Tailwind CSS Screen Readers

Screen readers are assistive technologies that read the content of a web page out loud, making it possible for visually impaired users to consume the content. In Tailwind CSS, you can use the sr-only class to hide content visually while still making it available to screen reader users.

Syntax

<span class="sr-only">Hidden text for screen readers</span>

Example

<button class="bg-blue-500 text-white hover:bg-blue-700">
  <span class="sr-only">Submit</span>
  <i class="fas fa-paper-plane"></i>
</button>

Output

The above example will produce a button with an icon, visually appearing as:

However, a screen reader user will hear:

Submit button

Explanation

The sr-only class is used to hide content visually, which makes it available to users relying on assistive technologies such as screen readers. The text inside the tag is still available to screen readers but not visible to sighted users, making the website more accessible.

Use

The sr-only class can be used on any HTML tag that contains text that needs to be hidden visually. This is particularly useful for:

• Hidden labels for form elements
• Descriptive text for icons or images
• Instructions or error messages for form fields

Important Points

• Use sr-only class to hide text that only needs to be available to screen readers.
• Don't use sr-only class to hide important information as it will also hide the content from sighted users.
• Don't use sr-only class to hide entire sections of a page, use other techniques such as Aria attributes to hide them.

Summary

Tailwind CSS provides a sr-only class that can be used to make content available to screen readers while hiding it visually. This helps to make the website more accessible for visually impaired users.