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Adrian Roselli
Outsourced Algorithm Token MVP

All Posts Tagged: usability

Maybe Ignore type=search

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…

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Tags: accessibility, ARIA, browser, html, standards, usability, UX

Maybe You Don’t Need a Date Picker

Calendar controls, date pickers, date widgets, whatever you call them, however they are described, they follow the same basic principle — present the user with a calendar to enter a date (and sometimes a time). Chris Blakeley, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 The native implementations come from browsers when authors use <input…

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Tags: accessibility, html, JavaScript, pattern, usability, UX

Link + Disclosure Widget Navigation

Early in 2017 I filed an issue against WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices (APG) requesting a change to the menu navigation pattern. Despite a great deal of feedback in agreement, it languished. In late 2017 I wrote Don’t Use ARIA Menu Roles for Site Nav and started actively campaigning against the APG…

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Tags: accessibility, ARIA, html, pattern, standards, usability, UX, WAI, WCAG

Group Labels Do Not Guarantee… Uniquity?

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…

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Tags: accessibility, browser, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, usability, UX

Target Size and 2.5.5

TL;DR: Regardless of what accessibility conformance level you target, try to ensure that interactive controls are at least 44 by 44 pixels in size. Links in blocks of text are exempt. Overview In real life there is typically both a visual and tactile component to an interface. You have to…

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Tags: accessibility, standards, usability, UX, W3C, WAI, WCAG

A Model for WordPress Accessibility

I am going to propose a way to increase the overall accessibility of the WordPress ecosystem. It requires acknowledging some mistakes and using those as the base for building a better platform. I long for a world where a metric for featuring #WordPress themes and plugins in the repo is…

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Tags: accessibility, usability, UX, WordPress

Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2019

I kind of missed it this year. I was presenting at YGLF and was invested in the other talks, so my annual tweet thread of my accessibility posts since the previous GAAD did not come out on time. Instead I filled up timelines last night. Below are eight tweets with…

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Tags: accessibility, css, html, standards, usability, UX, WCAG

Selfish Accessibility — YGLF Vilnius

I (and the audience) survived my talk today. As our mutual reward, I offer my slides. All the links turned white onupload, so they are nearly impossible to read. I am sharing it now because you can at least hover over them or follow them, otherwise you might have to…

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Tags: accessibility, slides, standards, usability, UX, WCAG

Details / Summary Are Not [insert control here]

Once major browsers started supporting <details> & <summary> developers immediately started to play with them to see what sorts of patterns they could enhance or replace. This is a good thing. Experimentation pushes boundaries, improves understanding. However, we need to be careful of christening this new-to-us interaction as the solution…

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Tags: accessibility, ARIA, html, standards, usability, UX

Under-Engineered Toggles

Updated Intro Whether you use a <button> or <input type=”checkbox”> for your toggle depends on a few factors: Use <button> if: you can count on JavaScript being available, flipping the toggle has an immediate effect, the toggle will never have an indeterminate state. Go read Under-Engineered Toggles Too. Use <input…

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Tags: accessibility, css, html, pattern, usability, UX, WHCM

Slides: Prototyping Accessibility for Booster 2019

Direct link in case the embed does not work. I also mentioned some resources at the end of my talk: How to Meet WCAG 2 (Quick Reference) Intopia Launches WCAG 2.1 Map Inclusive Design Principles Inclusive Design posters from Barclays Tweets Some people tweeted about my workshop. I also tweeted…

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Tags: accessibility, slides, speaking, standards, usability, UX, WCAG

Avoid Default Field Validation

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…

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Tags: accessibility, browser, html, pattern, usability, UX