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Exceptions to 1.1.1: When the Alt Text Isn’t the Answer

Exceptions to 1.1.1: When the Alt Text Isn’t the Answer

Published on October 12, 2026

Last week I was at the National Association of Government Web Professionals (NAGW) to present on my atomic hub-and-spoke model (more on this soon). While I was there, I was talking with Rob Carr from the WebAIM team, and we were doing what two accessibility people do when they get together: complaining. This time it was about educational tools, specifically the people who build them misunderstanding how the exceptions to 1.1.1 work.

Everyone knows 1.1.1 Non-text Content. It’s the first criterion, the most-tested, the one that shows up in every automated scanner output. All non-text content needs a text alternative that serves an equivalent purpose.

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Speaking at NAGW this Week

Speaking at NAGW this Week

Published on October 5, 2026

It’s been a wild few weeks. September 1st I flew to Boston for a few days. Tried to have a vacation. I was in Chicago for two conferences at the end of that week. I had a few doctor’s appointments. Most of September was working in AI instructions to help our teams move faster. This weekend, I was in Steven’s Point, Wisconsin with my wife so she could attend a conference. We got home Saturday around dinner time, and I’ve been crashed out since.

NAGW 2026 Conference in Milwaukee: Proud to be speaking - Nat Tarnoff, Principal Accessibility Consultant, Level Access. October 6 through 9th. www.nagw.com

Today is Monday, and tomorrow I’ll be in Milwaukee for the National Association of Government Web Professionals (NAGW). There are a whole bunch of talks this year on accessibility, including my own.

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I’ll be discussing the ways small groups can have a huge impact on the bigger organization through hub-and-spoke models, but I have a upward spin that I think makes more sense for folks. Taking a little from the CSS/design of the web, I have an atomic model that truly helps spread and manage accessibility.

If you are at the conference, come on by, say hi and give me your thoughts. If you aren’t, don’t worry, I’m working on a bigger piece.

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A11y 101 – 3.3.8 Accessible Authentication (Minimum)

A11y 101 – 3.3.8 Accessible Authentication (Minimum)

Published on September 28, 2026

You’re using a password manager. The site forces you to type the password manually because it doesn’t allow clipboard access.

Or you’re trying to log in. The site asks you to prove you’re not a robot. You click through eight squares showing traffic lights. One has a tiny piece in it. You misclick. Try again. Fail twice more. After ten minutes, you give up planning to try and pay your bills tomorrow.

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Coming Home

Coming Home

Published on September 22, 2026

I’ve had some time off from this blog, from work, and had hoped to just relax. Apparently, that wasn’t in the cards for my vacation. But nonetheless, I’m back and at the desk planning out the next few articles, as well as some ideas on where I think the industry is headed, or should be in my opinion.

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A11y 101 – 4.1.3 Status Messages

A11y 101 – 4.1.3 Status Messages

Published on August 31, 2026

In the Sherlock Holmes story “Silver Blaze,” the key clue is that a dog did nothing. The dog didn’t bark when an intruder entered. That silence was the evidence.

Your website has the same problem.

A user submits a form. The page doesn’t reload. A loading spinner appears. It vanishes. Something happened—maybe success, maybe failure, maybe the system just gave up. But nothing spoke. Nothing announced. The status message was painted on the screen for sighted users and completely invisible to anyone who couldn’t see it.

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A11y 101 – 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value

A11y 101 – 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value

Published on August 24, 2026

Here’s the thing about screen readers that most developers never learn until it’s too late: they don’t see what you see. They don’t render pixels. They don’t read CSS. They read the accessibility tree.

And if your HTML is a <div> with a click handler and no label, the accessibility tree has nothing to say. To a screen reader, that <div> doesn’t exist.

That’s the core problem WCAG 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value addresses. And honestly, it’s the single most important criterion for making your interface visible to assistive technology.

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The R2 Unit We Deserve vs. The Cloud We’re Selling Our Souls Into

The R2 Unit We Deserve vs. The Cloud We’re Selling Our Souls Into

Published on August 18, 2026

Ever since A New Hope dropped in 1977, and I saw how R2-D2 helped Luke & Han rescue Leia, I’ve wanted my own Droid. Not a marketing gimmick, not a surveillance drone—just a little friend to help organize my life. A pocket R2-D2. For decades, I chased every piece of tech that came out, hoping to find the magic. Digital notebooks, mini laptops, PDAs, iPads, iPhones, Verizon’s Official Star Wars themed Droid phone (yeah, I’m that nerdy). Nothing stuck.

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A11y 101 – 3.3.7 Redundant Entry

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A11y 101 – 3.3.7 Redundant Entry

Published on August 10, 2026

You’re shopping online at your favorite store. You set up an account for future visits. You fill out your name, email, shipping address, billing info, card details. You save the info.

You start shopping and add some items to the cart. The checkout form asks for all that information again. Name, email, address, card. All of it. Fresh blanks.

You stare at the screen. “Didn’t you already know this?”

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A11y 101 – 3.3.4 Error Prevention

A11y 101 – 3.3.4 Error Prevention

Published on August 3, 2026

Imagine buying a car. You sign a contract. Then you discover the dealership changed the interest rate after you clicked “Accept.” Or you transfer money to a bank account. You confirm the transaction. Then you realize you sent it to the wrong person—and the funds are gone.

These aren’t typos. These aren’t forgotten passwords. These are consequential actions with legal, financial, or irreversible data implications.

And if your interface doesn’t protect users from making these mistakes, you’re not just violating WCAG—you’re exposing yourself to liability.

That’s the core of WCAG 3.3.4: Error Prevention. Unlike 3.3.3, which is about helping users fix field-level validation errors, 3.3.4 is about preventing catastrophic mistakes before they happen.

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A11y 101 – 3.3.3 Error Suggestion

A11y 101 – 3.3.3 Error Suggestion

Published on July 27, 2026

You submit a form. An error flashes: “Invalid.” That’s it.

Invalid what? Invalid how? Invalid because you used the wrong format, or invalid because the email is already taken, or invalid because the server had a seizure and forgot what an email even is?

For all the user knows, the system is lying. The form is broken. They’re blocked, with nowhere to go.

That’s where WCAG 3.3.3: Error Suggestion comes in. And its message is simple: tell people how to fix it.

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Wednesday 2:30 PM Central Room AB