Book Review: Practical Web Accessibility by Ashley Firth

As May comes to a close, we’re wrapping up one of our most practical and empowering reads yet in the Accessibility Book Club: Practical Web Accessibility: A Comprehensive Guide to Digital Inclusion (2nd Edition) by Ashley Firth. And after a full month of deep dives, reflections, and implementation, here’s our honest verdict:

10/10. Highly recommended.

Whether you're a designer, developer, strategist, writer, or accessibility specialist, this book delivers exactly what the title promises: practical guidance for making the web work for everyone.

With over 500 pages of insights, examples, and expert tips, it became a challenge to finish in just one month (especially while running a business full-time!). That said, this one is definitely coming back in 2026 so we can give it the full deep-dive it deserves. For now, here’s a look back on what we learned in each chapter and our favorite takeaways.

Chapter 1: The Accessibility Problem

We opened with a strong foundation on the global state of inaccessibility and why the web must do better.

Key Topics:

• Defining accessibility as a broad and essential standard
• Understanding how accessibility benefits everyone, not just people with disabilities
• The connection between accessibility and ethical design

Takeaway: Accessibility isn’t an edge case. It's a civil right.

Chapter 2: Blindness

We explored the accessibility tree, screen reader reliance, and the importance of semantic markup.

Key Topics:

• What is the accessibility tree and how it differs from the DOM
• How screen readers interpret websites
• Why semantic HTML is non-negotiable for blind users

Takeaway: Screen readers are only as effective as the code behind the interface. Don’t rely on technology to fix bad markup.

Chapter 3: Low Vision and Color Blindness

This chapter was packed with actionable insights that directly shaped our own work. It was also home to one of our favorite hands-on implementations: the theme switcher.

Key Topics:

• Never use pixels for text or spacing
• WCAG 1.4.12 line height and text spacing guidance
• Recommended fonts for readability and accessibility
• Practical implementation of a theme switcher with relative units and color system flexibility
• TL;DR summaries and their value for users with visual or cognitive challenges

Takeaway: Respect user preferences. Design for readability and adaptability. Implement changes—like the theme switcher—so users can control their experience.

Related Resource: WCAG 2.2 - Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.12: Text Spacing

Chapter 4: Motor Impairments

This chapter taught us how people with motor disabilities navigate digital content and how to meet them where they are.

Key Topics:

• Keyboard-only navigation and tabindex rules (0, -1, and why 1+ should be avoided)
• The importance of visible focus states (and the value of :focus-visible)
• Voice-to-text input as an increasingly common and necessary way to navigate
• Practical testing advice for tab order, focus management, and form interaction

Takeaway: Start with the keyboard. Everything else builds from there.

Related Resource: WCAG 2.2 - Understanding Success Criterion 2.4.7: Focus Visible

Chapter 5: Deafness and Hard of Hearing

We focused on creating equitable access for users who rely on visual or text-based alternatives to sound.

Key Topics:

• The difference between subtitles and closed captions and how each serves different needs
• The importance of transcripts for videos and podcasts

Takeaway: Audio-based content must have visual alternatives. Always offer multiple modes of access.

Chapter 6: Cognitive Impairments

This was one of the most profound and actionable chapters, especially as it overlaps with many of our real-world accessibility challenges.

Key Topics:

• Reducing cognitive load through clearer structure, visual hierarchy, and plain language
• The value of TL;DR summaries to help users absorb essential info quickly
• The COGA task force’s five practical recommendations for usable content
• How sensory overload and cluttered UI can trigger fragmentation or shutdown
• WCAG 3.1.5 and how TL;DRs help users with language barriers and processing limitations

Takeaway: Simpler is better. Give users clarity, structure, and multiple ways to interact with your content.

Related Resource: Making Content Usable for People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities (COGA)

Chapter 7: Mental Health

This chapter helped us understand how emotional well-being intersects with accessibility, especially for users navigating high-stress moments or chronic conditions.

Key Topics:

• The rise in mental health-related barriers post-COVID and how they impact digital engagement
• The emotional toll of overly complex user flows (especially when trying to cancel services)
• Why simplification, transparency, and control are crucial for protecting user agency
• Tools like JustDeleteMe that restore user autonomy

Takeaway: Mental health is affected by digital friction, pressure, and manipulation. Build supportive, not stressful, experiences.

Related Resource: JustDeleteMe

Chapter 10: Outsourcing Accessibility

We skipped ahead to this chapter because it sparked big, necessary conversations about how and where accessibility work gets done.

Key Topics:

• The misleading promises of accessibility overlays and why they rarely deliver what they claim
• Why overlays are not a replacement for proper design, semantic code, or WCAG conformance
• The Overlay Fact Sheet as a must-read community resource
• The tension between DIY website builders (Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, Webflow) and accessibility best practices
• The difference between accessibility-aware builds and fast, uninformed implementations on the same platform

Takeaway: There are no shortcuts to inclusion. Accessibility is a skill, a discipline, and a mindset—not a checkbox or a script.

Related Resource: Overlay Fact Sheet

Final Thoughts

Practical Web Accessibility has lived up to its name and then some. It was approachable, filled with real-world wisdom, and gave us insights and techniques we could implement immediately.

From concrete practices like revising line height, adding a TL;DR box, improving tab order, or building a theme switcher—this book made accessibility feel doable.

This one gets a 10/10 from the Accessibility Book Club, and we’ll absolutely revisit it in 2026 to complete the chapters we didn’t get to.

Huge thanks to Ashley Firth for writing a resource the accessibility community needed—and making it not just informative, but actionable.