The indie web, as of late, seems to have had an increased focus accessibility. In my eyes, this is an excellent shift in the right direction, but I also feel as though some have allowed it to directly hinder their creative processes.

Before I get into my rationale behind my thoughts, I'd like to preface my argument with the following: My site is not at all accessible, and quite frankly I need to actually make it mobile accessible as it's scrapped versions were. Despite this, I do strongly believe that sites should be accessible, but only to a certain degree.

That degree is the key component; I fully encourage people to make their site as easy to use for as many people as possible, but I also don't think this should be done at the compromise of style (within reason; don't make your site cause seizures). I've seen several sites completely lose their identities in their pursuit of being as accessible as possible, but the reality is that the results of optimizing your site for accessibility are diminishing past a certain point.

You don't have to deprive your site of any chance of having visual uniqueness just because one color is slightly less legible than the other. If your site is able to scale to varying screen sizes, and is fully compatible with a screen reader, than your site is perfectly accessible to 99% of the general population.

So many people seem to believe that their sites are far more serious than they are, but the reality is that, unless you're for some reason on Nekoweb/Neocities to host your portfolio, your site is a form of artistic expression. It's greatest purpose is to serve as a representation of yourself, and what you find to be visibly interesting.

You are not at all obligated to adhere to a set of visual standards just because they're the most accessible, and quite frankly, it saddens me to see sites grow more uniform in their adherence to these rules. As with everything in life, accessibility should be approached with moderation. You should not have your site entirely absurd visually, but you also should not leave your site entirely bland for the sake of accessibility.

tl;dr: dont be as dumb as i am, but also dont recreate the apple site.

cheers, tm