AccessibilityFrontendLive2008–present
Accessibility Became a Design Constraint
The shift from treating accessibility as a compliance checkbox to building it into design systems from day one changed who software is built for — and raised the bar for everyone.
Overview
For most of the web, accessibility was retrofitted — audited at the end of a project and patched under legal pressure. Radix UI, Headless UI, and ARIA-aware design systems made accessible patterns the path of least resistance. Today, a11y is a quality signal, not a separate workstream.
Highlights
- 1.3B people globally live with some form of disability
- Accessible design improves UX for everyone
- Headless UI libraries made a11y the default, not the exception
- WCAG 2.2 compliance is now a legal baseline in 30+ countries
Tech Stack
ARIAWCAG 2.1Radix UIScreen ReadersFocus Management