-colors`. Text sizing and iOS input zoom belong to `better-typography`. Spatial RTL layout belongs to `better-layout`.

## Native elements first

The first rule of ARIA: don't use ARIA when a native element exists. `<button>` for actions, `<a href>` for navigation, never `<div onClick>`. A real link must support Cmd/Ctrl/middle-click. No ARIA is better than bad ARIA. See [semantics-and-aria.md](semantics-and-aria.md) for landmarks, button-vs-link and disabled states.

## Visible focus rings

Style `:focus-visible`, not bare `:focus`. Keyboard users get a ring and mouse users usually don't. Prefer the browser's unmodified indicator.

A custom ring needs a project focus token or another explicit color. Verify the whole indicator against every adjacent color it crosses, `currentColor` included. Use at least a `2px` solid perimeter or an equivalent visible area. Never use `outline: none` without a verified replacement, and preserve system colors in forced-colors mode. Recipes are in [focus-and-keyboard.md](focus-and-keyboard.md).

## Full keyboard support

Every pointer interaction needs a keyboard path. Follow the ARIA APG patterns: Escape closes overlays, arrow keys move within composite widgets, Tab moves between widgets, Enter and Space activate.

Use only `tabindex="0"` to join the natural tab order and `tabindex="-1"` for programmatic focus. Positive values break that order. Composite widgets use roving tabindex, where the active item is `0` and every other is `-1`.

## Trap and restore focus

Modals set `inert` on the background content, move focus inside on open and return focus to the trigger on close. Add `overscroll-behavior: contain` so background content doesn't scroll.

## Minimum hit area

WCAG 2.5.8's Level AA baseline is a 24×24 CSS-pixel target, or one of its spacing, equivalent-control, inline, user-agent and essential exceptions. Aim for 44×44px on touch and 40×40px on desktop where density permits. Extend with a pseudo-element when the visible element should stay smaller.

Never let extended hit areas overlap. Give decorative layers `pointer-events: none`, so a glow never swallows the clicks meant for the control beneath it. Sizes and collision rules are in [hit-areas.md](hit-areas.md).

## Label and type every control

Every input gets a `<label for>` or a wrapping `<label>`. A placeholder is never a label. Label and control share one hit target, with no dead zone between a checkbox and its text.

Add `autocomplete` with a meaningful `name`, plus the `type` and `inputmode` that summon the right keyboard. Never block paste; users paste passwords and one-time codes. See [forms.md](forms.md).

## Errors that announce

Keep submit enabled until the request starts, then disable with a spinner and the original label. Validate on submit. Mark failing fields `aria-invalid="true"`, point `aria-describedby` at the inline error text and focus the first invalid field.

Use native `disabled` when a control is genuinely unavailable. Reach for `aria-disabled="true"` only when it should stay focusable, then block pointer, keyboard and form behavior in code and style the state explicitly.

## Accessible names everywhere

Icon-only buttons need a descriptive `aria-label`. Visible label text must appear in the accessible name. Decorative elements get `aria-hidden="true"`, never on a focusable element.

## Don't rely on color alone

Status needs a redundant cue: an icon, text, or an underline alongside the color. Work out which WCAG contrast requirement applies, then use `better-colors` to measure the rendered pair. When it fails, report the pair and the requirement it misses, and leave the colors alone unless asked.

## Honor prefers-reduced-motion

Wrap motion in `@media (prefers-reduced-motion: no-preference)` so it is opt-in. Under reduced motion, replace slides and scales with opacity crossfades, and kill parallax and autoplay entirely.

Two rules hold regardless of the preference. Autoplaying media needs a visible pause control, and toasts carrying an action or an error stay until dismissed. See [motion-and-zoom.md](motion-and-zoom.md).

## Announce dynamic content

Three mechanisms, three jobs. `aria-describedby` carries field-specific validation. A polite live region (`role="status"`) carries non-urgent updates not tied to a control, such as toasts and result counts. `role="alert"` carries urgent untied errors and nothing else.

Repeated polite announcements need a stable empty region rendered before its text updates. Dynamically inserted alerts vary in support, so test them on the screen readers you target. See [screen-readers.md](screen-readers.md).

## Alt text by purpose

Decorative images get `alt=""`. Informative images describe the meaning. Functional images describe the action: a search icon button is `alt="Search"`, not `alt="magnifying glass"`.

## Structure is navigation

Use headings that describe their sections and form a coherent outline. Give the page one `<h1>` and nest the levels below it without skipping. Expose one visible primary `<main>` landmark. When repeated navigation or chrome precedes it, make a "Skip to content" link the first focusable element. Anchored headings get `scroll-margin-top`.

## Survive zoom and text resize

The page must work at 200% zoom and reflow at 320px width without horizontal scrolling. Use `min-height` rather than fixed `height` on text containers. Prefer `rem` breakpoints where they fit the codebase, and never let the viewport meta cap how far the reader can zoom.

## Before you finish

| Mistake | Fix |
| --- | --- |
| Custom focus color assumed to work everywhere | Verify it against every adjacent color and in forced-colors mode |
| Repeated polite update inconsistently announced | Keep a stable empty status region and update its text |
| `assertive` live region for a routine toast | Use `polite`; reserve `assertive` for errors |
| `aria-hidden="true"` on a focusable element | Remove it or make the element non-focusable |
| Submit disabled until the form is valid | Keep it enabled; validate on submit and focus the first error |
| Hover treatment stuck after a tap on touch | Gate hover styling with `@media (hover: hover)` |
| Tooltip on a natively `disabled` control | Text beside it, or `aria-disabled` so it stays focusable |

## Reporting

**Severity.** `HIGH` prevents a task, hides content from assistive technology, or creates a systemic failure. `MEDIUM` makes an interaction meaningfully harder. `LOW` is isolated polish.

**Verification.** Without a browser: accessible names on every interactive element, keyboard handlers on non-native controls, focus styles, `prefers-reduced-motion` guards and form labels bound to their inputs. With one: tab the flow in order, read computed names and roles from the accessibility tree, confirm a visible focus indicator at every stop and run an automated audit. Report every check you could not run as `Not verified`.

**Format.** Group findings under the principle each violates, ordered by severity, one row per root cause listing every location it appears in:

| Severity | Location | Before | After | Why |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |

`Location` is `path/to/file:line`. `Why` names the principle and the user impact.

End with `Block` when any `HIGH` remains, `Approve` otherwise, leaving the rest in the table as work to do. Never `Approve` coverage you did not inspect. With nothing to report, state "No actionable accessibility findings" and report verification.

## Licence of the file above

The file above is https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jakubkrehel/skills/main/skills/better-accessibility/SKILL.md, by Jakub Krehel, reproduced without changes.
- Source: https://github.com/jakubkrehel/skills/blob/main/skills/better-accessibility/SKILL.md
- Copyright: Copyright (c) 2026 Jakub Krehel
- Licence: MIT, https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jakubkrehel/skills/main/LICENSE

The repo's licence file, verbatim from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jakubkrehel/skills/main/LICENSE:

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2026 Jakub Krehel

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.