HTML has all sorts of built-in features that, when used correctly, are accessible, will localize, and which just work. For example, if I want a button, I use <button>, and a screen reader will announce it as button. For users in other languages, they will hear whatever is their word…
I have often remarked that my blog is little more than a place for me to offload my memory. I need not remember the syntax, logic, test results, etc. of every control, widget, style, browser, and so on. I can just write a post and refer to it later. This…
TL;DR: for standard HTML controls and standard ARIA patterns (widgets), you do not need to add instructions for screen readers on how to use them nor what they are. When a screen reader encounters an element on the page that invites interaction beyond reading, it typically provides users with instructions…
At Smashing Conference in New York on Tuesday, October 15, Microsoft is hosting a lunch session as part of its The Web We Want initiative. Developers are pitching their wants. I was invited to pitch my request, but since I will not be at the conference I was asked for…
The Browser Archive home page as captured on 13 October 1999. On August 18, 1999, we at evolt.org launched the Browser Archive. At launch browsers.evolt.org contained 80 different browsers. It started with my personal testing suite built up from 1996, and just kind of went from there. Those links point…
Another case of the headline saying it all. If you have a valid, accessible search field (with a useful, sensible label) then you can probably ignore type=”search” and use type=”text” instead. I made a code sample you can use for testing in your preferred set-up; it is what I used…
Heading this off early: uniquity uniq·ui·ty; \ yüˈnikwətē, -wətē, -i \Uniqueness; quality of being unique. There is a place where accessibility practitioners hang out and try to out-do each other with niche knowledge of nuance. While loitering in one, a question came up about text fields that have the same…
The world wide web has officially lasted 30 consecutive years, which means it’s catching up to its parent, the Internet, which itself is bearing down on 50. That’s an important distinction. The Internet is not the web; it is the foundation on which the web was born. In honor of…
HTML5 gives us form field validation for free. The problem is that the default messages browsers provide are not always useful and typically do not work with assistive technology. I made an example on CodePen that uses an email field (type=”email”), is required (required), and uses a pattern to restrict…
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Inclusive Design Principles Manage Expectations Wrap-up Now that one of the most popular CSS resource sites on the innertubes has implemented styled scrollbars in the browser I think the time is right (or too late?) for me to try to capture a starting point for ensuring…
Due to lack of overwhelming request, you can download this logo (SVG). By now it is old news, in Internet time, that Microsoft Edge will replace its rendering engine with Chromium. Nearly six years ago I wrote about Opera dumping Presto to move to Chromium. The landscape is slightly different…
Dyslexia is not a black or white, on or off condition. Some with dyslexia report different challenges than others, ranging from typefaces to page layout to other factors. A few years ago I wrote Typefaces for Dyslexia, where I gathered some research suggesting that dedicated typefaces, on the whole, do…