Web Design Update: April 7, 2026

452 views
Skip to first unread message

Laura Carlson

unread,
Apr 7, 2026, 1:16:16 AM (yesterday) Apr 7
to webdev
+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 26, Issue 41, April 7, 2026.

An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development.

++ISSUE 41 CONTENTS.

SECTION ONE: New references.
What's new at the Web Design Reference site?
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/
New links in these categories:

01: ACCESSIBILITY.
02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.
03: EVALUATION & TESTING.
04: EVENTS.
05: HTML.
06: JAVASCRIPT.
07: TOOLS.
08: USABILITY.
09: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.

SECTION TWO:
10: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site?

[Contents ends.]


++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

Screen Readers Are Not Testing Tools
By Eric Eggert.
Testing with assistive technologies is an important part of any accessibility review. However, especially when auditing against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), they should not be the primary tools to use for testing. Here's why:
https://yatil.net/blog/screen-readers-are-not-testing-tools

Designing for People Who Are Blind
By Graeme Coleman.
"When designing products and services, we often think in terms of their visual appearance. However, some people use digital content without being able to see it. This means we need to design interfaces that remain understandable, navigable, and controllable even when people are unable to perceive layout, colour, and spatial clues…"
https://tetralogical.com/blog/2026/04/02/designing-for-people-who-are-blind/

Making Emojis and Icons Screen Reader Accessible
By Elle Smith.
"…In this article, we're focusing on ways you can make sure your emojis and icons are accessible with screen readers.…"
https://blog.pope.tech/2026/04/01/making-emojis-and-icons-screen-reader-accessible/

A Simple Way to Make Instructions More Accessible
By Josh Crawford.
"…When you write instructions avoid using visual descriptors such as position, colour or shape. Instead, use names or labels to make them easier to comprehend and follow for everyone."
https://www.digitalaccesstraining.com/pages/articles?p=a-simple-way-to-make-instructions-more-accessible

A11y 101: 2.5.8 Target Size
By Nat Tarnoff.
"Here's a scenario I see all the time. A designer hands me a mockup with these elegant, tiny icons in a row; maybe a toolbar with edit, delete, and share buttons, each one maybe 16 pixels square. Looks clean. Minimal. Modern. Then I put my thumb on it. And I miss. Every. Single. Time…"
https://tarnoff.info/2026/04/06/a11y-101-2-5-8-target-size/

Locked Out: Why OTP and 2FA Often Fail Users with Disabilities
By Sheri Byrne-Haber.
"…Making OTP and 2FA accessible is not a one-step solution. It requires combining various approaches, such as offering method choices, extending time limits, creating clearly labeled and keyboard-navigable inputs, and testing with real disabled users…"
https://buttondown.com/access-ability/archive/locked-out-why-otp-and-2fa-often-fail-users-with/

AI Prototyping: Harder. Worser. Faster. Wronger.
By Anna E. Cook.
"We've gotten very good at producing things faster. But that doesn't mean we're producing the right things…"
https://annaecook.com/writing/2026/ai-prototyping-harder-worser-faster-wronger

Scaling Accessibility: Frontend Accessibility Architecture & Leadership
By Niharika Pujari.
"…In this talk, Niharika reframed accessibility as a frontend architecture concern and a leadership responsibility, not just an individual skill or compliance task…"
https://equalizedigital.com/scaling-accessibility-frontend-accessibility-architecture-leadership-niharika-pujari/

The WebAIM Million
By WebAIM.
"The 2026 update to WebAIM's annual analysis of the top one million home pages is available. This year saw an increase in detectable errors…"
https://webaim.org/projects/million/

This, Still Not for Everyone
By Matthias Ott.
"…Pages are getting more complex, ARIA usage is exploding (up 27% in a single year), and the same six types of errors … still account for 96% of all detected failures…"
https://matthiasott.com/notes/this-still-not-for-everyone

As DOJ Title II Deadline Looms, Some Gray Persists in Who Must Comply
By Jason Collins
"U.S. student media may face the same deadlines as state and local governments to meet accessibility requirements…"
https://the-word.news/2026/0402/student-news-title-ii/

ADA Title II Feedback - Higher Ed IT Accessibility Professionals (PDF from March 25 Meeting)
By Kyle Shachmut, Eudora Struble, and Kara Gaulrapp.
"…Weakening this rule would not remove the underlying legal obligation—it would only remove the clarity that helps institutions and practitioners succeed…"
Document linked from:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/viewEO12866Meeting?viewRule=true&rin=1190-AA82&meetingId=1340073&acronym=1190-DOJ/CRT

These Blind Students Say Their College Blocked Their Education. A New Rule Could Help
By Jonaki Mehta.
"…Just as stairs can exclude people who use wheelchairs from accessing government buildings, inaccessible web content and mobile apps can exclude people with a range of disabilities…"
https://www.npr.org/2026/04/06/nx-s1-5720191/digital-accessibility-college-education-disability

Accessibility Problems Hide Inside AI-Generated Websites
By Akinyele Akintomiwa Michael.
"The annual WebAIM Million report shows an overall backslide, but slight progress for news sites…"
https://the-word.news/2026/0402/accessibility-problems-hide-inside-ai-generated-websites/

Accessibility Overlays Create Problematic 'Quick-Fixes'
By Akinyele Akintomiwa Michael.
"Without fixing the foundation, overlays create disruption for some users, but fail to offer legal protection…"
https://the-word.news/2026/0402/accessibility-overlays-create-problematic-quick-fixes/

Legal Update: March 2026
By Ken Nakata.
"March brought a concentrated run of decisions touching nearly every phase of ADA web accessibility litigation — from what damages are actually recoverable after a Title II win, to how the work product doctrine protects counsel-directed audits, to the continuing incoherence of the nexus test in the Eleventh Circuit. One decision also moves overlay vendor liability from theory to live litigation…"
https://convergeaccessibility.com/2026/04/06/legal-update-march-2026-copy/


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

CSS or BS?
By Keith Cirkel.
"We show you a CSS property name. You tell us if it's real or if we made it up. That's it. It starts easy. It does not stay easy…"
https://www.keithcirkel.co.uk/css-or-bs/


+03: EVALUATION & TESTING.

