The Web Almanac offers an annual deep dive into the state of the web. Published by HTTP Archive, it analyses millions of websites to track how we're building the web. The Almanac has chapters on a few topics like sustainability, performance, SEO, privacy, security, to name a few.
The Accessibility chapter is the one that's dear to my heart. It matters because it shows where we actually are, not where we think we are. It contains real data from the real world. And real data beats assumptions every time.
This year's report covers the fundamentals like colour contrast, keyboard navigation, form labels and ARIA implementation. It also digs into newer territory like government website accessibility across countries, how different CMS platforms stack up and the real impact of accessibility overlays. We even have a new section on AI.
I say we because I'm one of the writers and the editor for this year's chapter.
I can't divulge much. But I can say the numbers tell a very interesting story. Some governments are crushing it (looking at you, Netherlands). Some content management systems make accessibility easier by default. And yes, there's still a shit ton of work to do.
It's worth a read if you're building for the web.
It'll be available in mid-January and I'll dig deeper into some of the sections after it's published.
In the mean time, you can read 2024's Accessibility chapter.