Category: Accessibility

Building accessible apps with Next.js and axe DevTools

As a developer, you want to build fast, modern, progressive web applications (PWAs) that reach as many users as possible. That’s the goal—and it’s a good one. But if accessibility isn’t part of that process, you could be unintentionally leaving people behind. Accessibility (a11y) is essential to creating inclusive experiences and is a hallmark of… Continue reading Building accessible apps with Next.js and axe DevTools

AI Chatbots Discourage Error Checking

Summary:  AI hallucinations threaten the usefulness of LLM-generated text in professional environments, but today’s LLMs encourage users to take outputs at face value. Large language models (LLMs) are being widely introduced into professional workflows through both new standalone software and integrations with existing tools. One of the most important ways that these tools increase users’… Continue reading AI Chatbots Discourage Error Checking

AI Design Tools Are Marginally Better: Status Update

Summary:  Despite improvements in narrow-scope AI design tools, most design-specific AI cannot replicate human designers’ output quality. This is a follow-up to the 2024 article AI UX-Design Tools Are Not Ready for Primetime: Status Update.  In April 2024, AI-powered design tools were not useful to designers. As of May 2025, their usefulness has improved, but we’re… Continue reading AI Design Tools Are Marginally Better: Status Update

Button States: Communicate Interaction

Summary:  Minor visual changes help users distinguish between 5 different button states: enabled, disabled, hovered, focused, pressed. Buttons are core user-interface elements that, when clicked or tapped, execute an action. When designed correctly, buttons set accurate user expectations and help them understand how to interact with the interface. In addition to clear button labels, effective… Continue reading Button States: Communicate Interaction

Convenience vs. Probability Sampling in UX Research

Summary:  Convenience sampling is quick and cost-effective for UX research, but probability sampling is better when you need representative and generalizable data. When conducting UX research, choosing the right sampling method can ensure that your findings are both useful and reliable. Most UX practitioners use a sampling method called convenience sampling: recruiting participants based on… Continue reading Convenience vs. Probability Sampling in UX Research

Tools of the trade: Getting started with accessibility

I recently gave a talk called “Tools of the trade: Accessibility without the cost” to Accessibility NYC (a11yNYC) in Lower Manhattan. The session focused on accessibility tools—which ones to invest in, how to get the most out of them, and when to consider paid features. In this post, I’ll recap some of the insights I… Continue reading Tools of the trade: Getting started with accessibility

6 Dimensions for Assessing Usability Data in Analysis

Summary:  Analyze usability findings for authenticity, consistency, repetition, spontaneity, appropriateness, and confounding factors to separate surface impressions from real insights. Qualitative usability tests yield two types of data: behavioral data (or performance data) and attitudinal data (or subjective data). During analysis, we must consolidate both types of data while considering additional factors, such as information… Continue reading 6 Dimensions for Assessing Usability Data in Analysis

Four AI Superpowers: Where AI Improves Products

Summary:  When using AI consider its four “superpowers”: content creation, summarization, basic data analysis, and perspective taking. At Pendo’s Pendomonium conference recently, I asked my audience who had AI features on their product’s roadmap. Almost every hand in the room went up. But, based on my experience, I’m guessing many of those AI-powered features are… Continue reading Four AI Superpowers: Where AI Improves Products

UX Layoff Crisis: A Guide for Resilience and Recovery

Summary:  Lost your UX job in a layoff? Use this step-by-step guide to preserve your professionalism and optimism during this stressful experience. Your company’s rumor mill has been churning for weeks about layoffs, but you’ve tried not to give it much thought. You have a good relationship with your manager. You’ve delivered quality UX work… Continue reading UX Layoff Crisis: A Guide for Resilience and Recovery

The journey toward a more accessible internet

Digital accessibility has come a long way. However, the gap between where we want to be in the future and where we are today is too wide. As of 2024, 96% of the top one million home pages have WCAG 2 failures. Digital content creation is getting easier and faster as content creators increase their… Continue reading The journey toward a more accessible internet

Less Effort, More Completion: The EAS Framework for Simplifying Forms

Summary:  Use the EAS framework — Eliminate first, Automate where possible, and Simplify what remains — to minimize user effort and improve form completion rates. Filling out a form is rarely anyone’s idea of fun. Users are goal-oriented — they want to accomplish their goals quickly and efficiently. The more effort a form demands, the… Continue reading Less Effort, More Completion: The EAS Framework for Simplifying Forms

Deque Systems wins the Excellence in Digital Inclusion award at the 9th Middle East Banking AI & Analytics Summit 2025

