Accessibility

Intuit builds products that help people live independent lives. Our products must reach everyone, regardless of their physical, sensory, or cognitive ability.

Symbols represent accessibility

Navigating websites

Headings help users navigate pages, understand the structure of a page, and jump directly to the sections that interest them the most. We use heading tags (like H1, H2, and so on) to make this structure visible and easy to navigate.

Keep in mind that the heading structure may not always match the visual hierarchy—structure is more important. Use the correct heading and make it larger or smaller if needed. 


Standard heading usages


H1: Typically one of the first lines on a page, drawer, trowser, modal, or panel. This tells a screen reader they've reached the top of the page. It should also reference the purpose of the site.


H2: The purpose of the page. For instance, "Banking" on the QuickBooks Online Banking screen.


H3: The most common heading. Use this for modules and subsections of a screen.


H4: Subheadings within modules.

Guiding principles

Intuit’s accessibility guidelines are based on the WCAG 2.1 AA requirements, which have been recognized as the international standard for accessibility. These standards support all customers by asking 4 questions: 


  • Is it perceivable? 
  • Is it operable?
  • Is it understandable?
  • Is it robust?


These terms have specific accessibility meanings that guide our work.

Interacting with pages

Buttons, links, and interactive elements must work for people who don't use a mouse and navigate and interact with a page using their keyboard. All interactive elements must have proper labels to communicate what the user is focused on and the elements must be activated with the Enter/Return key.


For example, a customer wants to add a bank to their Mint account. A window appears with a form for the bank information. We need to put focus on the form so they can immediately begin interacting with this content. We don’t want to leave focus on the background screen and force them to hit the Tab key until focus eventually ends up in the window.

Visuals

Blindness

People who are blind can’t perceive images. Therefore, all images that convey meaning must be accompanied by an alternative text description. The alternate text is also displayed when an image cannot load and provides important information for search engines. 

Alt attributes

Images lacking alt attributes are one of the most common and frustrating accessibility errors on the web. This powerful, 30-second video shows the impact to an Intuit customer during a Follow-Me-Home interview: Customer impact of an image without an alt attribute (.mp4)


Everyone at Intuit has the responsibility of adding alternate text, whether it’s in a Word or Google document, social media post, emails, or website.

Image context

Consider what the image represents. Is it providing context to the story? Is it providing text or an icon? Or is the image purely decorative?

Talk with our accessibility experts

Sign up for accessibility office hours to explore inclusive design, get a code review, learn about Intuit’s Ability Network, testing, and much more.