When I read that, AI and vibe coding were the first things that came to my mind. I'm seeing similar results in the instructional design space, where the majority of AI-driven software programs create e-learning courses that fail even the most basic of accessibility audits.
WAVE is a free browser extension tool that reports specific errors on your site and provides you with a score based on the number of errors, error density, and the quantity of WAVE alerts.
Maybe this time next year, my website will have enough views to make the list, but in the meantime, if you're like me and want to know how your website measures up, check out the WAVE tool.
Kudos to the web admins for .gov and .edu sites, which had the least amount of errors (18.5 and 23, respectively). To the surprise of no one, it turns out that when you require Section 508 conformance, there are fewer issues.
96% of errors come from the same six categories that have topped the list for the last seven years: low contrast with text, missing alt text, missing labels, empty links, empty buttons, and missing language.
The number of websites with WCAG failures increased for the first time in seven years and is now at least 95.9% of the tested webpages. The number of sites with failures is likely higher, as automated testing will inherently miss issues.
The average number of elements on the homepage is 1437 (+22.5% from last year). The increasing complexity will make the user experience worse for disabled individuals who can expect to encounter an error every 26 elements.
There was an average of 56.1 accessibility issues per homepage (+10.1% from last year).
The results are in for the 2026 @webaim.bsky.social Million, an automated review of the top million websites’ homepages, and the results are interesting. Here are some of the highlights:
If you're looking to hire people with accessibility knowledge and experience, the Accessibility Skills Hiring Toolkit created by Teach Access can help you. The toolkit provides language to use when writing job ads, and questions to ask when interviewing.
teachaccess.github.io/accessibilit...
I’m speaking at IDTX Online | February 18-19, 2026 | www.idtx.co.uk
Last year, a colleague and I used the DMAIC framework to guide a gold-level quality improvement project at Mayo Clinic to enhance the accessibility of online learning content.
Next month, we’ll be sharing our experience and insights from that process at #IDTXOnline.
#InstructionalDesign #L&D
You use em dashes because ChatGPT told you to.
I use em dashes because the copy editor at my previous job was incredibly thorough and I hate having to fix things after sending them to review.
We are not the same.
Accessibility-focused job interview questions can cover much than just reciting specifications. These questions compiled by Scott O'Hara can be helpful for those conducting job interviews, as well as for those prepping to be interviewed.
scottaohara.github.io/accessibilit...
I joined Tim Slade’s December 2025 E-learning Challenge and used @techsmith.com to create a quick how-to video that walked users through adding jobs and contacts to Teal’s Job Search Companion. #InstructionalDesign #NerdsOfAFeather
youtu.be/sUUsu19hIF8?...
Automatic captions are around 80% accurate with minimal background noise, high audio quality, and non-technical content. Even in ideal scenarios, they fall short of the 99% industry standard for accuracy.
If it’s important enough to have a video, it’s important enough to be captioned accurately.
Thanks for sharing. I didn’t really a draft of this was already out there. It’ll be interesting to find out how some of these criteria change before becoming the standard. I know I’ll have to work on some of those cognitive guidelines like “Sentences do not include unnecessary words or phrases.”
Not sure if you’ve seen this story, but we may get an answer on the blame issue soon.
Personally, I think there needs to be a lot of regulation and oversight here. AI companies need to be legally responsible for the inputs (abiding by IP rights) and outputs of their models.
Quick Note: I know the button title and description in combination with the button technically met accessibility requirements before the update, but this update makes the course more navigable for screen reader users.
#Accessibility #Section508 #WCAG #InstructionalDesign #ELearning
Format panel opened in Articulate Rise for a Button Stack block. At the bottom of the panel are options for designers to select preset sizes of small, medium, and large or choose a custom size.
To change the width of buttons in Button and Button Stack blocks, select the Format button and scroll to the bottom of the panel. You can either choose one of their preset widths or create a custom width of your own.
To be accessible, buttons and links should be descriptive and unique (WCAG 2.4.4). This can be challenging when dealing with a limited character count. Designers were faced with the choice of making buttons descriptive and visually unappealing or vague and unhelpful. Now, we can have both.
Before and after screenshots of the same button set. The Before image displays narrower buttons with cut-off text (Poisonous Plants...). The After image showcases wider buttons with the full text (Poisonous Plants and Berries) with padding.
Articulate released an update to buttons in #ArticulateRise that allows IDs and e-learning developers to increase the size of buttons and button stacks in their e-learning courses.
Why does it matter (beyond the obvious Sir Mix-A-Lot puns)? It allows for visually pleasing, accessible design.
Awful training content aside, what’s going on with the buildings in the background? Are the trainer and trainee pulling a Superman and levitating while delivering content?
This week, I had the pleasure of co-presenting at the Summer of Access webinar series on how we have been using the DMAIC framework to drive improvements in e-learning accessibility.
LinkedIn post from ELVTR advertising an ai-aided graphic design program. The accompanying graphic uses bright pink text on a lime green background.
I’m red-green colorblind, so this graphic is an assault on both my eyes and my sensibilities, but does this look good to anyone? Or do we all agree that it’s a poorly designed graphic advertising a graphic design program?
#WCAG #BadGraphicDesign #AI
Adults aren't really that different from kids when it comes to learning. They may have different problems to solve and a wider range of experiences to pull from, but good instruction is good instruction, regardless of whether it happens in a conference room or on carpet squares. #InstructionalDesign
Thanks, but this wasn’t for a particular course. When I’m between stages on projects and waiting for feedback, I work on accessible slide templates for our course library to replace older versions that didn’t meet WCAG guidelines.
Made two open-ended knowledge check templates that resemble a Teams chat in Storyline today (one in dark mode and one in regular), and I have to say… if you use regular mode, I’m absolutely judging you. It’s too much.
I’d love to be included. I’m an instructional design specialist at Mayo Clinic and dabble in some freelancing every now and then.
Ideally, alt text is 150 characters or less (though there are cases where it needs to be longer). Using #CamelCase, where you capitalize the first letter of each word, in hashtags also helps screen readers users and individuals with cognitive disabilities.
