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by ggm 695 days ago
Whats the briefest code change which would achieve these outcomes in a browser neutral manner? I hate to think of a massive .js burden to get there, I like sites that are both visually simple and mechanistically simple behind the text.
2 comments
p-e-w 695 days ago
Replace the outdated font stack with `system-ui` in CSS, remove all `font-size` directives, remove the gray-ish background, make the light-grey text slightly darker. This fixes many accessibility issues with not a single line of JavaScript required. Mobile usability is more difficult, given that HN relies on tables for layout.

I also can't find a single ARIA attribute in the HTML code. Between that and the absence of semantic elements, I wonder whether screen reader users can navigate HN at all.

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ggm 695 days ago
I'd suggest a two phase approach. 1) come into conformance with the least possible change to current experience, and 2) make the structural change which might change current user experience but provides for assisted access improvement. I'm not a fan of big-change, and I am of a belief most of the current HN mob are pretty OK that it remains much as it is (not that they are unwilling to countenance change but there's a certain curmudgeonly love of this being an un-lovely site. -And I certainly don't think we deliberately don't want to help people who have to rely on semantic element aware readers)
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p-e-w 695 days ago
This isn't the first time these issues have been brought up though. Or even the tenth time. I've seen many small open source projects make accessibility a top priority, actively seeking feedback from visually impaired users, going through multiple prototypes etc. With HN, this just continues to not happen. I could produce a 10-line CSS patch that would solve lots of issues, but at this point I have no reason to believe it would be accepted.
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ggm 695 days ago
If you offer Dan a 10 line patch which changes nothing in the normal case, but improves things for visually impaired users, I would be surprised if he didn't accept it. I agree there is a low level of visible engagement but I've always found him (and his sidekicks) amenable to reasonable exchanges off this page.
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danaris 695 days ago
...why would any of that create a Javascript burden? Those are all HTML and CSS changes.
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