Accessibility is important, but no a lot of people think about it. This is frustrating, but awareness can be improved through educational content.

It’s 2024. Inclusivity is preached and its value held high. It’s a badge of honour for a company or an entity to be labelled ‘inclusive’. University of Sunderland was honoured “University of the Year for Social Inclusion” in 2021, and you can still see banners of this achievement around campus in 2024. It’s *cool* to be inclusive. So why is accessibility not a priority when building websites?

Accessible websites are inclusive websites. People living with disabilities and/or sensory issues should not be deprived of the experience the able bodied receive. Thus, building an accessible website *should* be a matter of importance; more developers should at least *think* about accessibility when building their sites. Developers need to be more aware of accessibility. One critical way to improve this is improving the educational content.

I am currently a junior developer. I still have fresh memories of following along tutorials, learning how to build different interfaces and connecting them to a backend. What I don’t have a memory of, is the tutorials explaining accessibility, or even using the simplest semantic HTML to build the UI. Even back in university, accessibility was just glazed over. “Just use semantic HTML!”

You might be thinking, *“Oh it’s just a poopy tutorial!”* or *“Your uni is just crap!”.* Wrong - my YouTube algorithm is goated. In addition, I talked about this with my colleagues and they felt similar. If you suggest looking up specific accessibility tutorials, this just further proves my point that accessibility is seen as something separate when building UI - an afterthought. It would be so much better if most of the UI tutorials include accessibility features built in, so most starting devs have a better understanding of the thinking process when building accessible websites even with no experience. I recognise that this is anecdotal evidence, however I dread doing research for a more concrete evidence and decided to just write this opinion piece.

A lot of aspiring developers learn from the free content on YouTube. If these tutorial videos intertwine accessibility concepts when building interfaces, I believe this will increase the awareness of accessibility in the web. Simple things such as using correct semantic HTML, and knowing that a screenreader reads the document from top-to-bottom.

I have learned the importance of accessibility and how to implement basic accessibility features  through my senior developer at work. During code reviews of a client project, the topic of accessibility comes up all the time, and suggestions on how to improve my code. Take this card for example:

 
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/3ptg6uji/production/5baf4cabde58e54dcc678f36e9a18c0034705d8c-498x488.png?w=450)

How would you create the markup of this card? Visually, the image will be marked up first, then the title, author, etc. However, if a screen reader was to read it, it reads the markup from top-to-bottom. Hence, marking up the title and author of the card first would make more sense, using `flex-direction: column-reverse` to visually put the image on top.

On my first draft, the card is a “div soup” - the markup contains no semantic meaning. After multiple reviews, it is now an `<article>`, containing a `<header>`, with the image wrapped in `<aside>` as its mostly a decorative image; not essential to the context of the card.

My senior developer also put us through a semantic HTML exercise. The task is to recreate the LinkedIn post element [here.](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sunderland-software-city_techskills-developers-northeast-activity-7227265331172388865-Ali_/) What surprised me is how *wrong* the markup feels when inspecting the elements. For example, paragraphs in the post are marked as `<span>` instead of `<p>`, while the WCAG spec clearly states `<p>` is used to denote paragraphs.

While LinkedIn might have a good reason on why these decisions are made, this exercise made me realise how much better we can do on making the web more accessible, even just a little bit. Even just the use of the correct semantic HTML elements would go a long way. My next project (and post) would be about changing this very website you are currently on to be more semantically correct and accessible.

Being an Inclusive Developer

A brief overview of my first month experience as a junior developer.


It has officially been (almost) a month since I started my job as a junior developer. It has been eventful. Working in a team, attending a conference, and being assigned to work on a project for a *real* client. Exciting times!

## Working within a Team

Outside of the one group assignment in university where there was only two people (me included) in a group of seven that meaningfully contributed to a project, I have never worked in a team before. All the other projects I have developed are all done by me. Solo. It was never by choice - it’s not like I am against working in a team (though the 2nd year assignment nearly radicalised me), I just never had the opportunity to work in one.

And it has been nothing but great. All of my colleagues are cooperative and hungry, everyone wanted to keep moving forward and learn. It is inspiring to be amongst like-minded people. Surprisingly there has been no major disagreements in the team yet, we’ll have to wait and see.

