Pixels of the Week – June 5, 2022
Every day, I share on Twitter and LinkedIn a list of curated articles I read, resources and tools about UX Design, User Research, UI and mobile design, HTML, CSS, the web industry, some process, some inspiration, etc. This is an archive of everything I shared this week.
#Now – what I’m up to
I had a lot of fun talking about cranes and how to build trust with users in enterprise UX in the UXtweak podcast, available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast and as a transcript. I was also invited to the AXSChat podcast to talk about pushing accessibility forward, education and communities: check the video or get the transcript.
Monday June 6 I will talk (in French) about accessibility in a remote meetup on Montreal.
TL;DNR the one you should not miss
#Accessibility
ARIA Patterns – The W3C has a whole documentation dedicated to accessible components. For each, you get into about the pattern, some examples, keyboard interaction and ARIA Roles, states and properties
Interesting article
#Usability
- Make it clear where users can click; sounds obvious, right? Yet…Make It Clear Where Hit Areas in Visual Elements Lead: 33% of Sites Don’t
- Here is a 10 points checklist to help you moderate a usability testing session
#Accessibility
- I really like the idea of adding keyboard testing to the definition of done in the project to enforce accessibility. This can also be automated
- Triaging WCAG 2.1 Level AAA: You can’t fix all the AAA issues (and it’s not recommended as conformance criteria). Here is a method to help you decide what to fix and ignore from the AAA list. by TetraLogical
- Accessibility is Hard and Important “Embrace the discomfort, embrace the shame, take a step in a better direction. Even if it’s two steps forward and one step back, it’s important to keep at it.”
- Protactile began as a movement for autonomy and a system of tactile communication. Now, some linguists argue, it is becoming a language of its own. To understand what Pro-tactile ASL is, here’s an short video
#Neurodiversity
Neurodiversity and Inclusion: Choosing Kinder Design, some tips and resources to help you make your interfaces more inclusive
#Product Design
I don’t often think about metaphors in product because we are so used to those (for example we use the door out as log out icons), this is an interesting reminder
#Typography
The need to personalize fonts for each individual reader. Interesting study and article on how there is no perfect font that will work for everyone; personalization is the key here
#Inclusion
Interesting article on the concept of Purchasing Power Parity, when you offer different prices based on the strength of the buyer’s currency to make things more accessible for people in some lower income of lower currency countries
#Gaming Industry
Loot boxes: How the gaming industry manipulates and exploits consumers: interesting article and video on the lot of deceptive patterns used in the loot boxes system
#Time Management
Why I schedule all my emails—and you should too. I am not a fan of the “why I and you should too” articles, but I was already scheduling my emails for some of the reasons mentioned here (2 and 4). I didn’t think about 1, time to change your mind, but this actually makes a lot of sense too
#Privacy
This could be useful: How to Disable Ad ID Tracking on iOS and Android, and Why You Should Do It Now
Inspiration, fun experiments and great ideas
#Cool Demos
Aww this is cute: some full HTML/CS 3D glass weather icons by @One_div
#Accessibility
Monthly reminder, for those using the cute and fun little Unicode characters on social media or blog posts, that this is a nightmare for screen reader users (or anyone with reading issues, some dyslexic people, people with ADHD, etc.) Here is what it sounds like with voiceover
#Apps
A cute little acapella partner app with beautiful animated little creatures that will sing with you
#Inspiration
Cindermedusae is a generative encyclopedia of imaginary sea creatures. Each nascent creature looks, moves, and behaves differently while sharing the same procedural morphogenesis.
#Society
Interesting illustrated article on the many, many costs of breastfeeding
#Psychology
Because…for small asks, hearing any reason may trigger mindless action
Useful tools and resources that will make your life easy
#Documentation
An interesting tool that turns Google Docs into Wiki pages. I wonder if and how this could be used for UX Research documentation as well? What do you think?
#Accessibility
How to Fund Accessibility Work: what is needed in different areas of a company and how to help to push accessibility funding across the organization (by Melanie Sumner)
#Grid
Very niche tool: throw some images into this site and let it build a collage
emailmarkup.org, This is a good idea and I hope it will help bring a more standardized experience to email clients: The Email Markup Consortium (EMC) is a community-led group of industry professionals working to improve the email experience for everyone
#Checklist
A checklist of questions that quickly shows you whether your product meets the needs of as many users as possible. Yes I know a checklist only available in PDF is not really accessible, I wish this was a website as well for this, maybe later?
#Accessibility
The Ad Hoc Accessibility Beyond Compliance Playbook – A playbook with 9 “play” checklists to help government agencies and other civic organizations looking to mature their practical understanding of accessibility from one of basic compliance to an inclusive, human-centered experience
Tutorials
#CSS
More art direction options for images with CSS: First Look At The CSS object-view-box Property by @shadeed9
Videos and Podcasts
#Document Accessibility
A 20min video where Bruce Lawson gives you plenty of tips on how to make documents for your company more accessible, from headings to diagrams, alt text for images and more. Everyone writes documents at some point, so this is a big topic
#CSS Transition
I’m quite hyped by Jake Archibald’s demos of the new page transition API. This will help us make interesting things, especially for mobile PWAs. As usual with animations: don’t forget the prefers-reduced-motion media queries though.
#Fake Empathy
“It is not our job to forgive people, or have empathy with people who are bad people. You absolutely don’t. You don’t have to forgive, or have empathy, for anyone who doesn’t deserve it. Case closed.” Great reminder from Debbie Levitt’s podcast
