Next-Buttons

Ah, I see you’ve found the famous ‘next buttons’ page. Welcome to a classic of non-accessibility! Let me guess: You have no idea which button to press, do you?

A button or link labeled “Next,” “More,” or something similar doesn’t do much good.

I keep coming across pages where the button labels are useless.

It is better to have labels that tell you what the goal or action is.

This could be, for example, “Information on accessibility” instead of “Read more”.

For this puzzle, you can use a screen reader to read the Aria labels to you.

Or you look into the source code.

Tip: The next button takes you to the destination.

And yes, buttons usually don’t have an Aria label. WAI-ARIA should only be used when there’s no other option.

All the buttons have the same label, but that doesn’t help you. It doesn’t help me either if the Aria labels aren’t set correctly. For example, an Aria label is helpful if there’s an X icon as the close button. This is often the case with mobile menus. The screen reader then reads “Close” to me so I know what’s happening.

Have the screen reader read the buttons to you and use the Tab key to navigate. Maybe that will help you.

Illustration of a woman with long, red hair, glasses,wearing a dark grey blazer and waves their hand in the air

Problem

Unfortunately, this is commonplace in your world. Sometimes I get a list of all the links on a website and all I hear is, “Next. Next. Next.” a hundred times. I have no idea which link leads where. Sounds frustrating, right?

That’s why it’s so important that links and buttons have descriptive names that indicate their purpose or function.

Secret Button

Psst… it’s me, Olivia.

You’ve discovered the third of three Easter eggs. The answer is “everything.” If you find them all, send an email to kontakt@ideenquelle-webdesign.de and the first 5 people receive a little surprise.

Portrait Olivia, smiling, with glasses, short hair and blue shirt

Barriers

Name of the Button

The text on a button or link should describe the destination or content. Where does the link lead or what happens if I press it?

Too Small

Sometimes buttons or links are too small, making it difficult for people with large fingers or mobility impairments to use them. This happens frequently with pagination for example, where the page numbers are clickable but very small.

5 of 8 accomplished

So the solution was in the subtitles and you found it, well done!

You know the situation: you’re in a noisy environment and don’t have your headphones with you, but you still want to watch that video. Then it’s very helpful if there are subtitles. What is comfortable for you, might be necessary for other people, such as the hearing-impaired.

Schließen

Psst… du hast ein weiteres Easter Egg gefunden: “ändert”

Did you know that cookie banners are often not keyboard-operable? The focus often doesn’t reach the cookie banner, so screen reader users aren’t even aware that the banner is there. Eventually, they get stuck and don’t know why.