oklab() and oklch() are okay versions of lab() and lch() because lab() and lch() are not okay. I will not pretend that I really understand this whole color on the web thing, how it works or why one color function offers many more options to developers than the other, but I did learn several things… Continue reading Day 98: oklab() and oklch()
Category: Accessibility
Incentive Structures for Diary Studies
Summary: A mindful incentive structure can keep diary study participants engaged and responding, without overloading you with low-quality responses. Compared to other UX research studies, diary studies — especially longer ones — are particularly vulnerable to high participant attrition — when participants stop submitting entries or responding. One of the strongest levers against attrition is… Continue reading Incentive Structures for Diary Studies
Zen, Zed, and Zits
Don’t worry, this post is not about zits, but something comparably annoying: Zen and Zed. One is a browser and the other an editor. Even writing this, I don’t know which is which. Their names and icons are so similar that I keep getting them confused. I couldn’t take it anymore; I had to take… Continue reading Zen, Zed, and Zits
CSS! CSS! CSS!
I just came home after three beautiful days in Amsterdam, where I gave a talk at the CSS Day conference. I’ve watched many inspirational and engaging presentations and had many interesting conversations. My biggest takeaway: The CSS community needs you! First things first: CSS Day is a wonderful event, and the community is lovely. If… Continue reading CSS! CSS! CSS!
The Core Skill of Design in the AI Era: Critique
Summary: To build useful and usable AI-powered systems, our understanding of users’ needs and our design judgement must be encoded into well-defined evaluation criteria. Design Decisions in Generative AI Systems Imagine asking a large language model a question like “How’s the weather today?” The response might include too much information (“it’s 72 degrees, and it… Continue reading The Core Skill of Design in the AI Era: Critique
Syntax podcast episode 623: “Nothing in CSS” errata
I just listened to the Syntax podcast for the first time because they were discussing topics near and dear to my heart, HTML and CSS. The episode is called “Nothing in CSS – 0 vs 0px, no, none, hidden, initial and unset”, and they’re talking about all the things that can be 0, none, or… Continue reading Syntax podcast episode 623: “Nothing in CSS” errata
Context Architecture
Summary: Context architecture applies information architecture principles to AI systems, helping agents interpret information and produce better, user aligned responses. From Prompts to Context The way we shape AI products has evolved quickly. It started with prompt engineering. Early on, success depended on crafting the right instruction. A well-written prompt could unlock surprisingly strong results,… Continue reading Context Architecture
the details element and in-page search
An important factor in terms of UX and accessibility for deciding whether the <details> element is the right solution for a problem is the find-in-page behaviour. In Chromium-based browsers, the details element automatically opens when it contains a string the user searches for. If Safari and Firefox, it has to be opened for the find-in-page… Continue reading the details element and in-page search
the article element and screen readers
I wanted to know how and if common screen readers expose the <article> element. Here are my results: Summary tl;dr: shit’s complicated. Some screen readers don’t announce articles and have no default quick nav shortcuts. Some don’t announce them but treat them as landmarks. Others announce them as articles and treat them as landmarks. There’s… Continue reading the article element and screen readers
Pros and cons of using Shadow DOM and style encapsulation
When I started to work with web components, I compared different options and decided to go with lit. I knew the extra performance cost would pay off quickly, and it fit into my performance budget. I’m still happy with my decision. .pro { color: green; } .con { color: red; } I was new to… Continue reading Pros and cons of using Shadow DOM and style encapsulation
The Four Design Jobs AI Created (So Far)
Summary: “AI design” is one label but has forked into four different types of work. What Does “AI Design” Mean? When someone says “AI design,” everyone in the room pictures something different. One person is thinking about using AI to generate component variations for a design system. Another is designing a chat interface. A third… Continue reading The Four Design Jobs AI Created (So Far)
Context-aware headings in HTML
A common issue that we’ve probably all faced at some point is having a component that includes a heading, which sometimes should be an H2 and sometimes maybe an H3, depending on where it’s used. You can see an example of that in the screenshot below, taken from the City of Vienna’s website (I translated… Continue reading Context-aware headings in HTML
Skip links on ikea.com
