Key Accessibility Takeaways from Google I/O 2025

Here's what caught our eye

The Google I/O 2025 conference took place over a month ago, and we've spent time digesting the main accessibility-related themes.

The one central theme is reducing the need for custom-built components like carousels and select boxes, shifting more of the heavy lifting to the browser itself.

• Built-in browser carousel support. Carousels can now be created using just CSS, eliminating the need for JavaScript-heavy implementations. This helps avoid many of the accessibility pitfalls common in custom carousels. However, support is currently limited to Chrome and Edge, so it’s a promising foundation rather than a drop-in solution.
• Stylable <select> element. A long-awaited improvement that allows full CSS styling without sacrificing keyboard support. This eliminates the need for brittle JavaScript replacements, but developer awareness will be key to widespread adoption.
• Baseline project coverage. The Baseline initiative now reflects nearly 100% of web platform features and includes mobile support. It offers developers a reliable way to identify which features are safe to use across browsers. Though time will tell whether it becomes a core part of daily workflows or remains a helpful reference on the side.

Summary

While accessibility wasn’t a headline topic at Google I/O 2025, the underlying improvements to native HTML components are a step forward.

There's less reliance on JavaScript and better built-in behaviours for common controls.

These features support accessible development by default though cross-browser limitations mean they’re not quite ready for full-scale adoption.