Design Archives - Sheri Byrne-Haber's Blog

How to avoid Twitter’s latest accessibility mistakes

Good accessibility programs include things that go above and beyond just compliance with the WCAG guidelines In June of 2020, I wrote about Twitter’s attempt to rely entirely on volunteers for accessibility testing, culmunating in a public outcry over the release of…

Compass pointing to the words “Simply the best”

My top 10 favorite disability/ accessibility articles of the year

Picking your favorite articles when you’ve written 145 of them in the past 12 months is like picking your favorite kids. After I was named the UX Collective Medium author of 2020, I was asked on LinkedIn to post a list…

Six step methodology for design thinking from NNGroup.com. Empathize and Define (belonging to the “understanding” phase) Ideate and Prototype (belonging to the Explore Phase) and finally Test and Implement (belonging to the materialize phase) Each phase can revert to the previous phase if things don’t go well.

Accessibility and Design Thinking don’t work together automatically

Here are some strategies to make sure PwDs are not excluded. Note that this article does not address the question “should you be using Design Thinking at all?” — there are two very distinct camps on opposite ends of the…

Woman and man standing doing design review for mobile app from paper layouts

How to discuss accessibility during a design/UI/UX interview or portfolio review

There are a gazillion articles on how to do a good job reviewing your design portfolio. None of them talk about accessibility. Portfolio reviews are the penultimate step in the design/UI/UX interview process. It’s a chance to show your work,…

Full white ceramic coffee cup that say “What good shall I do this day?”

Online Mentoring

Why giving back should be the obligation of everyone who has had the privilege to be successful. The better part of three decades ago, I was a UNIX geek in Calgary, Alberta, with a couple of part-time jobs — CS…

Woman’s hands holding pen writing on paper marked “User Goals”

Don’t just design accessible products, build accessible experiences

Use your user journeys to map out all employee and customer touchpoints and make sure they are all accessible. Design accessible products “What the heck is offensive about that, Sheri?” you are probably saying to yourself. Followed by “Duh, isn’t…

Blurry image of a torso in a beige jacket with his fingers gripping chain link fencing

The web is getting less accessible to people with disabilities

And that’s a miserable thing during the current COVID-19 crisis if you are one of them or close to someone who is One thing coming out of the current COVID-19 pandemic is that the lack of web accessibility is really…

line drawing of angry person dragging heavy ball by the chain attached to his leg

Impostor Syndrome, Stereotype Threat and Disabilities

Stereotype threat is as big of an issue (if not bigger) as impostor syndrome for people with disabilities and other underrepresented minorities Haven’t heard of “Stereotype Threat” before? Me neither until a few weeks ago. The impact of understanding how…

VMware employee Chris Lane at Accessibility Hackathon showing UI developer X how to code in ARIA

VMware’s First Accessibility Hackathon

The first week in February marked VMware’s first accessibility week which consisted of an accessibility summit followed immediately by an accessibility hackathon. The fact that VMware held a successful accessibility hackathon only a year after starting its accessibility program is something to…

Arial view of the grand canyon — flat topped mountains with striated sandstone in oranges and browns with a river

7 things that turn good accessibility into great accessibility

“It’s easy to pick on people who do a crappy job at accessibility. Why don’t you write an article on how to get people good at accessibility to up their game?” I was asked in one PM. Challenge accepted. The…

Tag: Design