tonight's posts brought to you by: "this is easier than a blog post, and i can do it while watching netflix." bye

a11y audit: YOU MUST NOT USE COLOR ALONE TO INDICATE STATE designer: OK, i'll put a checkmark next to this option to indicate it's selected a11y audit redux: "THERE IS CHECK BUT NOT ANNOUNCED AS CHECKBOX. THIS ALSO FAIL BECAUSE NOT CHECKBOX LOLOLOL"

i just used a certain business-oriented social platform to message an old friend i lost touch with. the entire time i felt like i should use the word "synergize", but i didn't. i think i've forgotten how to internet properly. halp.

i know it's redundant for me to say it, but _this is the bad place_.

For anyone who pays attention to high contrast / forced colors mode styles: I wrote up an explanation of why forced-color-adjust: none is nearly unavoidable and how it sets up your codebase for downstream bugs: sarahmhigley.com/writing/forc...

Don’t tell people not to joke about serious shit. It’s a coping mechanism for some of us. It’s how we aren’t constantly screaming.

👁️‍🗨️ Conforming to WCAG does not make your UI magically accessible, but it will be a lot more accessible than if nothing is done. #UX is a different matter... #WCAG #accessibility #reality

an industry standard pattern: when you scroll a page, a dialog pops up out of nowhere and autofocuses a text field, which then triggers the virtual keyboard. peak UX right there. possibly the most elaborate way to say "fuck you"

I used the center element today. Fight me

a label and a name walk into a bar "When is a label also an (accessible) name, when is it not and when is it neither?" #HTML #ARIA #accessibility html5accessibility.com/stuff/2025/0...

Hot off the presses! Firefox Nightly (www.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefo...) adds the new :heading pseudo! Easily style all headings, or use nth-child-like AnB syntax to select a range of headings! Needs `layout.css.heading-selector.enabled` flag enabled. Try it out and let me know your thoughts.

I can point to multiple transcripts or minutes that have me on record for exactly this. Feels good, don’t it?

Actually LOL'd at my very snarky post on the HTML menu element being linked in this intent to prototype. but give this a look see. poke around the open ui discussions. give feedback if you are able to do so. the goal here is to reduce the need for the ARIA patterns & instead provide them natively

i made some updates to my blog post about the figure and figcaption elements. www.scottohara.me/blog/2019/01... maybe give it a read - especially if you think you need to use figures to wrap any old image you add to your web page (psst... you don't)

Just realized that it is Wednesday It’s 738 pm What the ever loving F

"vibe coding" where i keep asking the AI to adjust the script it wrote so that it can be used for multiple instances of a component on a single page - and the AI just can't do it... thus producing the "vibe" of me wanting to throw my computer into the ocean and curse at the AI. i hate everything

current status: "LOL, there are only so many hours in a day."

Inclusive Design 24 is on 25 September 2025, and our Call For Presenters (CFP) is open until 31 May: inclusivedesign24.org/2025/ #id24 #a11y #accessibility #UX #inclusion #InclusiveDesign #code #gamedev

This #GAAD and every GAAD, you can champion #accessibility by hiring accessibility specialists, paying them well, ensuring they have what they need to be successful and make a change, and by not putting their heads on the chopping block first whenever layoffs roll around. #a11y

reposted this already, but seriously. reach out to aaron, or me. i lost some excellent coworkers. let this mistake be your gain.

👉🏽 We are looking for 2 new people to join the @tetralogical.com team as Associate Accessibility Specialists #a11y #accessibility #jobs www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/42...

I know of a handful of accessibility specialists who were impacted by yesterday’s RIF at Microsoft. If you’re looking for amazing accessibility talent (PMs and Engineering Managers), please reach out.

i'm still employed. people who should be, are not. today was not a good day.

