Keyboard users rely on visible focus indicators to navigate and interact with websites—but many designs ignore or erase them entirely. This article explains what focus state is, who it benefits, and how to design and test your own focus styles so no one gets left behind.
Category: Design
When is an image decorative? When it looks good but says nothing
When is an image decorative—and when does it deserve a voice? This practical guide helps content creators, designers, and developers decide which images need alt text and which ones should stay silent. You’ll get clear criteria, domain-specific tips, and work-arounds for platforms that don’t play nice with alt=””. Skip the noise, keep the meaning, and make your content cleaner for everyone.
The best of axe-con 2025
Deque’s axe-con is one of the top web accessibility conferences, and the 2025 event certainly lived up to its reputation. With an array of insightful sessions, it was packed with valuable takeaways. Here’s a recap of some of my personal favorites.
Color contrast in the real world: strategies for accessible text with complex backgrounds
Picking an accessible background color for text is straightforward, but the art of good color contrast gets more nuanced for backdrops with multiple colors and other visual effects. Here’s how to ensure your text and background elements stand out from each other and avoid the most common web accessibility barrier.
A non-techie’s guide to choosing accessible color combinations
Insufficient contrast between text and background colors is the most common accessibility issue on the web. However, choosing accessible color combinations doesn’t have to be difficult. Here’s a step-by-step process for doing so that requires zero technical knowledge.