I learnt about working in Agile. From planning the sprint, daily stand-ups, using a project management tool (we use Linear), and post-sprint evaluation. Though we don’t have a scrum master or product manager, I think I am starting to understand, in a small scale, the flow of delivering a project.

Merge conflicts are the bane of my existence. I hate it so much. I *think* I know how to solve them, but I’m not sure if it’s the *correct* way to do it. Meh, I’ll get better at it.

## Client Project

I was surprised when I was called to be one of the two developers to work on the first client project. The feeling of ecstasy was almost immediately overshadowed by a looming sense of inadequacy. What if I fail to deliver? I barely know how to deploy a website! Luckily, I have a great mentor that I know will not let whatever we develop go off the rails. He also broke down all the requirements of the project into reachable goals for us junior developers. My absolute GOAT.

As of writing, we just finished doing a wireframe prototype of the project, and presented to our client. The feedback was good. Next step was to actually start developing the web app! Since it’s going to be in Svelte, I have spent the past week trying to learn Svelte and SvelteKit. It has been quite challenging and interesting. I have very little experience with it, but it feels more lightweight and granular than Next.js. It feels like I’m *touching* the DOM directly; feels very *transparent* and less black-boxy. Not sure why, need to experience Svelte more to be able to put it into words. It literally might just be placebo because Big React == Bad.

## Conference

Not going to get into it, find it [here.](https://www.shawn-am.co.uk/blog/my-first-conference) Spoiler: it was frikkin awesome.

## What’s Next

As of today, we were told to start working from home due to the Sunderland riot that happened a few days ago. I am just going to keep doing what I’m doing, looking to improve day by day. My current goal is to be as good with SvelteKit as I was with Next.js in the next couple of months. I simply want to diversify and master my craft.

The WFH policy was just a precaution; a precaution I truly appreciate. What happened throughout the UK was disgusting. The misinformation used to incite violence is utterly vile. If I’m scared of going out in the streets of Sunderland, I can only imagine the people who were targeted must feel. Alas, I can only be responsible and stay safe while the government and police deals with the situation. I urge everyone to keep safe and look out for each other.

First Month as a Junior Developer

I got the opportunity to attend Middlesbrough Front End Conference 2024 for free. I thought it was going to be cringe, surprisingly it was great!

I went to my first conference. It was Middlesbrough Front End. The sun was shining unusually bright; its soft, warm light blanketed me. I didn’t know what to expect - my closest experience to this was a networking event in Newcastle. I disdain the idea of a networking event though. People only see you as an asset; what you can provide. Your worth is a direct correlation to where you work and what you do. However, I did have a decent time on that event. I even got lucky and got an interview offer!

Upon arrival, I quickly got signed up, collected my goodies, and headed straight to get coffee. It wasn’t long until my chats with my coworkers were cut short with an announcement that the talks are starting. We waddled into the hall and sat.

With my notebook out, my pen in hand, I was ready to learn.

## The Talks

First up was Daniel Roe, the only person I recognised from the lineup. I saw his talk back in Newcastle! He talked about meta frameworks - frameworks built on top of frameworks. Next.js on top of React, SvelteKit on top of Svelte, Nuxt on Vue, etc. A cool talk to start out the day.

Lu Wilson is up next with a change of pace. She demonstrated a bunch of cool things she could make in TLDRAW, the company she worked for. Imagine, what if you could draw a shitty mockup of a stopwatch, and with multi-modal AI, get a working HTML snippet with a UI? Pretty dope stuff! Lu also mentioned about having a constant feedback loop in the application (in this case, user and AI model) made things more *fun;* more *engaging* for the user. Happy to hear that she got a raise as well.

Victor Adewusi talked about the use of Web Workers: offloading heavy computational to the Web Worker API so that the application itself does not break under heavy load, leading to better UX. I never worked with Web Workers before, but it’s definitely on my radar now.

Time zoomed past and it was time for the first break.

As the talk continues, I was enthralled by each and every one of them. Everyone had something of value to share, and as someone who is literally a week old in the industry, I did my best to absorb as much information as I could.