I was not personally impacted this time. A lot of amazing designers, PMs and accessibility experts were impacted. A lot of my friends. I will be trying to support them as best as I can. Please give them support too.

if a prototype isn't accessible, then it is likely not something that can be tested by people with disabilities. and if that's the case, any UX decisions made based on such a prototype will be biased away from inclusive design / UX decisions.

why haven't design apps realized trying to copy photoshop's "save for web" from the early 2000s is a metric ton of BS? what's been released is embarrassing. & that's not meant to be a critique on the people who did the work. but rather, the person(s) that said "yeah, this is good enough. publish!"

[New blog post] Are CSS Carousels accessible sarasoueidan.com/blog/css-car... In this post, I share some important insights from examining the accessibility of CSS-only carousels that use new features introduced in the #CSS Overflow Module Level 5 spec. #a11y

if you point out a typo to scott, he's going to want to fix it. but when he fixes it, he's going to re-read what he wrote. when he re-reads what he wrote, he's going to want to make it better. when scott makes it "better" he adds ridiculous examples & metaphors. www.scottohara.me/blog/2019/05...

trying out various automated a11y checkers today. many false positives for a skip to main content link while it's in a visually hidden state. i'd file issues. but, i don't really have the time to do more free work for others.

I did say…

i was told that my blog post on making an accessible toast notification had a typo. so of course when i fixed that, i also ended up adjusting some of the content and adding a whole new section about popovers at the end. www.scottohara.me/blog/2019/07...

Surprised to not see betting booths setup to wager on whether the amtrak train back to Boston will be delayed again. Feeling like I got a good handle on a safe bet now….

In the middle of a week off. Taking time away is wonderful

Can generative #AI write contextual text descriptions? tetralogical.com/blog/2025/03...

My friend worked on a website which just got an “accessibility audit”. I won’t say by what company. But the issues he’s been sharing with me are absolute rubbish. Flagging p1 bugs on solid a11y components because they aren’t solely built with native html elements.

If you are an accessibility advocate that doesn’t end your work days feeling like you let someone down or pissed someone off… well… tell me your secret or try harder…

This has been a long time coming - but I'm glad to report that the vast majority of WCAG's Reflow Understanding document has been rewritten. Lots of work and discussions in our attempt to make what Reflow actually requires more... well... understandable. www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/U...

there are certain components out there, that even when they are made as accessible as possible, they're still generally trash to use.

As it's Friday (here at least) can all you webdevs do me a favour and make this simple code change: 1. Search for `aria-labeledby` in your codebases. 2. Change it to `aria-labelledby` (note the double L) 3. Submit a PR. 4. Congratulate yourself for your Friday contribution.

Overheard today: “Number 13. As in ‘November 13’ is ready” And, I didn’t know that was a thing people did, clarify numbers by saying them again, but paired with another word(s)…

🆕 article by @tink.uk Understanding the European Accessibility Act (EAA) #a11y #EU #disability #law tetralogical.com/blog/2025/03...

the popover attribute is just one ingredient in making accessible popups. It does a lot, but not everything you might need. that's on purpose. Want to know more? Here you go: www.scottohara.me/blog/2025/03...

Do you consider yourself good at naming APIs? We're adding a couple of new HTML attributes: `headingoffset` and `headingreset`, but the latter could do with a better name. See more detail on this issue and please add your feedback! github.com/whatwg/html/...

Just remembered about NFTs. That was so weird

the over engineering of non-interactive HTML elements in component libraries is very real.

love restarting my computer for it to then spend over 8 minutes trying to restart - failing - so i have to manually shut it off and turn it back on instead. i just want basic shit to work...

I’ve been told I need to promote my stuff more. So, in case you missed it, my latest video is called “Why Is Everything Binary?” briefs.video/videos/why-i... (youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbjx...)

If you could have an attribute that allows you to link a button to any element and expand/collapse that element. What would you use it for? Particularly what would it enable that details doesn't today? Asking for reasons...

In other news, how do i know that facebook isn't using AI for its notification reminders? It just told me it's my uncle's birthday today, who died back in November... and to "wish him well"

Currently watching the interactive map for my food delivery order - where the driver's car is moving / currently positioned on top of a building me thinks either the gps is a little liberal on where the car is, in relation to the road. Or, the driver is destroying property to get my food here asap.