I've been online in some form or other since 1993. Back in 1993, everything was basically accessible by default, because it was plain text.

No, there has not been an improvement, and in fact, things have gotten worse in a lot of ways. Most of that is due to SPAs, and people who decide to use JavaScript when HTML widgets would suffice.

I'm also involved with a text mode web browser project, [edbrowse](https://edbrowse.org/). Ten years ago, it was feasible to use edbrowse for a great deal of online activity. For instance, I used it to make purchases from Amazon and other online stores. I could log into Paypal and send money with it.

Then, in the mid 2010s or so, SPAs started becoming a thing and edbrowse broke on more and more sites. At this point, in 2024, I can't even use it to read READMEs on Github.

And yes, I have accessibility trouble when using mainstream browsers too, all the time.