Accessibility is a foundational principle, not a feature. Yet, I've seen many engineers, designers, and product owners get overly excited about "creative" interfaces, believing they've invented a better way to accomplish a simple task.
The typical reality is that their unusual design is unusable for anyone but them. It fails for three critical reasons: there's no common knowledge for the user to draw upon, it doesn't use standardized components that are built with accessibility in mind, and it doesn't perform consistently across all devices.
The Hidden Genius of Standard Components
The nuances, research, and levels of effort that have gone into standard interface elements are far more involved than you might initially think.
A standard HTML <button> element is a masterpiece of engineering:
- It's Semantically Clear: It tells screen readers and other assistive technologies, "I am a button, I am interactive." A
<div>with a click event tells them nothing. - It's Keyboard Accessible by Default: It can be focused using the Tab key and activated with both Enter and the Spacebar, all without you writing a single line of JavaScript.
- It Respects User Settings: It adapts to the user's browser settings for font size, color contrast, and other accessibility needs.
When you decide to build your own "button" from a <div>, you are now on the hook for manually re-implementing every single one of these behaviors, and countless others you haven't even thought of. You are reinventing a wheel, and your new version will almost certainly be less round.
Creativity Thrives Within Constraints
This is not an argument against creativity. It's an argument for focusing that creativity where it matters. Don't waste your innovative energy on building a slightly different dropdown menu. Instead, pour it into solving your user's core problem in a truly novel way using the robust, tested, and accessible tools available to you.
There are plenty of outlets for productive creativity when working with standardized tools: a brilliant user flow, clever micro-copy, a unique data visualization, or an elegant simplification of a complex process.
Often, the best creativity is born out of working with restrictions. By embracing the constraints of accessible, standard components, you are not limiting your design; you are ensuring that it is compliant, usable, and enjoyable for all of your users, universally. And that is the foundation of a truly great product.