Accessible sites are not necessarily plain or boring. Accessibility is about how things work, not how much whimsy you're allowed. Keep the pastels, the pixel objects, the sparkles, and the interactive elements, just make a few thoughtful choices along the way!!
Colours, but make them legible
Fun palettes are part of the charm. The goal is to let your decorations stay colorful while your text is still reasonable contrast. Pale-pink text on cream is hard to read; deep plum text on that same cream is dreamy and passes contrast. Use a soft background as a frame, not as the ink.
Pixel art & stickers (with alt text)
Pixel fun, blinkies, stamps, and dividers are the heart of the indie web. Keep
them, and just give the meaningful ones alt text. For
other extras that aren't super important, mark purely decorative ones
as decorative (alt="" or aria-hidden="true") so screen
readers don't read “star star star” forever.
Sparkle without strobes
Animated GIFs are so fun! The one rule: nothing should flash more than three times per second. (Please, I beg!!!) Gentle twinkles, slow drifts, and bobbing little guys are fine; rapid strobing is not (full details on the Photosensitivity page).
Fancy fonts for flair, plain fonts for reading
Using fun fonts for titles add nice personality! Just keep your body text simple and roomy so paragraphs stay easy to read.
Music & cursors, the considerate way
- Background music: so lovely, just make sure there's a play/pause button.
- Custom cursors: I love all the unique cursors. Just keep it big enough to find.
- Marquees & wiggles: sparing and slow, please! Respect
prefers-reduced-motion.
Next: The Blindness Spectrum.
Accessibility Main Page