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Canvas Accessibility Layer

Canvas Accessibility Layer

1
posts
2026

Figma has developed a comprehensive system to make its canvas-based product accessible to users of assistive technologies. This involves creating a 'Mirror DOM' that synchronizes with the internal scenegraph, an internal accessibility tree to cache accessibility details, a bidirectional synchronization system for focus and selection, and an announcement system for user actions. This system allows screen readers to navigate and operate the editor, and keyboard-only users to interact with Figma files effectively.

2026

Building accessibility into a canvas-based product

7/1/2026

This post details the technical implementation of Figma's canvas accessibility features. It introduces the concept of a 'Mirror DOM' and an internal 'accessibility tree' that mirrors the scenegraph. It explains how these systems work together to provide screen readers with navigation and interaction capabilities, including handling affine transforms for positioning, synchronizing focus and selection between the canvas and the Mirror DOM, and using ARIA live regions for action announcements. The post also highlights the evolution of this feature over several years, starting with prototype viewers and expanding to the main canvas.