#accessibility

#accessibility

Per The WebAIM Million report, low contrast text represents 79.1% of all errors on the 1M homepages they analyzed via automated testing. People with low vision often struggle with text that blends into its background, especially if they also have a color vision deficiency. And as people like you and me age, this becomes especially important. Ensuring a minimum contrast ratio between text and background makes it easier to read, even for those who see limited or no color.

I've spent my life determined to be one of a kind perhaps because I'm a twin. During our birth, my younger-by-two-minutes brother's umbilical cord wrapped around my neck. It cut off my air supply, which left me deaf, while his hearing was unimpaired. That's sibling rivalry for you. I use hearing aids and am a strong lip reader, as well as being fluent in British Sign Language. When I take my aids out to sleep,

The space itself is a 3-story box beneath the cafe, painted white and projected on every wall and the floor with the show itself. There is stepped seating, as well as benches and pillows, to sit on the floor. There is also plenty of space for kids to run around and follow the specially animated elements projected onto the floor. The projections fit perfectly together, allowing for a shadowless and seamless viewing experience that truly encompasses all 360 degrees.

Irina opens with an ATM example to illustrate how routine tasks can become inaccessible when design and language don't align with the user's needs. When you use a familiar ATM in your native language, there's no one waiting behind you or distractions. But remove just one element, like language familiarity or a clear interface, and the experience quickly shifts from simple to stressful.

The tiny house movement has long promised affordable, minimalist living, but many designs fall short in terms of long-term habitability. Australian company Sonic Steel is challenging these limitations with their latest creation, the Mark VI - VIC, a shipping container home that prioritizes comfort and accessibility without sacrificing the compact footprint that makes tiny living appealing. This innovative approach represents a fundamental shift in how container homes can serve as genuine long-term residences.

For this experiment, I wore the crossbody strap with the iPhone Air. It just seemed like these two were made for each other. Apple also sent the very basic bumper case, a polycarbonate bumper that runs along the periphery of the phone and attaches to the strap. The combination of the two seemed like a perfect fit, even if my wife commented that I looked like a suburban soccer mom wearing it. Here's how things went.

This is for me. The styles in here are useful to me. They are things I find myself doing very often (or forgetting to do.) I'd like to be using this in most demos I make and dipping into it for any future project. I do hope y'all will find some value in it too of course, hence blogging about it, but as a guiding principal it's for me.

We've been hard at work giving the venue a glow up,

I used to think there were two types of people: the ones who only use subtitles when necessary, and the unappreciative philistines who use them for no good reason. I was willing to die on this hill, arguing that they distracted from the purity of the audiovisual experience: the cinematographer's attention to detail, the glimpse of a tear in an actor's eye, the punchline of an expertly timed joke, and so on.

I can't figure out how to connect with my co-workers, which is ironic since I am a behavioral health provider. I'm located with doctors who refer patients to me for counseling. I love the work! The doctors like and respect my work! Clients say I'm helpful! When I do interact with doctors and other staff, they are friendly and I can always reach them via email or Teams. There are several people on staff who I think could become great work friends.

At September's Nicer Tuesdays event in London, Robin Howie from Fieldwork Facility talks about the design studio's biggest client yet, the V&A East Storehouse.

The first thing you see on Zara's homepage is a random product or collection, dropped in without context. No categories, no overview, just one item staring at you. It feels like starting a book from the middle. The description text is so small it might as well not exist. Unless you zoom in, you can't read it, which makes it useless and definitely not accessible.

Voice-generation technology enables machines to synthesize human-like speech-text-to-speech (TTS)-revolutionizing digital communication by fostering more inclusive and accessible experiences. What began as simple robotic speech synthesis has evolved into highly sophisticated voice-cloning systems that can produce natural, coherent, expressive, and personalized voices using minimal data. These technologies empower individuals with cross-lingual communication through virtual agents, assist in overcoming visual or speech impairments or literacy challenges via assistive tools, and support educators and industries such as entertainment with creative content generation.

"Our first version of the toolkit will open up access to a suite of on-device sensors - empowering you to start building features within your mobile apps that leverage the hands-free benefits of AI glasses. Early results are promising. Disney's Imagineering R&D team is working on early prototypes to see how AI glasses could help give guests access to tips while in their parks.

I regularly restart my Pixel 9 Pro, and there's a good reason for that. Actually, there are several reasons why I regularly restart my phone (weekly -- at least). Here's a short list for you to ponder: Improves performance by clearing temporary caches. Enhances security by disrupting possible cyberattacks and clearing possible malware stored in memory. Resolves issues such as if your phone has slowed down, is getting hot, apps are crashing, and you're having connectivity issues, a restart often will fix those issues.

It doesn't feel as accessible as when you are in central or west London where there's a bridge like every kilometre. When I started using [the tunnel], I would go to work and the north lift wouldn't be working in the morning and then on the way back south, that one would not be working. It was very on and off.

Luxury perfume brands have always poured resources into elaborate packaging with bottles shaped like sky-high stilettos, sculpted torsos, or capped with oversize daisies. Yet for all the creativity devoted to packaging, the mechanics have barely evolved. Nearly every alcohol-based perfume still relies on the same one-finger actuator to dispense the fragrance. While this design mechanism has become synonymous with eau de parfum, it also makes the product inaccessible for anyone with limited hand strength or dexterity.

The web is evolving at an incredible pace. I've been writing about web development for over a decade (and building websites even longer), but for the first time, it feels challenging to keep up. While we may never see "HTML6" or"CSS4," new standards continue to emerge and browsers are adopting them faster than ever. Features like <dialog>, <details>, and the Popover API are now widely available.

Design Systems have hundreds (sometimes thousands) of design tokens, complex UI components, as well as guidelines for usage-making it easy to feel buried in the workload. That's why creating an audit structure upfront is so important. In this stage, you'll set the scope of the audit, select tools to use, and identify the accessibility standards to measure your Design System with.

The international category recognizes best workplaces for innovators based in regions beyond North America that have invested in human capital and innovation infrastructure in their home markets. Leveraging internal innovations and outside expertise, the climate fintech company created a tool to customize investment portfolios for businesses pursuing decarbonization. ESR, Shenzhen, China The real estate asset management company tripled the size of its R&D team last year to continue nurturing new ideas, such as its new MagSafe wireless mouse.

Windows has a long list of keyboard shortcuts that perform helpful actions in Windows 11. For example, hitting the CTRL and C keys together allows users to copy text or files. Mastering these shortcuts can help boost your overall productivity, but most people only know a few. At first glance, they don't seem all that useful since you can also do these actions with your mouse, but I challenge you to try them over the course of a workday;

Screen readers narrate on-screen menus so blind and low-vision players can navigate a game or a piece of software without additional assistance. Typically, screen reading software is custom-built for each game, which can make them resource-intensive for developers to implement. "Building something like that from scratch has to be decided upon early in development so you have the time/resources allocated to make it properly," Steve Saylor, an accessibility consultant and creator, shared on Bluesky. "Having it in-engine can mean the heavy lifting is done for you, and the cost of time/resources now is significantly lower."