diff --git a/src/config/2025.json b/src/config/2025.json index cd09a3f6298..8133238303b 100644 --- a/src/config/2025.json +++ b/src/config/2025.json @@ -81,8 +81,7 @@ "part": "II", "chapter_number": "9", "title": "Accessibility", - "slug": "accessibility", - "todo": true + "slug": "accessibility" }, { "part": "II", diff --git a/src/config/contributors.json b/src/config/contributors.json index 6634845e89d..302967136be 100644 --- a/src/config/contributors.json +++ b/src/config/contributors.json @@ -74,16 +74,6 @@ ] } }, - "onurguler18": { - "avatar_url": "39603688", - "github": "onurguler18", - "name": "Onur Güler", - "teams": { - "2024": [ - "analysts" - ] - } - }, "argyleink": { "avatar_url": "1134620", "github": "argyleink", @@ -170,6 +160,18 @@ "twitter": "MrAhmadAwais", "website": "https://AhmadAwais.com" }, + "atierney": { + "avatar_url": "9468139", + "name": "Aidan Tierney", + "github": "AidanA11y", + "linkedin": "aidantierney", + "bluesky": "aidantierney.bsky.social", + "teams": { + "2025": [ + "reviewers" + ] + } + }, "akshay-ranganath": { "avatar_url": "54864775", "github": "akshay-ranganath", @@ -692,7 +694,8 @@ ], "2025": [ "committee", - "developers" + "developers", + "analysts" ] }, "twitter": "tunetheweb", @@ -781,6 +784,20 @@ }, "website": "https://iambharat.me" }, + "tricinel": { + "avatar_url": "216008", + "name": "Bogdan Lazar", + "github": "tricinel", + "bluesky": "bogdanlazar.com", + "linkedin": "tricinel", + "website": "https://bogdanlazar.com", + "teams": { + "2025": [ + "authors", + "editors" + ] + } + }, "borisschapira": { "avatar_url": "284742", "github": "borisschapira", @@ -1906,6 +1923,9 @@ "teams": { "2024": [ "reviewers" + ], + "2025": [ + "reviewers" ] }, "mastodon": "https://front-end.social/@hdv", @@ -3230,6 +3250,10 @@ "2024": [ "analysts", "authors" + ], + "2025": [ + "authors", + "analysts" ] }, "website": "https://accessibility.civicactions.com/" @@ -3568,6 +3592,16 @@ "twitter": "oluoluoxenfree", "website": "https://olu.online/" }, + "onurguler18": { + "avatar_url": "39603688", + "github": "onurguler18", + "name": "Onur Güler", + "teams": { + "2024": [ + "analysts" + ] + } + }, "pankajparkar": { "avatar_url": "5320044", "github": "pankajparkar", @@ -4233,6 +4267,9 @@ ], "2022": [ "authors" + ], + "2025": [ + "reviewers" ] }, "twitter": "scottdavis99", diff --git a/src/content/en/2025/accessibility.md b/src/content/en/2025/accessibility.md index f0c715cca58..153a6f32373 100644 --- a/src/content/en/2025/accessibility.md +++ b/src/content/en/2025/accessibility.md @@ -3,18 +3,1187 @@ title: Accessibility description: Accessibility chapter of the 2025 Web Almanac covering ease of reading, navigation, forms, media, ARIA, and accessibility apps. hero_alt: Hero image of a robot with a blue, human accessibility icon on its front scanning a web page, while Web Almanac characters check some labels. -authors: [] -reviewers: [] -analysts: [] -editors: [] +authors: [tricinel, mgifford] +reviewers: [hidde, atierney, scottdavis99] +analysts: [mgifford, tunetheweb] +editors: [tricinel] translators: [] -results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13sY_wmYODArxo-hH5cSuRAbvtLdGI3x5Xc9qUyqP8as/edit -featured_quote: ... -featured_stat_1: ... -featured_stat_label_1: ... -featured_stat_2: ... -featured_stat_label_2: ... -featured_stat_3: ... -featured_stat_label_3: ... -doi: ... +tricinel_bio: Bogdan is the accessibility consultant who helps product owners ship accessible websites without blocking ongoing work. He brings over a decade of experience in education and healthcare, with deep expertise in inclusive design and web accessibility. He's been writing a daily newsletter on accessibility since March 2024, driven by one core belief. "Make room for everyone." +mgifford_bio: Mike Gifford is CivicActions' Open Standards & Practices Lead. He is also a thought leader on open government, digital accessibility and sustainability. He has served as a Drupal Core Accessibility Maintainer and also a W3C Invited Expert. He is a recognized authoring tool accessibility expert and contributor to the W3C's Draft Web Sustainability Guidelines (WSG) 1.0. +results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13sY_wmYODArxo-hH5cSuRAbvtLdGI3x5Xc9qUyqP8as/ +featured_quote: The web should work for everyone. Until that principle guides our decisions, accessibility gaps will persist. +featured_stat_1: 85 +featured_stat_label_1: Median Lighthouse accessibility score. +featured_stat_2: 67% +featured_stat_label_2: Sites removing default focus outlines. +featured_stat_3: 2% +featured_stat_label_3: Sites using accessibility overlays. --- + +## Introduction + +The web is