Category: Accessibility

Designing AI Agents: 4 Lessons from China’s Qwen Agent

Summary:  A study of Qwen’s AI agent reveals 4 design lessons: support discoverability, reuse familiar patterns, handle personal data carefully, and protect user autonomy. GenAI chatbots have made AI-as-personal-assistant feel within reach — and AI agents are the next step toward making that vision real. In consumer contexts, AI agents could theoretically handle daily requests,… Continue reading Designing AI Agents: 4 Lessons from China’s Qwen Agent

Building a progress-indicating scroll-to-top button in HTML and CSS

I noticed a nice detail on theneedledrop.com. They have a square scroll-to-top button with an arrow pointing right. The button’s border is black, and the background color is white. When you scroll, the arrow points up, and the background color turns gradually yellow as you scroll. That’s nothing too special, but it caught my attention… Continue reading Building a progress-indicating scroll-to-top button in HTML and CSS

How to make LibreWolf your default browser on macOS

I recently switched to LibreWolf as my default browser, and I also wanted links to open by default inside it, but there isn’t an option in LibreWolf like in other browsers. Luckily, there’s another way. At least I found a solution for macOS: Click the Apple menu  in the corner of your screen. Select… Continue reading How to make LibreWolf your default browser on macOS

Breaking up with my X

About 2.5 years ago, I was banned from Twitter for no apparent reason. I wrote about it on this blog and described the events and personal consequences. I broke the rules. Your account is permanently suspended Restart When I was first shadow-banned and then permanently banned, I tried a couple of times to contact Twitter… Continue reading Breaking up with my X

What’s an interactive element?

Two years ago, I wrote an article about the dialog element. I tested where focus goes when you open a modal dialog via the showModal() method. I tried different combinations of elements and attributes to see what happens because back in 2023, the behaviour was very inconsistent. In one of my tests, I put the… Continue reading What’s an interactive element?

10 Guidelines for Designing Your Site’s AI Chatbots

Summary:  Helpful site-specific AI chatbots clearly state their capabilities, offer relevant prompt suggestions, and quickly signal they know what users are looking at. AI chatbots are increasingly becoming a standard feature on many websites. As more sites adopt them, the question is not only whether to have one — it’s how to design one so… Continue reading 10 Guidelines for Designing Your Site’s AI Chatbots

A new meta tag for respecting text scaling on mobile

When you open the accessibility settings on your smartphone and increase the font size, you will immediately notice that the system font size increases. On Android, as a Firefox user, you will also notice that websites scale. As a Chrome user, you won’t see any difference because Chrome doesn’t respect the font size settings for… Continue reading A new meta tag for respecting text scaling on mobile

Boost Design Autonomy with an Information Pipeline

Summary:  A four-step framework for building influence over product direction by closing the information gaps that large, complex organizations create. Let me tell you a story I recently heard. A lead designer at an online review platform kept hearing that businesses were cancelling their ads because the setup was too confusing. The setup experience was… Continue reading Boost Design Autonomy with an Information Pipeline

Making an iOS E-Commerce Product Detail Page Accessible to VoiceOver and Beyond

The article about the Product List Page and Wishlist can be read here: Making an iOS E-Commerce Product List Accessible to VoiceOver and Beyond And the full webinar recording is available here: Webinar Developing and testing iOS Apps using a screen reader with Diogo Melo. The Accessibility Issues Hiding in Plain Sight The Product Detail… Continue reading Making an iOS E-Commerce Product Detail Page Accessible to VoiceOver and Beyond

UX Conference July Announced (Jul 20 – Jul 24)

How will the Live Online Courses 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 July Announced (Jul 20 – Jul 24)

Handmade Designs: The New Trust Signal

Summary:  In an era of AI-generated-everything, AI-fatigued users want designs that look like they were made by a person. People are buying vinyl, dusting off their wired headphones, shooting on film, and opting for things that are slower. Digital fatigue and AI fatigue are changing what resonates, and audiences are gravitating towards designs that look handmade. The Shift… Continue reading Handmade Designs: The New Trust Signal

