Category: Accessibility

The EAA and the new era of digital accessibility

I’ve been working to advance digital accessibility for over twenty years. In that time, I’ve seen both successes and setbacks. But like everyone committed to this mission, I have never wavered in my faith that digital accessibility is the future. Well, that future is here. The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is law as of this… Continue reading The EAA and the new era of digital accessibility

UX Conference September Announced (Sep 6 – Sep 19)

  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 September Announced (Sep 6 – Sep 19)

AI Summaries of Reviews

Summary:  AI-generated review summaries extract qualitative key themes from customer feedback, helping shoppers quickly assess what purchasers think about the product. When designed well, AI summaries of ecommerce reviews helped our study participants quickly gauge product quality and fit for their needs. But when AI summaries of customer reviews were vague, poorly formatted, or blocked… Continue reading AI Summaries of Reviews

What’s new in axe Developer Hub: Updates for more flexibility, security, and control

When it comes to digital accessibility, finding issues earlier is always better. You save time and money, and most importantly, you ensure accessible experiences for your users every time. Axe Developer Hub was built so you can effortlessly add automated accessibility testing to your end-to-end (E2E) tests with just a simple configuration, allowing you to… Continue reading What’s new in axe Developer Hub: Updates for more flexibility, security, and control

AI as a Creative Teammate

Summary:  AI acts as a creative teammate in group settings as it does for solo work. Thoughtful facilitation ensures teams leverage AI effectively in workshops and critiques. I don’t need to tell you that generative AI can be useful for ideation, writing, or communication — you probably already know and believe that. In speaking with… Continue reading AI as a Creative Teammate

Designing for Serial Task Switching

Summary:  Serial task switching, or rapidly shifting attention between tasks, is a natural user behavior that lowers productivity and increases stress and the chance of errors. Be honest. How many tabs do you have open right now? If you’re like me, it’s probably more than you’d like to admit. Serial task switching is a natural… Continue reading Designing for Serial Task Switching

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