You’ve just launched a beautiful new website or app. You’re proud of it. The design is sleek, the features are smart, and it works flawlessly… for you. But what if, for a huge group of people, your masterpiece is completely unusable? What if, without even realizing it, you’ve built a digital building with a beautiful facade but no ramp, no braille signs, and doorways that are too narrow?
This is the reality of digital accessibility. It’s an aspect of development we often overlook, not out of malice, but because we’re just not thinking about it. We test on our fancy monitors with our fast internet connections and assume everyone has the same experience.
The good news is, you don’t have to be an accessibility guru to start making a massive difference. You can start by building a simple, automated checkup for your code, and you already have the tools to do it.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Accessibility Inspector: Axe-Core
So, how do you even begin to find these invisible barriers in your code? You get an expert to inspect it for you. In this case, our expert is a fantastic open-source tool called Axe-Core.
Think of Axe-Core as a super-knowledgeable, incredibly fast building inspector for your website. It’s the engine that powers many of the accessibility tools you might have seen, and it’s the gold standard for a reason. You can run it on your code, and it will instantly scan for dozens of common accessibility problems.
It’s looking for things like:
- Missing “alt text” on images: A person using a screen reader has no idea what an image is about unless you provide a description. Axe-Core spots those missing descriptions.
- Poor color contrast: That trendy light-gray text on a white background might look cool to you, but for someone with low vision, it’s completely unreadable.
- Buttons without labels: A screen reader might just say “button,” leaving the user to guess what it does.
- Forms that are impossible to navigate with a keyboard.
Axe-Core doesn’t just find the problems; it tells you why they’re a problem and often suggests how to fix them. It’s not about pointing fingers; it’s about providing a clear, actionable report card.
Making Accessibility a Habit, Not a Chore
Running an accessibility check once before a big launch is better than nothing, but it’s not a real solution. The real magic happens when you make it a routine part of your development process, just like you would any other kind of testing.
This is where you can integrate a tool like Axe-Core directly into your development workflow, specifically in your CI/CD pipeline. That’s the automated system that runs checks every time you want to add new code to the project.
Imagine this: You write some new code for a fancy user profile page. Before that code is even allowed to merge, your automated system runs Axe-Core on it. If it finds a major accessibility issue—like a “Save” button that a screen reader can’t identify—it flags it immediately. The build fails. You get an instant notification telling you exactly what’s wrong.
This creates an incredible safety net. It makes accessibility a non-negotiable part of your team’s definition of “done.” It’s no longer an afterthought or a “nice-to-have” that gets pushed to the next sprint. It’s a fundamental quality check, just like making sure the code doesn’t crash.
This Is About People, Not Just Code
Let’s be clear: This isn’t just about passing a test or checking a box. This is about empathy. It’s about recognizing that people interact with the web in countless different ways. Someone with a motor disability might only use a keyboard to navigate. Someone who is blind relies entirely on a screen reader to interpret what’s on the page.
When you ignore accessibility, you’re not just writing “bad code.” You’re effectively putting up a “You’re Not Welcome Here” sign for a huge portion of the population. On the flip side, when you prioritize it, you’re doing the opposite. You’re being a thoughtful host. You’re building a digital space that is open, inclusive, and works for everyone. That’s not just good ethics; it’s good design and good business.
Conclusion
You don’t need to be an expert to start building a more accessible web. You just need to care enough to check your work. By using a powerful tool like Axe-Core and, more importantly, by weaving it into the very fabric of your development process, you can make accessibility a natural reflex. You can build that safety net that catches issues before they ever reach a user. Let’s move beyond just building things that work and start building things that work for everyone.
