Accessible Astro Components

A set of Accessible, easy to use, Front-end UI Components for Astro. Most of these components are used in the Accessible Astro Starter and the Accessible Astro Dashboard themes and they provide exemplary use cases for these components. As a bonus, these themes also have their own dedicated components (like keyboard accessible and responsive navigations) and many Design System utility classes, patterns and primatives (such as grids, buttons, lists, spacings, sizes and more).

Installation

Run the following command in your project folder to get started:

npm install accessible-astro-components --save-dev

Usage

You can import the different components from the package using the following import statement:

---
import { Accordion, AccordionItem, Card, Modal, ... } from 'accessible-astro-components'
---

Skip to: Accordion, Card, DarkMode, Media, Modal, Notification, Pagination, SkipLinks

Accordion

• Live demo
• When (not) to use

Accordions are great from grouping big chunks of content into easer to scan headers which the user can expand when he or she wants to read what is associated with that header.

Some (accessibility) features of the Accordion:

• Navigation the AccordionItems using the ArrowUp and ArrowDown keys
• Closing an opened AccordionItem using the Escape key
• Helps identify content to screen reader users with aria-controls, aria-labelledby, aria-expanded
• Using an unordered list structure to tell screen readers users how many items there are and which they are currently on

Example

---
import { Accordion, AccordionItem } from 'accessible-astro-components'
---
<Accordion>
  <AccordionItem
    header="First Item"
  >
    <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit. Architecto quasi nobis optio? Qui in quo accusantium debitis sapiente obcaecati magnam incidunt sit. Molestiae exercitationem quibusdam quod veritatis laboriosam est tenetur. </p>
    <a href="#">Tab to me!</a>
  </AccordionItem>
  <AccordionItem
    header="Second Item"
  >
    <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit. Architecto quasi nobis optio? Qui in quo accusantium debitis sapiente obcaecati magnam incidunt sit. Molestiae exercitationem quibusdam quod veritatis laboriosam est tenetur. </p>
  </AccordionItem>

  <!-- ... -->

</Accordion>

Overwriting styles

You can apply your own styles by either setting the individual properties using :global(body .accordion__item) for example, or set up a global style tag and define your styles in there:

<style lang="scss" is:global>
  body .accordion__item {
    button {
      background-color: purple;

      &:hover
      &:focus {
        background-color: peru;
      }
    }

    &.is-active button {
      background-color: peru;
    }
  }
</style>

Card

• Live demo

Cards are usually used in groups. By wrapping them in an unordered list we provide screen reader users with shortcuts to lists and list items. Screen readers also let the users know how many items there are in a list. In the example below you'll find the structure using an unordered list and display: grid, making sure we leave enough of a gap between Cards on touch devices for people who find they have low accuracy when targeting items, including those with Parkinson's disease and rheumatism. Leaving a bigger gap makes it easer to scroll without accidentally activating a Cards link.

Some (accessibility) features of the Card:

• The whole Card is made clickable using the <a> ::after pseudo element
• The user still has access to the context menu when right clicking on the Card
• The title is an <h3> so it can be used in many contexts (<h2> would be too limiting
• To maintain readable text within the Card on larger screen sizes, max-width is set to 70ch

Example

---
import { Card } from 'accessible-astro-components'
---
<ul>
  <li>
    <Card
      url="/link-to-my-post"
      img="/assets/post-cover.jpg"
      title="My Awesome Post"
      footer="Tony Stark"
    >
      Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
    </Card>
  </li>
  <li>
    <!-- ... -->
  </li>
</ul>

<style lang="scss">
  ul {
    display: grid;
    grid-template-columns: 1fr;
    grid-gap: 4rem;

    @media (min-width: 550px) {
      grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr);
      grid-gap: 2rem;
    }

    @media (min-width: 950px) {
      grid-template-columns: repeat(3, 1fr);
    }
  }
</style>

Overwriting styles

You can apply your own styles by either setting the individual properties using :global(body .card) for example, or set up a global style tag and define your styles in there:

<style lang="scss" is:global>
  body .card {
    color: purple;
    background-color: blue;

    a {
      color: gold;
    }
  }

  // set your own image height
  .card__image {
    height: 10rem;
  }
</style>

DarkMode

• Live demo

DarkMode is a toggle button component to add and remove a class of .darkmode to the <body> based on the users preference for either a light or dark color scheme. The users preference is saved to the localStorage to preserve their choice for future visits.

