Improving Accessibility Through Design Systems
summary
Argues for semantic-first, ARIA-as-fallback coding, cites WebAIM findings (106,145 errors on one homepage; ARIA-using pages show ~34% more errors), and demonstrates practical fixes: a Sass contrast function that auto-selects accessible foregrounds, Storybook for documented components, and Radix/Shadcn as good primitives. Reports running a design system rollout that cuts accessibility defects from 300+ down to 13 (those remaining tied to third-party content), and recommends baked-in rules for color, headings, focus, and plain-language links.
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