Accessible Components

Accessible Components

Overview

Accessibility is not a feature you add later — it's how you build interactive elements from the start. The single best move in a SaaS app is to use real semantic elements and Radix/shadcn primitives, which ship correct ARIA and keyboard behavior. Most a11y bugs come from re-inventing a button or dropdown with a <div>.

When to use

• Building any interactive control (menus, dialogs, tabs, toggles).
• Reviewing UI for keyboard and screen-reader support.
• A <div onClick> is standing in for a button.

Rule 1: Use the right element

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// ✗ Inaccessible: no focus, no Enter/Space, no role
<div onClick={save} className="btn">Save</div>

// ✓ Accessible for free
<button type="button" onClick={save} className="btn">Save</button>

A native <button> is focusable, fires on Enter/Space, and announces as a button. Same for <a> (navigation), <label> (form association), <nav>/<main>/<header> (landmarks).

Rule 2: Every input has a label

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<Label htmlFor="email">Email</Label>
<Input id="email" type="email" />

// Icon-only buttons need an accessible name:
<Button size="icon" aria-label="Close">
  <X className="h-4 w-4" aria-hidden />
</Button>

Decorative icons get aria-hidden; the control gets aria-label.

Rule 3: Visible focus, always

Never outline-none without a replacement. Use a focus ring on every interactive element:

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className="focus-visible:outline-none focus-visible:ring-2 focus-visible:ring-ring focus-visible:ring-offset-2"

:focus-visible shows the ring for keyboard users without flashing it on mouse clicks.

Rule 4: Keyboard support

• All actions reachable via Tab; logical order (don't fight the DOM with tabindex > 0).
• Esc closes overlays; Enter/Space activate; arrow keys move within menus/tabs/radios.
• Radix/shadcn primitives (DropdownMenu, Dialog, Tabs, Select) implement these — prefer them over hand-rolled widgets.

Rule 5: Announce dynamic changes

Screen readers miss silent DOM updates. Use live regions for async status:

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<p role="status" aria-live="polite">{saving ? "Saving…" : "All changes saved"}</p>

Toasts should render in an aria-live region (sonner/shadcn handle this — see notifications-and-toasts).

Quick checklist

• Color contrast ≥ 4.5:1 for text (3:1 for large/UI).
• Every control reachable and operable by keyboard.
• Visible focus indicator on each control.
• Inputs have associated labels; icon buttons have aria-label.
• State conveyed beyond color alone (icon/text too).
• Images have alt; decorative ones alt=""/aria-hidden.

Pitfalls

• <div onClick> instead of <button> — no keyboard, no role.
• outline-none with no focus replacement — keyboard users get lost.
• Placeholder as label — disappears on input, fails screen readers.
• Color-only state (red border, no message) fails colorblind users.
• Hand-rolled dropdowns/modals missing focus trap and arrow keys — use primitives.

Hand-off

The accessibility baseline every other skill assumes — forms-and-validation, modals-and-dialogs, and navigation-patterns all build on these rules.