UX & accessibility
Usability, interfaces, digital accessibility, readability and user research.
Accessibility audit: a method for checking a website
How to carry out an accessibility audit: page sample, automated tools, manual checks, a prioritised report and a realistic plan for fixing the issues.
Accessible animation: useful motion without discomfort
When animations help users and when they harm them: vestibular disorders, flashing, prefers-reduced-motion and practical rules for motion in interfaces.
Captions and transcripts: video and audio accessible to all
How to make videos and podcasts accessible: captions, transcripts and audio description, quality rules, the WebVTT format and automatic caption errors.
Card sorting and tree testing: organizing menus and content
How to use card sorting and tree testing to design a site's information architecture: preparation, open and closed variants, and reading the results.
Cognitive accessibility: interfaces that do not tire the mind
How to design interfaces for people with dyslexia, ADHD, memory or attention difficulties: cognitive load, consistency, time limits and simple journeys.
Color and color blindness: designing interfaces that include
How to design interfaces that work for people with color vision deficiencies: redundancy, contrast, charts, interactive states and simulation tools.
Dark mode: how to design it without losing readability
Designing a dark mode that works: background colours, contrast, hierarchy, images, the system preference and the most common mistakes to avoid.
Dark patterns: recognising and avoiding deceptive interfaces
What dark patterns are, the most common types with concrete examples, why they harm both users and businesses and how to design honest alternatives.
Designing for older adults: interfaces without barriers
How to make websites and apps work for older people: sight, hearing, dexterity, memory, trust and safety, with concrete measures and advice on testing.
Error messages that help: how to write and display them
How to write clear, useful error messages: say what happened and how to fix it, tone, placement on the page, validation timing and system errors.
Image alt text: how to write it well
How to write alt text for photos, icons, charts and decorative images: what to describe, what to leave out, concrete examples and mistakes to avoid.
Interface typography: choosing fonts and visual hierarchy
How to choose typefaces for apps and websites, build a consistent type scale and use weight, size and space to create a clear visual hierarchy.
Keyboard navigation and visible focus: a practical guide
How to make a site usable with the keyboard alone: tab order, visible focus, skip links, modal dialogs and the checks you can run in ten minutes.
Loading and feedback: letting users know what is happening
How to handle waits, confirmations and updates in interfaces: spinners, progress bars, skeletons, optimistic UI and announcements for screen readers.
Microcopy: writing effective buttons, labels and short texts
How to write interface microcopy: buttons with clear verbs, field labels, help text, confirmations, empty states and a consistent vocabulary.
Navigation menus: hamburger, tab bar and breadcrumbs compared
Pros and cons of the main navigation patterns: hamburger menu, tab bar, horizontal menu, breadcrumbs and mega menus, with criteria for choosing.
On-screen text readability: line length, leading and size
How to make on-screen text readable: line length, line height, font size, spacing, alignment and adapting to different screens, with a starting CSS base.
Onboarding: designing the first use of an app or service
How to welcome first-time users of an app: light sign-up, permissions asked at the right moment, useful tutorials, empty states and immediate value.
Personas: how to build them on real data and actually use them
What personas are, why they often fail and how to build them from interviews and usage data, focusing on goals and contexts rather than stereotypes.
Plain language in digital content: writing to be understood
How to write website and app copy that people understand first time: short sentences, everyday words, structure for scanning and rewriting examples.
Testing a website with a screen reader: first steps
How to use NVDA, VoiceOver and TalkBack to check a website: essential commands, what to listen for, typical problems and how to run a test session.
Touch targets: sizes, spacing and the thumb zone
How large buttons and links should be on touch screens: WCAG and platform guidance, spacing, the thumb zone and the common mistakes worth avoiding.
The ten usability heuristics explained with practical examples
Nielsen's ten heuristics turned into concrete cases: system status, user control, consistency, error prevention and more, plus how to run an evaluation.
Usability testing with a few users: how to run it well
How to prepare, run and analyze a usability test with five or six people: tasks, recruiting, neutral moderation and making sense of the results.
User interviews: how to ask questions that don't lead
How to prepare and run useful user interviews: open questions, past events rather than hypotheticals, silences, listening and turning notes into themes.