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ShatGPT

Steve Faulkner gives a frank accessibility review of the ChatGPT UI:

1. The chat history is not navigable using the keyboard, as the links are not focusable. It makes use of <a> markup without a href or tabindex, so is not keyboard-accessible.
2. The UI contains lots of unlabelled buttons, relying on icons alone to convey intent. JAWS announces them as “unlabelled button 1, unlabelled button 2, unlabelled button 3” – good luck using the interface!
3. Similarly, the buttons fail WCAG 1.4.11 Non-text contrast, as their contrast ratio is just 2.1:1.
4. The information panel describing “Reasoning/Speed” and “Conciseness” is largely hidden from screen reader users.

Steve goes on to try to ask ChatGPT how it should make the markup more accessible, and is not impressed with the result.

But I think the bigger takeaway is that this multi-billion dollar company clearly has little regard for the accessibility of its product, which seems to be a trend with hyped and emerging technologies. So frustrating.

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