In this month's Bethink newsletter, @bethsoderberg.bsky.social reflects on the chaos of an increasingly fragile Internet infrastructure. (Also inside: a WordPress deep dive, next-gen digital organizing, and our favorite fall beverages.) Welcome to the Bethink Bee: view.flodesk.com/emails/690c2...

(Almost) everything you've ever wanted to know about dithering — and it turns out that may be more than you think. Thank you for this fascinating and immersive explainer, @damarberlari.bsky.social!

@emilkowal.ski shared seven simple ideas for improving your animations.

A new report from Harvard's @belfercenter.bsky.social explains the Design From the Margins (DFM) process — and why we should be using it from ideation to launch.

How many layers deep is your architectural debt? @maybefrederick.bsky.social dives into it.

"In design, pure productivity is corrosive. Inundate a team with output and no one can tell what’s good anymore." @renderg.host breaks down why we need to value outcomes over outputs.

Happy 40th birthday to dot com! (and dot org, and dot net, and dot edu, and dotgov, and dot mil...)

Sometimes the best question you can ask to solve a problem is "do you really need this?"

This one is for everyone who has ever thought: I really need a fluid type scaling tool. (It's a fluid type scaling tool.)

"I want to argue that the web should not be understood as a momentary stepping stone in a linear history of technological advancement or measured solely as a vehicle for marketing, self-promotion, personal advancement and delivering kill-time."

A new study from the European Broadcasting Union and BBC found that “AI’s systemic distortion of news is consistent across languages and territories.” That could impact how *your* content is being packaged by AI tools.

Bethink founder @bethsoderberg.bsky.social was featured on the @gutenbergtimes.com Changelog podcast! Beth talked to @bph.social about block themes, cleaning up legacy code, her favorite experimental #Wordpress features, and more. Tune in 🎧

Not sure which colors match the vibe of your next project? Take a deeper look into their meanings 🔮

Splitting operations, pruning components, cutting back on training AI models—and even leveraging AI to solve its own problem. Researchers are exploring the best ways to cut back on the harms AI causes to the climate.

We've worked in social justice organizations, cultural and educational institutions, and government — and we want to use our expertise to champion the values we share and support organizations making a real impact. Let’s do the work together. Get in touch with us at bethink.studio/contact.

Accessibility experience designer Irina Morozova gave a talk at @a11yawareness.bsky.social NYC about how developers can make digital content accessible for non-English speakers. Thank you to @equalentry.com for sharing the highlights!

We're passionate about building websites that grow with our partners. We love to engineer functionalities, streamline processes, remap user journeys, and rethink information architecture. Get in touch with us at bethink.studio/contact and we'll make your website work for *you.*

“Do the technological and managerial practices that have made remote work possible further facilitate offshoring? Do organizations see significant gains in efficiency? What are the impacts on U.S. and offshore workers?” Whitney Zhang wants to find out.

New parental controls for ChatGPT: + Kids' accounts will be linked their parents' + 'Blackout hours' set by parents + Images and graphic, romantic, sexual and extreme content are restricted + You can opt your kid out of training AI models + Parental warnings for kids discussing self-harm

We collaborated with @neweracoloradoaf.bsky.social, an organization building youth political power, ahead of the 2024 elections. Their Voter Guide was viewed 52K+ times after our redesign—and young voters turned out at historic rates that year. Explore the build at bethink.studio/work.

Accessibility experience designer Irina Morozova gave a talk at A11yNYC about how developers can make digital content accessible for non-English speakers. Thank you to @equalentry.com for sharing the highlights!

We're lining up our projects for 2026 and we'd love to work with you! Whether you're looking to refresh your website or build a new one from the bottom-up, we're ready to make it happen. Get in touch with us at bethink.studio/contact.

You can trace the roots of the ubiquitous @ sign to ancient Greek pottery. For real!

Welcome to the Bethink Bee! 🐝 Every month, we'll share updates and insights in our newsletter. (This month, we're sharing a glimpse into the lives of our Finch birbs, too.) Read the first edition: view.flodesk.com/emails/68dc4... Sign up to get the next: main-hill-88471.myflodesk.com/eqg3egylxu

"Not long ago, breaking into design meant applying for internships, refreshing your portfolio, and shadowing someone more experienced as you built confidence alongside capability...Today, that path looks less like a ladder and more like a sinkhole." An important look into a shrinking tech pipeline.