I am always pleasantly surprised when I find useful skip links. That’s why I decided to collect examples here on my blog. I’ll start with ikea.com. The first focusable element on every page is a skip link that allows you to skip the entire header, which makes sense because there are 15 interactive elements in… Continue reading Skip links on ikea.com
Using RAS to Guide UX Research Resource Allocation and Strategy
Summary: RAS helps managers allocate resources based on actual impact, shifting focus from outputs to outcomes and enabling data-driven UX strategies. In articles 1 and 2 of this series, we defined research breakage, introduced the recommendation-adoption score (RAS) (see the template here), and showed how to calculate it. In this article, we turn to how leaders… Continue reading Using RAS to Guide UX Research Resource Allocation and Strategy
Day 103: the prefers-reduced-transparency media feature
Design trends like Glassmorphism use translucent backgrounds to create a specific visual effect, resulting in underlying background colors or elements shimmering through the background of the overlaying element. That may be visually appealing, but it can distract some people and impair legibility. Operating systems like macOS and Windows offer options to reduce transparency in the… Continue reading Day 103: the prefers-reduced-transparency media feature
Totally remdom, or How browsers zoom text
Last week, I lied to my students. After I explained how the rem unit worked, I told them that they could compare px and rem by increasing the font size in their mobile browsers and see how it affects text zoom. Before I said that, we created a simple test page with two paragraphs and… Continue reading Totally remdom, or How browsers zoom text
Global Accessibility Awareness Day: Recapping our three free training sessions
Happy 15th Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)! Or, should we say, GAAD afternoon! Seriously, what a special day this is, as everyone from lifetime advocates to first-time explorers are coming together around the world to create awareness about accessibility. Thank you all for being a part of this. Here at Deque, we’ve been having an… Continue reading Global Accessibility Awareness Day: Recapping our three free training sessions
Closing the Loop: What to Do After a Design Critique Ends
Summary: Most designers invest in running critiques but skip the followup. That missing step is often why feedback culture breaks down. Design critiques generate feedback. But feedback is valuable only if someone closes the loop on it: telling people what changed because of what they said, what didn’t change, and why. This article covers two… Continue reading Closing the Loop: What to Do After a Design Critique Ends
beyond tellerrand: One of my favourite web development and design conferences
People often ask me for recommendations for front-end development conferences. Picking my Top 3 would be challenging, but I know that beyond tellerrand in Germany is one of them. Location in Düsseldorf Web developers love the beyond tellerrand conference (BTConf), although the event isn’t a typical web dev conf. The organizer, Marc Thiele, a lovely… Continue reading beyond tellerrand: One of my favourite web development and design conferences
UX Conference August Announced (Aug 17 – Aug 28)
How will the Virtual Event work? Meetings will take place using the video conferencing tool Zoom, collaboration tools (such as group document editing and whiteboarding tools), and the social discussion tool Slack. You’ll also be able to use Slack before, during, and after the event to participate in social events and network with other… Continue reading UX Conference August Announced (Aug 17 – Aug 28)
TYPO3Camp Vienna: Talk and Workshop
Friends of mine organise the seventh international TYPO3Camp, which takes place in Vienna on October 11th – 13th, 2024. I’m there to give a keynote talk and a workshop. Date October 11th – 13th, 2024 Website typo3camp.at Price for the event Starting at 94.87 Euro Price for the workshop 690.00 Euro As you’ve probably already… Continue reading TYPO3Camp Vienna: Talk and Workshop
Website accessibility reaction videos (in German)
Recently, I started a new project. I react to the accessibility of more or less randomly picked websites. Before you get too excited, It’s in German. I feel more comfortable recording live reactions to websites I have never seen in my native language. However, I may try it in English if there’s demand. So far,… Continue reading Website accessibility reaction videos (in German)
A year in review: 2023
No, that’s not a typo. I’m writing my year-in-review post for 2023 in 2025. It’s not like 2023 was terrible, but it was intense, and I needed some distance before I could write about it, and then I just forgot to do it. Before I can write about 2024, I have to do 2023 first.… Continue reading A year in review: 2023
A year in review: 2024
2024 was our first year with three kids, and what a year that was. Personal Life with three kids is different in many ways, but most importantly, it’s awesome. I love my little daughters so much, and I enjoy every day with my family. Okay, maybe not every day because when they’re all sick at… Continue reading A year in review: 2024