matrix-org / matrix-org/matrix.org
Enhance Footer Social Media Icon Usability & Accessibility
- Dominant language
- JavaScript
- Stars
- 616
- Forks
- 463
- Avg merge
- 2d 3h
- Merged PRs (30d)
- 19
Description
### Problem
The website footer displays social media links as icons only (e.g., GitHub, Mastodon, etc.), but these have several usability and accessibility challenges:
- Icon-only links rely on user familiarity; users may not recognize all icons
- No label appears on hover, so destinations are not clearly communicated for sighted users
- Accessibility is limited for screen reader and keyboard users (insufficient labeling, ambiguous links)
### Proposed Enhancement
- Ensure each social icon link is a proper `` so that browsers show the destination URL on hover
- Add a hover label (tooltip or `title` attribute) indicating the platform name
- Add appropriate `aria-label` attributes to each link for accessibility
- Keep styling minimal and consistent with the current design
### Expected Outcome
- Footer social link usability, discoverability, and accessibility are improved
- No major layout change or alteration to interaction, just additional cues and assistive labeling
- Changes are limited to footer markup and minor CSS adjustments if needed
### Scope
- Update restricted to the website footer only
- No impact on site-wide visual design or site structure
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start by locating the website footer markup and its existing social-media links, then inspect the rendered footer and current styles. Update only the footer links so each has a destination, platform-specific hover text, and an accessible label while preserving the existing appearance. Done means the links are clear on hover and usable with screen readers and keyboards without a major layout change.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- javascript
- Domain
- accessibility, frontend, web-dev
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 2/5
- Estimated time
- 1-3 hours
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 55/100