Some (accessibility) features of the DarkMode:

• Utilizes aria-pressed to indicate to screen reader users whether the dark scheme is toggled or not
• Gives feedback to screen reader users which state is toggled using aria-label's
• Uses aria-hidden to hide the icons for dark and light mode and uses the aria-labels's instead

Example

---
import { DarkMode } from 'accessible-astro-components'
---
<DarkMode />

<style lang="scss">
  body.darkmode {
    // define your dark color scheme
  }
</style>

Media

• Live demo
• When is an image descriptive

Media is a very simple component used for <img> tags. It has a default empty alt tag which is required for non-decorative images. Should the image be descriptive, for example when there's no (complementary) text, then you should always write a good descriptive alt tag. The Media component also utilizes the loading="lazy" tag to optimize performance from the browsers side.

Some (accessibility) features of the Media:

• Sets a default empty alt tag which is always required for non descriptive images.

Example

---
import { Media } from 'accessible-astro-components'
---
<Media
  classes="elevation-300 radius-large"
  src="https://unsplash.com/photos/d0oYF8hm4GI"
  alt="A tiny toy astronaut, sitting on a yellow toy moon"
/>

Modal

• Live demo
• When (not) to use

Modals are windows that appear on top of the parent screen, usually disabling the use of the parent screen and demanding immediate action from the user. They are pretty intrusive, so use them wisely. Though, they can be handy to confirm (destructive) actions from the user before proceeding. If you only want to communicate a notification, don't use a Modal but use the Notification component (coming soon) instead. Always combine the Modal with some kind of user action, for example, confirming the deletion of an item in an application. Modals are usually triggered by a <button>. By providing the button with an id you can link the button to the Modal, providing necessary functionality for opening the targeted Modal. You can also customize the text of the close Modal action using the closeText prop on the Modal.

Some (accessibility) features of the Modal:

• Closing Modal with the Escape key
• Trapping focus inside Modal using Tab and Shift + Tab
• Linking the trigger element and the Modal using id and aria-labbeledby
• Setting focus back on the element that triggered the Modal after closing the Modal
• Teleporting the Modal from where you call it to the root of the <body>
• Exposing closeModal() function to use as a callback in your own JavaScript

Example

---
import { Modal } from 'accessible-astro-components'
---
<button id="modal1-trigger">Modal 1</button>
<button id="modal2-trigger">Modal 2</button>

<Modal
  triggerId="modal1-trigger"
  title="Modal 1"
>
  <p>Why hello, I be the <strong>first</strong> Modal.</p>
</Modal>
<Modal
  triggerId="modal2-trigger"
  title="Modal 2"
  closeText="Cancel"
>
  <p>Ah yes, and I be the <strong>second</strong> Modal.</p>
  <!-- 
    calls the closeModal function, you can also use this 
    as a callback in your own function
  -->
  <button onclick="closeModal()">Confirm action</button>
</Modal>

Overwriting styles

You can apply your own styles by either setting the individual properties using :global(body .modal) for example, or set up a global style tag and define your styles in there:

<style lang="scss" is:global>
  body {
    .modal__inner {
      color: purple;
      background-color: gold;
      border-color: orange;
    }

    .modal__content {
      gap: 1.5rem;
      padding: 1rem;
    }

    .modal__close button {
      background-color: blue;

      &:hover,
      &:focus {
        background-color: green;
      }
    }
  }
</style>

Notification

• Live demo

Notifications are often used to keep the user updated about changing state on a website or application. They can also be used as a general way to display some highlighted information in an article for example. There are two rules of thumb when it comes to Notifications and those are to always add contextual information about the Notification (such as starting with "Tip:", "Info:", "Error:") and when adding a Notification to the DOM in response to a user action, you should always userole="status" and aria-live="polite" tot inform screen reader users. To add some extra visuals you can combine the Notification component with Astro Icon.