Bayes' Law in UX Research: The Power and Perils of Priors
By Jeff Sauro and Jim Lewis.
"…In this article, we explore the consequences of manipulating those prior probabilities in different ways."
https://measuringu.com/bayes-law-in-ux-research-the-power-and-perils-of-priors/


+04: EVENTS.

A11y Idaho Community of Practice
This month's topic: Accessibility checkers.
April 8, 2026.
Online
https://uidaho.zoom.us/meeting/register/6KkAkSMUSVqpyj8Pnf2GuA#/registration

CascadiaJS 2026
June 1-2, 2026.
Seattle, Washingtion, U.S.A.
https://cascadiajs.com/2026

UX London 2026
June 2-4, 2026.
London, England, United Kingdom
https://2026.uxlondon.com/

Resilient and Maintainable CSS with Miriam Suzanne
June 2-10, 2026.
Online
https://smashingconf.com/online-workshops/workshops/modern-css-miriam-suzanne/

UX Scotland
June 10-11 2026.
Edinburgh, Scotland
https://uxscotland.net/ux-scotland-2026


+05: HTML.

Semantic HTML Just Might Make Your CSS Less Fragile
By Schalk Neethling.
"A real-world exploration of how choosing the right HTML elements for interview transcripts solves both semantic and styling challenges in one cascading swoop…"
https://schalkneethling.com/posts/semantic-html-just-might-make-your-css-less-fragile/


+06: JAVASCRIPT.

A Bugbear About aria-label
By Martin Underhill.
"…So this is always text, and specifically about how software uses text to convey something to the user. It's about the underlying accessible name…"
https://www.tempertemper.net/blog/a-bugbear-about-aria-label


+07: TOOLS.

New Bookmarklet - Structure Revealer
By Ian Lloyd.
"…I wanted another way to visualise how a page is structured, but with the ability to switch off things that I don't need to see…"
https://a11y-tools.com/blog/2026/03/new-bookmarklet-structure-revealer/

Ask AIMee: An Accessible Accessibility-Focused AI Chatbot
By WebAIM.
"We're happy to introduce AIMee - an easy-to-use, AI-powered conversational chatbot focused on accessibility. AIMee has been designed to be highly accessible to users with disabilities. Ask her accessibility questions to get quick answers and guidance…
https://webaim.org/blog/ask-aimee/


+08: USABILITY.

Analyzing Good Designs: Figma's Shortcut (Video)
By Kelley Gordon.
"In Figma's Shortcut, typography and other elements are aligned to a grid, a clear visual hierarchy is established, and various design elements are used consistently in the design…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1QKE9XOS0M


+09: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.

Notes from "AI & the Future of Sustainability Reporting"
By Hidde de Vries.
"Today I was at an event on sustainability reporting. It was hosted by Digital Catapult and excellently moderated by Jo Lindsay Walton and Chanell Daniels…"
https://hidde.blog/ai-sustainability-reporting/

[Section one ends.]


++ SECTION TWO:

+10: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site?

Accessibility Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/accessibility.html

Association Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/associations.html

Book Listings.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/books.html

Cascading Style Sheets Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/css.html

Color Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/color.html

Drupal Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/drupal.html

Evaluation & Testing Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/testing.html

Event Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/events.html

HTML Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/html.html

Information Architecture Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/architecture.html

JavaScript Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/javascript.html

Miscellaneous Web Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/misc.html

Navigation Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/navigation.html

PHP Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/php.html

Sites & Blogs Listing.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/sites.html

Standards, Guidelines & Pattern Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/standards.html

Tool Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/tools.html

Typography Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/type.html

Usability Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/usability.html

WebWaste & Sustainability Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/webwaste.html

XML Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/xml.html

[Section two ends.]


++END NOTES.


+ SUBSCRIPTION INFO.

WEB DESIGN UPDATE is available by subscription. For information on how to subscribe and unsubscribe please visit:
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/webdev_listserv.html
The Web Design Reference Site also has a RSS 2.0 feed for site updates.


+ TEXT EMAIL NEWSLETTER (TEN).

As a navigation aid for screen readers we do our best to conform to the accessible Text Email Newsletter (TEN) guidelines.  Please let me know if there is anything else we can do to make navigation easier. For TEN guideline information please visit:
http://www.headstar.com/ten


+ SIGN OFF.

Until next time,

Laura L. Carlson
Information Technology Systems and Services
University of Minnesota Duluth
Duluth, MN U.S.A. 55812-3009
mailto:lcar...@d.umn.edu


[Issue ends.]


Laura L. Carlson
Information Technology Systems and Services
University of Minnesota Duluth
Duluth, MN U.S.A. 55812-3009
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/

W3C Invited Expert
Accessibility Guidelines Working Group
https://www.w3.org/groups/wg/ag/participants

Pronouns: she/her/hers
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages