CategoryUsability

August 5, 2021 — How can we make disabled buttons more inclusive? When do they work well, and when do they fail on us? And finally, when do we actually need them, and how can we avoid them? Let’s find out. Read more…

July 19, 2021 — By adding visual elements to your tests, you can gain more options to add meaningful ways in maintaining a high level of quality for your app. Colby Fayock explains how. Read more…

July 14, 2021 — Too often dealing with filters can be frustrating. Let’s get them right. That means never freeze the UI on a single input, provide text input fallback and never auto-scroll users on a single input. Here’s why. Read more…

July 9, 2021 — Accessibility is often overlooked or bolted on to the end of a project. Let’s figure out how to implement and advocate for accessibility from the inception of a project to the release or handoff and beyond. Read more…

June 17, 2021 — Image placement on the modern web is highly intentional, helping to communicate the overall purpose of a page or view. This means that nearly every image you declare needs to have an alternate description. Read more…

May 19, 2021 — Everything to keep in mind when designing and building a mega-dropdown, common pitfalls, hover entry/exit delays, trajectory triangle technique and SVG path exit areas. Read more…

May 12, 2021 — In this new series of articles on UX, we take a closer look at some frustrating design patterns and explore better alternatives, along with plenty of examples to keep in mind when building or designing one. Let’s start with an infamous birthday picker. Read more…

April 26, 2021 — Accessibility experts Kate Kalcevich and Mike Gifford introduce readers to “layered accessibility testing”, a practice of using a variety of tools and approaches at different stages in the digital product lifecycle to catch accessibility issues early — when it’s easier and cheaper to fix them. Read more…

March 19, 2021 — Wondering what’s happenin’ at Smashing? Well, we’ve been busy. Here’s a little story of how we removed floating labels, improved performance on mobile, and launched a new series of articles. Oh, and how you can contribute to Smashing, too. Read more…

March 16, 2021 — How do we know which patterns are good, better, best when it comes to accessibility? Is it better to use an established pattern/library or create new ones? With the myriad of choices available, we can quickly become caught up in a web of confusion on this topic. Read more…