Jul 1, 2022
Accessibility in Next.js: Practical Habits That Actually Matter
nextjsaccessibilitya11yapp-router
Accessibility is not just a checkbox. This post walks through practical habits for building accessible UIs in a Next.js app: semantic HTML, proper use of next/link and next/image, keyboard navigation, focus management, skip links, and basic tooling.
1Emphasizes semantic HTML over “div soup” and shows better patterns for headings, sections, and buttons.
2Explains how to use next/link and next/image with meaningful link text and alt attributes.
3Covers accessible forms with labels, described-by error messages, and role="alert".
4Shows how to handle keyboard navigation and focus when routes change in the App Router and when using modals.
5Introduces skip links, landmarks, color contrast, and linting with eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y and simple a11y tests.