Some (accessibility) features of the Notification:

• Use color to identify the type of Notification (info, success, warning, error)
• Provide contextual feedback besides just color by mentioning what type of Notification is displayed
• Help identify content to screen reader users with role="status" and aria-live="polite"

Example

---
import { Notification } from 'accessible-astro-components'
---
<Notification
  type="info"
>
  <p><strong>Info:</strong> This is a notification of type info.</p>
</Notification>

<!-- example using Astro Icon -->
<Notification
  type="info"
>
  <Icon pack="ion" name="information-circle-outline" /><p><strong>Info:</strong> This is a notification of type info.</p>
</Notification>

<!-- when added to the DOM after a user interaction -->
<Notification
  type="info"
  role="status"
  aria-live="polite"
>
  <p><strong>Info:</strong> This is a notification of type info.</p>
</Notification>

Overwriting styles

You can apply your own styles by either setting the individual properties using :global(body .notification) for example, or set up a global style tag and define your styles in there:

<style lang="scss" is:global>
  body {
    .notification {
      color: var(--neutral-900, #202427);
      background-color: var(--neutral-200, #f6f8f9);
      border: 2px solid var(--neutral-600, #858d93);

      &.type-info {
        color: var(--info-900, #035486);
        background-color: var(--info-100, #e0f7ff);
        border-color: var(--info-600, #1a91d1);
      }

      &.type-success {
        color: var(--success-900, #014b3e);
        background-color: var(--success-100, #eefcf6);
        border-color: var(--success-500, #28a980);
      }

      &.type-warning {
        color: var(--warning-900, #8e2a0b);
        background-color: var(--warning-100, #fffbeb);
        border-color: var(--warning-600, #dc901e);
      }

      &.type-error {
        color: var(--error-900, #5e0317);
        background-color: var(--error-100, #ffe0e0);
        border-color: var(--error-500, #df2a39);
      }
    }
  }
</style>

Pagination

• Live demo

A fairly simple yet effective Pagination component, showing a previous and next page and indicating to the user the current page it is on and the total pages that are available. This is a great component to show on pages generated by a search request for example.

Some (accessibility) features of the Pagination:

• Uses aria-label's to tell the user whether they will go to the previous or next page
• Uses aria-hidden to hide the icons for the previous and next pages

Example

---
import { Pagination } from 'accessible-astro-components'
---
<Pagination 
  previousPage="/page2"
  nextPage="/page4"
  currentPage="3"
  totalPages="12"
/>

Overwriting styles

You can apply your own styles by either setting the individual properties using :global(body .pagination) for example, or set up a global style tag and define your styles in there:

<style lang="scss" is:global>
  body .pagination a {
    svg path {
      stroke: gold;
    }

    &:hover,
    &:focus-visible {
      background-color: purple;

      svg path {
        stroke: white;
      }
    }
  }
</style>

SkipLinks

• Live demo

SkipLinks provide a way for users using assistive technologies to skip repeated content on pages to go directly to either the main navigation or the main content of a website or application. To use this component properly, make sure you give the main navigation of your project an id of #main-navigation and the main content of your project an id of #main-content so the SkipLinks can target them.

Some (accessibility) features of the SkipLinks:

• Let's assistive technologies skip to the main navigation and main content of a website

Example

---
import { SkipLink } from 'accessible-astro-components'
---
<SkipLinks />

Overwriting styles

You can apply your own styles by either setting the individual properties using :global(body .skiplinks) for example, or set up a global style tag and define your styles in there:

<style lang="scss" is:global>
  body .skiplinks a {
    color: white;
    background-color: purple;

    &:hover
    &:focus {
      background-color: indigo;
    }
  }
</style>

Other Accessible Astro projects

• Accessible Astro Starter
• Accessible Astro Dashboard
• Accessible Astro Documentation

Helping out

If you find that something isn't working right then I'm always happy to hear it to improve these components! You can contribute in many ways and forms. Let me know by either:

1. Filing an issue
2. Submitting a pull request
3. Starting a discussion
4. Buying me a coffee!

Thank you!

A big thank you to the creators of Astro and to all using these components and the information to make the web a bit more accessible for all people around the world :) Also a big thanks to creators around the web for providing us with information to build accessible web interfaces, such as Zell Liew from Learn JavaScript Today and Heydon Pickering, the author of Inclusive Components and many more.