We’re thrilled to announce that Deque Systems has been presented with the Excellence in Digital Inclusion award at the 9th Middle East Banking AI & Analytics Summit 2025. This prestigious award recognizes our dedication to creating digital experiences that are accessible and inclusive for everyone, including people with disabilities, and the impact of our work… Continue reading Deque Systems wins the Excellence in Digital Inclusion award at the 9th Middle East Banking AI & Analytics Summit 2025

User-Interface Elements: Glossary

Summary:  Use this glossary to quickly clarify definitions for key graphical user-interface elements and controls. UX research and design require knowledge and understanding of many jargon terms denoting various UI components and controls. Jump to a definition in the table or review the complete glossary. 2D-Matrix Input Control A specialized input control used primarily in… Continue reading User-Interface Elements: Glossary

Digital accessibility and the cost of exclusion

In my previous Proactive Perspectives article, I explored lessons from the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), discussed what to do when digital accessibility goals remain elusive, and shared strategies for managing disruption and keeping your program on track. Today, I want to build on those strategies by looking more closely at opportunities and… Continue reading Digital accessibility and the cost of exclusion

How Service Design Will Evolve with AI Agents

Summary:  AI will force the transformation of service design by introducing new actors, shifting user dynamics, and redefining success metrics. Service design is the activity of planning and organizing a business’s resources (people, props, and processes) in order to effectively deliver the intended experience. As products and services grow in sophistication, so does the need… Continue reading How Service Design Will Evolve with AI Agents

AI Hallucinations: What Designers Need to Know

Summary:  Plausible but incorrect AI responses create design challenges and user distrust. Discover evidence-based UI patterns to help users identify fabrications. What Are AI Hallucinations? Generative AIs are well-known for their tendency to produce hallucinations — untruthful answers (or nonsense images). A hallucination occurs when a generative AI system generates output data that seems plausible… Continue reading AI Hallucinations: What Designers Need to Know

How to Apply and Secure a UX Job

Summary:  Apply and secure UX jobs with tips for customizing resumes using generative AI, researching employers, acing interviews, and negotiating offers. Submitting UX job applications can feel stressful as you submit your professional work for evaluation by strangers over and over again. But it doesn’t have to be. This article offers useful tactics to help… Continue reading How to Apply and Secure a UX Job

Advice for Approaching a UX Job Search

Summary:  Understand your values, outline job constraints, upskill areas of weakness, leverage your network, and pace yourself to stay motivated and focused. This article will help you navigate your UX job search with greater confidence and focus by exploring practical, yet often overlooked tactics. It is just one in a series on advice for UX… Continue reading Advice for Approaching a UX Job Search

Preparation Tactics for a Tough UX Job Market

Summary:  Use these tactics to prepare yourself for a downturn in the UX job market. It’s relatively easy to bask in the glow of a sunny UX job market and its plentiful opportunities. However, coping with a challenging job market is the true test of endurance for the UX professional. This article is the first… Continue reading Preparation Tactics for a Tough UX Job Market

Redefine Your Design Skills to Prepare for AI

Summary:  Designers must embrace 5 principles as our industry shifts with AI. Generative AI is impacting job markets. According to researchers at Harvard Business School, the German Institute for Economic Research, and the U.K.’s Imperial College London Business School, demand for automation-prone jobs fell 21% eight months after the release of ChatGPT in late 2022.… Continue reading Redefine Your Design Skills to Prepare for AI

Easily check for web accessibility problems in ten minutes or less

Testing on a computer Keyboard Navigation Note: If you’re on a Mac, you may need to change some settings for the Tab key to work as described here. Adrian Roselli has helpfully compiled a few links to guides for this. Use the Tab key to cycle through the page you want to look at. Ask yourself… Continue reading Easily check for web accessibility problems in ten minutes or less

Testing Visual Design: A Comprehensive Guide

Summary:  Use methods like 5-second testing, first-click testing, and preference testing to gain insights into how users perceive your visual design. Visual design is the first thing users notice when they encounter a digital product like a website or app. It plays a large role in capturing users’ attention, defining brand identity, and creating an… Continue reading Testing Visual Design: A Comprehensive Guide

UX and CX Merge: The Shift from Products to Journeys

Summary:  Organizations are starting to merge user experience and customer experience into a single function, setting the foundation for a journey-centric-experience practice. Organizational silos and product-centric design make it difficult to resolve friction for customers who use our products and services. User-centered design is applied to digital products, but many pain points in real customer… Continue reading UX and CX Merge: The Shift from Products to Journeys