Assessing the Accessibility of Notion

Accessibility is the foundation of truly inclusive digital tools, ensuring every user, regardless of ability, can engage seamlessly. In this post, we turn our attention to Notion—a powerful platform celebrated for its versatility and innovation—and evaluate its accessibility features. How well does it support users with diverse needs? Using a combination of WCAG compliance evaluations and cognitive walkthroughs, we explore Notion’s strengths and identify areas for growth. We aim to uncover opportunities for Notion to become not just a tool for productivity but a benchmark for inclusivity in the digital workspace.

Through our design evaluation, our group identified several failures of WCAG guidelines in the desktop version of Notion. Key issues included alt text, contrast, and tabbing, which hinder accessibility for users with low vision or those who rely on keyboard navigation.

We performed a cognitive walkthrough from the perspective of a persona named Lea, who deals with chronic fatigue and pain due to fibromyalgia and uses speech software like Dragon Naturally Speaking (or Voice Control, which we tested with). We found that Lea may struggle with accidentally tabbing into editable text fields without a straightforward way to exit, as Notion doesn’t inform users about the ‘esc’ key to resume tabbing ability. Additionally, many interactive elements are only accessible via tabbing or Voice Control if the cursor hovers over them first, making them difficult to focus on with assistive technology.

To complete our accessibility audit, we gathered user feedback from sites like Reddit to understand how users perceive Notion’s digital accessibility. Some point out how Notion has changed its text contrast in the last three years and worsened the ratio. Others complain about the user’s lack of ability to manually adjust contrast or change the colorways beyond a light and a dark mode. It is important to mention that, currently, Notion does not have effective communication about their accessibility efforts.

Reddit Post for 'How accessible is Notion?' from 3 years ago — Reddit Post for ‘How accessible is Notion?’ from 3 years ago

As discussed, Notion has a lot to improve in terms of accessibility. However, many existing accessibility features are still unknown to many Notion users. Disabled users can use these to access Notion more easily and by the Notion community to make personalized public/collaborative pages accessible to everyone. Therefore, we decided to create a Tips for Accessibility in Notion page that gives a brief overview of accessibility features that Notion currently offers and how users can implement them.

See the Tips for Accessibility in Notion page!

Website screenshot for Tips for Accessibility in Notion

As designers and researchers, we strongly advocate for Notion to develop a more inclusive and accessible interface. Through WCAG design evaluation and cognitive walkthrough, we have highlighted a few immediate modifications, spanning both design and code. However, Notion must go beyond these fixes and formulate a comprehensive strategy for becoming an accessible platform. Since Notion has stepped into the AI realm, it should prioritize accessibility to ensure its new AI chat feature is inclusive, enabling users of all abilities to engage fully and benefit from its capabilities. Additionally, Notion will establish user trust if they set clear milestones for their accessibility efforts and communicate transparently. We envision Notion evolving its functionality, enhancing accessibility, and improving usability—empowering diverse users while ensuring everyone can stay organized comfortably and maximize productivity.

Thank You!!

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