Ensuring web accessibility goes beyond visual design—it requires testing how users interact with a webpage using only a keyboard. This guide provides a step-by-step approach to inspecting HTML elements without a mouse, utilizing Developer Tools and keyboard navigation techniques. Learn how to identify focusable elements, analyze the DOM structure, and detect common accessibility issues to create a more inclusive web experience. Whether you’re a developer, UX designer, or accessibility tester, this resource will help you improve usability for all users, including those relying on assistive technologies.
CAPTCHAs and the Disability Tax: How Security Tools Fail Accessibility
The internet is filled with tools and features designed to protect users and websites alike, but few are as pervasive—and as frustrating—as CAPTCHAs. CAPTCHAs (Completely Automated Public Turing tests to tell Computers and Humans Apart) are automated challenges intended to verify that a user is human. They appear in various forms, from identifying images with specific characteristics (“find all the dogs in a set of images”) to deciphering and entering distorted text presented in an image. These are embedded into countless websites to prevent automated spam, fraud, and abuse.
While CAPTCHAs play an important role in security, they often come with significant accessibility and privacy trade-offs, particularly for users who rely on screen readers and other assistive technologies.
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