Accessibility has always been a slightly unsettling realm for web developers. Surrounded with myths, misunderstandings, and contradicting best practices, it used to be a domain for a small group of experts who would “add” accessibility on top of the finished product. With our new book, we get to the bottom of it all! Written by Heydon […]

We’ve been closely working with Maya on this article, and we’re happy to see the final result now being published on 18F. We highly encourage more teams to share the lessons they learned when building design systems or pattern libraries, and we’re always happy to support them in writing, editing and shaping that article. This

Though we have a good understanding of the types of button design rules that universally work, there will be times when you’re surprised by a rogue element that performs well. Like ghost buttons. They aren’t much of a mystery, despite their eerie-sounding name. They’re call-to-action (CTA) buttons for your website, like any other. The key

Have you noticed the alarming lack of touch stimuli in current technologies? Our thoughts and feelings are strongly connected to the gestures, postures, and actions we perform. I aim to push you — as a designer — to think outside of the zone of screens. In this article, Lucia Kolesárová will aim to consider using more touch

Nowadays, users are increasingly cautious of online and email scams, phishing attacks, and data breaches. In this article, Lyndon Cerejo will present a brief history of persuasion, look at how persuasion is used with technology and new media, and present food for thought for designers and developers to avoid crossing the ethical line to the

We’re happy to announce the brand new Smashing Book. In this excerpt from the book, Vitaly provides a strategic guide for bringing back personality to the web, in regular real-life projects. You can also get the book right away → Generic web layouts have become somewhat of a misnomer in conversations circling around web design

The mobile web is a booming place right now, which means web designers are spending lots of time trying to figure out how to win over this particular class of users. One way not to do that? Dark patterns. While your company may get some superficial and short-term gains in the process, nothing good will

What is it that makes a haunted house feel so disturbing? Is it the fact that it’s been long abandoned? That it’s riddled with dark and twisty hallways? That it simulates danger? Or maybe it’s the low-quality construction that makes people nervous? In this article, Suzanne Scacca is going to take these frightening characteristics and

Have you ever looked at the design techniques and elements you use to build mobile apps and evaluated whether or not they’re still useful or relevant? If you haven’t done this in a while (or ever), stop what you’re doing and read this. Today, Suzanne Scacca is going to look at the 5 things mobile

Are you using sticky elements on your mobile website or PWA? If so, take a moment and ask yourself this question: Do you have anything in them besides your logo, hamburger menu or search bar? If that’s not the case, then it’s time to shake things up. Your mobile visitors are primed to take action.