changing fast. In 2025, web accessibility matters more than ever as mainstream technologies increasingly rely on inclusive features. For example, voice-activated assistants use screen reader technologies. Features originally designed for accessibility, such as video captions and haptic feedback, are now common. + +Universal Design principles are fundamentally important for our work in modern web development. We're increasingly creating solutions that address diverse needs and improve experiences for all users. As Sir Tim Berners-Lee famously said, "The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect." + +Recent global events and shifting legal requirements have pushed digital inclusion into focus. Microsoft's Inclusive Design Guidelines show that accessibility helps more than just people with permanent disabilities. The guidelines specifically mention temporary and situational limitations. For example, the ability to use a device with one hand can help individuals with injuries, parents with young children, as well as people carrying items. + +In 2025, web accessibility laws have real teeth. The European Union's (EU) [European Accessibility Act (EAA)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Accessibility_Act) is a major step forward. It set a deadline of June 2025 for numerous websites and apps to conform to the [EN 301 549](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EN_301_549) standard, which references the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). + +The United States updated its regulations as well. State and local government sites must now meet WCAG 2.1, as required by Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The 2024 data gives us a critical baseline to measure the tangible impact of these deadlines on the accessibility of websites globally. + +Google Lighthouse powers our analysis using Deque's axe-core engine. We benchmark 2025 findings against 2024 data and identify key trends. With broader adoption of WCAG 2.2, we examine the uptake of new Success Criteria and continued changes from deprecated rules such as `duplicate-id`. + +Our approach is similar to that of the WebAim Million but with differences in sites crawled and analysis tools used. The HTTP Archive crawls 17 million sites each month across home and secondary pages using Lighthouse and other tools. WebAim surveys the top million home pages with WAVE. + +Automated tests, including axe-core which is used by Lighthouse, can only partially check a subset of WCAG Success Criteria. Alphagov from GOV.UK offers a comparison of popular automated audit tools and they all detect less than 50% of accessibility errors. Many criteria lack automated tests altogether, and not all accessibility issues have matching criteria in WCAG. + +But remember Goodhart's Law. When a metric becomes a target, it stops being a reliable metric. A perfect score doesn't guarantee full accessibility. You should treat Lighthouse accessibility scores as a starting point for evaluation rather than a final goal. Still, tracking these scores offers a valuable snapshot of the web's overall progress. + +Our report focuses exclusively on HTML and doesn't include PDF or other office documents. + +Compared to 2024, the median Lighthouse Accessibility score improved by 1%, reaching over 85% in 2025. Since the first Web Almanac in 2019, we've seen steady and incremental progress. Google Lighthouse assigns different weights to axe-core issues, so organizations may prioritize fixes differently. + +{{ figure_markup( + image="lighthouse-audit-improvements-yoy.png", + caption="Lighthouse audit improvements year-over-year.", + description="A bar chart showing the average increase in the media Google Lighthouse accessibility score over time for six years. Values increase slowly year by year, as follows: in 2019 83%, in 2020 80%, in 2021 82%, in 2022 83%, in 2024 84%, and in 2025 85%.", + chart_url="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQFD-7C6Jv6q1JyviDsKosRlVwaok7g7nRCQ9NGMw5MaAAohL7EcDejVwgp13Z_T2S_57Zi0YaVb7st/pubchart?oid=1116937150&format=interactive", + sheets_gid="1543303999", + sql_file="lighthouse_a11y_score.sql" + ) +}} + +This year, we've seen the biggest advances in the following axe-core tests: + +- ARIA input fields must have an accessible name: +3% over 2024 +- ARIA `meter` nodes must have an accessible name: +15% over 2024 +- ARIA `progressbar` nodes must have an accessible name: +5% over 2024 +- ARIA `tooltip` nodes must have an accessible name: +13% over 2024 +- Avoid delayed refresh under 20 hours: +1% over 2024 +- `` elements must have alternate text: +1% over 2024 +- ``, and `