Introduction to the new HTML element <geolocation>

There is a new HTML element called geolocation. I checked it out and here’s what I learned. The <geolocation> element The <geolocation> element provides a button that, when activated, prompts the user for permission to access their location. Originally, it was designed as a general <permission> element, but browser vendors indicated that implementing a “one-size-fits-all”… Continue reading Introduction to the new HTML element <geolocation>

Axe Platform now supports France’s RGAA accessibility standard

Listen to this article The Axe Platform now supports testing, remediation, and monitoring aligned to the Référentiel Général d’Amélioration de l’Accessibilité (RGAA), France’s official accessibility framework. With the European Accessibility Act (EAA) now in effect, digital accessibility requirements across the EU have matured, bringing new urgency and complexity. RGAA predates the EAA, and is now… Continue reading Axe Platform now supports France’s RGAA accessibility standard

Making an iOS E-Commerce Product List Accessible to VoiceOver and Beyond

The article about the Product Detail Page can be read here: Making an iOS E-Commerce Product Detail Page Accessible to VoiceOver and Beyond And the full webinar recording is available here: Webinar Developing and testing iOS Apps using a screen reader with Diogo Melo Product List Page: The Hidden Problems The PLP is built in… Continue reading Making an iOS E-Commerce Product List Accessible to VoiceOver and Beyond

How accessibility programs benefit from both manual and automated testing

Listen to this article When your team is under pressure to move quickly, and you know you need to test for accessibility, automated testing can feel like the most efficient approach. In practice, however, accessibility testing requires both automated and manual testing. They serve different purposes, and both are necessary to determine whether an experience… Continue reading How accessibility programs benefit from both manual and automated testing

Axe DevTools for Web now includes Axe MCP Server for earlier fixes and faster delivery

Listen to this article Axe MCP Server is now included in Deque’s Axe DevTools for Web bundle at no additional cost, giving our customers immediate access to AI-powered remediation capabilities. With Axe MCP Server, you can enhance development workflows and start fixing accessibility issues earlier, empowering your teams to move faster, minimize rework, and scale… Continue reading Axe DevTools for Web now includes Axe MCP Server for earlier fixes and faster delivery

Explainable AI in Chat Interfaces

Summary:  Explanation text in AI chat interfaces is intended to help users understand AI outputs, but current practices fall short of that goal. As AI chat interfaces become more popular, users increasingly rely on AI outputs to make decisions. Without explanations, AI systems are black boxes. Explaining to people how an AI system has reached… Continue reading Explainable AI in Chat Interfaces

Preety Kumar at Microsoft Ignite: How Accessibility is Shaping the Future of AI

Deque founder and CEO Preety Kumar took the stage at Microsoft Ignite on November 18, joining Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Microsoft’s Chief Accessibility Officer, and Ed Summers, Head of Accessibility at GitHub, for a presentation titled “Building for Everyone: How Accessibility is Shaping the Future of AI.” Jenny got things started with a delightful welcome, immediately charming… Continue reading Preety Kumar at Microsoft Ignite: How Accessibility is Shaping the Future of AI

Designing Effective Contextual Menus: 10 Guidelines

Summary:  Contextual menus reduce clutter and interaction cost but have low information scent. Prioritize clarity, consistency, and proximity to balance the tradeoffs. When used well, contextual menus help reduce visual noise, streamline layouts, and support focused interaction. But when used inconsistently, or when mislabeled, misplaced, or overloaded, they introduce confusion and can slow users down.… Continue reading Designing Effective Contextual Menus: 10 Guidelines

Axe-con 2026: Full agenda reveal!

When it comes to the most exciting digital accessibility event of the year, there’s no better time to start planning than right now, because we’re revealing the full agenda today. If you thought last year’s event was amazing, wait until you see what we’ve got in store for you in 2026! We’ve already announced Dr.… Continue reading Axe-con 2026: Full agenda reveal!