Code base accessibility has been a long-time concern for developers across all professional disciplines and levels of proficiency. Not only is a clean code base easier to navigate and requires fewer refactors, it is becoming increasingly more essential in order to develop an accessible web or mobile application from scratch. This article will take you through the benefits of maintaining a legible codebase, as well as tools that will help you keep accessibility in mind before products are deployed to the public.
Benefits of a Clean Code Base
- Easier testing processes: Cleaner code will reduce effort in identifying the source of unit or manual test failures, and require less time to resolve when functions are correctly and efficiently structured.
- Less maintenance effort: Structurally correct and consistent code will significantly reduce the amount of refactoring that needs to be conducted in retrospect, freeing up time and effort developers could use towards other features. With consistent standards, developers will also improve precision and meet delivery expectations with less time.
- Increased Collaboration and Productivity: A clean, readable code base with appropriate comments and documentation will guide other developers in understanding your code faster, and allow them to create additions or remediations that efficiently integrate with existing code.
Strategies to Maintain a Clean Code Base
- Meaningful variable and function names: The names of all your variables and functions should be meaningful and correctly identify their usage or purpose in the code. Avoid vague names such as “a” or “num” that do not provide insight into its function. Naming conventions should also be consistent throughout the code base for better readability.
- Reuse smaller functions: Avoid large functions that try to accomplish more than one task all at once. Instead, try to break down functions into smaller, manageable chunks that focus on one goal, and reuse these functions whenever needed to avoid repetitive code.
- Add informative comments: Comments should be clear, concise, and not a simple duplicate of the code. Any ambiguous names or code blocks should be clearly defined and explained. Always add TODO comments if implementation is unfinished, or the code base will be handed off to someone else.
Creating an Accessible Website from a Clean Code Base
As more accessibility regulations become mandated across the world, companies often need to find tools that help remediate their digital assets to meet compliance standards retrospectively. Going forward, in order to properly address accessibility requirements, applications should be developed with accessibility in mind before deployment.
How YuJa Helps You
The new YuJa EqualGround DevAssist Module helps developers identify and resolve accessibility issues directly in the VS Code IDE. Powered by advanced AI engines, YuJa DevAssist will notify users of small issues such as missing alt text attributes on non-text content, allowing users to meet accessibility compliance requirements before the product goes live. This will significantly reduce the amount of time and effort required for retroactive remediation, and helps developers maintain a clean, correctly structured code base from the start.
Read more about the YuJa EqualGround DevAssist Module here.