Happy #NationalVoterEducationWeek! We worked with the NVEW team last year to make major updates to their website’s design and functionality and improve user experience. Check it out and let us know what you think! And while you're there, make sure you're registered and ready for your ballot 🗳️

Bethink worked collaboratively with the Tract Association of Friends, a Quaker organization that has been active for 200+ years, to design and build a future-proof website on a tight budget with updated functionality. Explore this build and more from our portfolio at bethink.studio/work.

"The path to excellence lies in the following maturity path: Trust → Federated innovation →  Concrete tasks → Implementation metrics → Build for change."

In case you'd like to draw something. And then listen to it.

In an era of AI summaries, what's happening to search? @humanmade.com breaks it down.

Bethink founder @bethsoderberg.bsky.social was on the @seriouslybud.bsky.social podcast! She opened up about her #WordPress journey and how mentorship and empathy shape the way she works. Tune in!

"One thing I’ve learned the hard way is that seniority can create blind spots." This quick piece has a lot of insight to offer — on expanding your circle of competence, turning every experience into a learning opportunity, and making growth part of your web dev practice.

Have you built anything with Cedar?

Honesty, sincerity, integrity, and intelligence. Need I say more about today's unexpected conversation with @bethsoderberg.bsky.social? She inspires me to be a better me. seriouslybud.com/episode/beth...

"Images are a powerful way to clarify complex ideas, reinforce content, and make the web more engaging. But if they aren’t accessible, some people will miss part of the story." Enter: These practical, WCAG-compliant techniques for making SVGs more inclusive, from @a11y-collective.com.

"It’s interesting how templatized things become when you do them for the 1000th time. You start operating on autopilot and lose the creative touch." Take the 180 approach this week and do it differently. TY, @hvpandya.bsky.social!

The last PNG spec was released over 20 years ago — and never updated. Until now!

Accessible, plain-language seminars. One-on-one expert support. Guided co-building sessions. Curated resources. Join us for the Bethink Build-a-Long to launch your site in eight weeks — with our help every step of the way. Sign up at bethink.studio/learn.

This one is for everyone else who is still making a list, checking it twice, then adding things to it that you forgot earlier that day, then realizing one item should have broken up into five, and still waking up and doing it all over again the next day.

It's the weekend. It's time to let loose and make a split flap sign for your website.

Going to #WCUS is always lots of fun — but taking it on as a team is even better! ✨

"The question is no longer 'Do we have to do accessibility?' or 'Can we afford to do accessibility?' The real question is 'Can we afford *not* to?'" Accessibility is core to our business. That's grounded in our values — but it's also good business.

Bethink founder @bethsoderberg.bsky.social's talk from @wcmontclair.bsky.social on building custom, full-site editing WP themes is live on #WordPress TV! Tune in 📺

Registration is open for our Fall 2025 Build-a-Long! Join us for this eight-week course to build your own website from scratch— with the guidance of Bethink experts and the support of a small cohort of fellow beginners. Learn more and save your spot: bethink.studio/learn

We're SO excited for #WCUS this week! Who all is going? Which sessions should we make sure we see? And if you see someone with a stack of bright pink postcards in hand — say hi!

This eye-opening review of restaurant websites demonstrates how users with screen readers and keyboard navigators oftentimes can't even get to the good stuff (i.e., the menu!) on websites that aren't accessible.

"Any time you see a pixel light up, you are witnessing actual witchcraft before your eyes - light bending through electric crystals just so you can read a tweet in bed."

The Wizard of Oz Method can help UX designers collect user insight and craft human-centered experiences — all without a finished product. Here's how it works.

"The idea that limitations actually expand possibilities appears contradictory at first. Yet, it reveals itself as a fundamental truth in design." Some food for thought from @arun.is 🎨

“Comic Sans is one of the most accessible fonts out there, but it’s probably not the look you’d want for, say, a disability advocacy organisation working in policy and research.” Enter Inclusive Sans.