I love CSS, so the talks by Michelle Barker and Brecht de Ruyte did resonate with me exceptionally. Michelle talked about using more modern CSS features such as minmax() or clamp() to make fluid layouts. Brecht talked about the future of CSS, and how the team in Open UI is trying to make the native CSS better and better. I was giddy with excitement when he mentioned the popover API, and the possibility of styling dropdowns or the sort in the near future. I damn near **`[redacted]`** myself.

Lex Lofthouse brought the basics of design to the audience. Hierarchy, Proximity, Contrast, and Balance. I think most people have a natural understanding of these things, but it takes a different set of skills to identify these and put it into practise. I changed my personal website around after recognising *why* it doesn’t feel right. Thanks Lex!

Michaela Reaney talked about the importance of ~~soft~~ *human skills.* Anuradha Kumari raised awareness on the importance of a11y (accessibility - yeah I’m cool now) and the steps we developers can take to make the web more accessible. Esther Adebayo talked about how current CSS-in-JS mostly doesn’t have the same weaknesses as before, as they can be compiled during build time. Salma (WhitePanther) showcased some fun projects she built on Twitch to be used in her streams, and Harry Roberts talked about the thinking process of a performance engineer.

I was barely able to process all of the information I got from the presenters. Bringing a notebook was a genius move by me - I had resources scribbled down to review later. I was especially excited to review the CSS stuff I noted down!

## The Social

A majority of my colleagues have left - it was just me and 3 others. I thought about going straight back home because I was quite tired and I didn’t know anyone else in the building. *“It’s time to network Shawn! This is what a conference is all about!”* I hear you yap. Like I said before though, it seemed… cringe. 

I decided to wait in line to get a pint, just because one of my colleagues wanted to talk to someone she met earlier. Fortunately, we quickly end up talking to another group of attendees waiting for their pizza.

A few conversations later, I found myself split from the group. The lovely bunch of people I was talking to excused themselves to eat their pizza inside. But now I am alone and afraid, like a Year 1’s first day of school. I can’t leave now, I’ve only drank half my pint. I gathered every ounce of courage to come and say hello to Lu and Daniel.

I mumbled through a quick self-introduction, and they were both very welcoming. One thing led to the other and I find myself talking with people I (from the moment their talk ended) look up to. I have got the opportunity to discuss and share ideas with people who are dedicated to their craft. 

It was almost intoxicating how much passion they all had for what they do. You can practically see it oozing out. It was exciting to see them present on stage, yet it was another thing to talk to them directly. I did not want to leave.

## Train Back Home

Alas, four pints deep, I had to take the last train home. Everyone was so friendly, welcoming, and interesting, I even thought about getting a hotel just so I can hang out for an extra hour or so. But that would be irresponsible - I do have work the next day. I had to say my goodbyes.

I barely caught the last train, and a rush of emotions caught me off guard as I got comfy in my seat. I was relieved I clutched the train, but I felt melancholic. I felt incompetent, but also inspired. I was extremely grateful for the opportunity to *connect* with loads of people. At the same time, I was bludgeoned by this sense of sorrow. I felt *grief.* I might never get the chance to see any of them again.

I could not wrap my head around how people I just met, people who I, quite frankly, don’t really know, were able to impact me in such a profound way. Was it their expertise and dedication to their work? Was I seeking validation from people I view as great? Or perhaps, it was simply their pure, unadulterated aura.

Either way, lots to think about. Excited to apply the concepts I learned that day to my work.

## Final Thoughts

I never would have thought that attending a conference could greatly move me. I do recognise that this might just be a me thing - maybe I am just weird. I also recognise this might not be every conference; I was really lucky that my first experience went great. Regardless, my first conference was a success. I learnt a bunch of new things, I got to know lots of amazing new people, and I managed to get a few pints in. 

Attending this conference made me realise that I want to pursue this career. There are more amazing people to meet. More skills to learn. A great wave of inspiration has come, and I am excited to ride it.

P.S. I thought about going by Sam now. Still thinking.

Blogs

Being an Inclusive Developer

First Month as a Junior Developer

My First Conference