Quick Tip:

Let’s talk about common website things that aren’t accessible.

Carousels aren’t always accessible. Especially auto-playing ones.

(I’m talking specifically about carousels with text. Image slideshows are fine, as long as you have alt text on the images.)

They’re not accessible because the controls typically aren’t keyboard navigable, important information is hidden on the page, and the autoplay carousels sometimes move too quickly for people to read.

Sometimes there isn’t enough contrast between the text and the background image so it’s not easily readable.

But people loooove carousels!

So, what should you do?

• Test the carousel on your site by pressing Tab to see if you can navigate using your keyboard.

• If it autoplays, ensure there’s a way for users to pause the carousel. The content should move slowly enough that all of the content can be read and understood. (Or just don’t have it autoplay.)

• Run a Lighthouse report in Chrome DevTools to check for accessibility issues.