This website was built using Cursor AI

In the world of web accessibility, transparency about development processes is crucial. As we launch A11y Audits, I want to share our journey as we build out this website, highlighting the challenges we faced and the solutions we discovered.

The Squarespace Conundrum

When creating this site, I was curious about the accessibility of no-code web platforms. I decided to put Squarespace to the test, given its reputation for creating visually appealing websites quickly.

During my evaluation, I encountered a significant accessibility issue. The skip links, a crucial feature for keyboard navigation and screen reader users, were implemented with a tabindex of 1. This seemingly minor detail actually renders the skip links ineffective, as it disrupts the natural tab order of the page. This issue, known to Squarespace for years, remains to this day.

The persistence of such a fundamental accessibility flaw, particularly in a feature specifically designed for accessibility, on a major platform like Squarespace underscores the ongoing challenges in ensuring digital accessibility with popular, mainstream tools.

AI to the rescue!

To be candid, it wasn't a total shock that it didn't work out. As a backup I could have picked an accessible theme and gone with Wordpress.

Having invested considerable effort already, I decided to follow my instincts, despite advice from several programmers who cautioned against what they perceived as a burdensome choice. My goal was to build the site using a framework that would provide the flexibility to conduct experiments and offer AI products and tools.

Although I hadn't developed a Django site in over a decade and was admittedly rusty, I picked Django. This presented an excellent opportunity to explore Cursor, an AI-first code editor. This combination of a powerful framework and cutting-edge AI assistance promised to streamline the development process while meeting our specific needs.

You may be familiar with GitHub's CoPilot, which is also a great product. However, I was frustrated by the inability to create a system prompt that informed the AI about my context and priorities, ensuring it assists in the way I need.

Specifically, I wanted it to recommend only accessible code. Cursor offers this system prompt capability and more. You'll be hearing much more about Cursor in these pages in the coming days.