Mark W.rites

Articles and essays on design, technology, and my POV of the world. For shorter bursts find me on Mastodon.

Two buttons side by side. The first shows a button with lots of padding and a pointer cursor hovering over the label, showing that it is the only clickable target. It includes a description that reads 'no, thank you.' The second shows the same button with a pointer cursor hovering over the edge of the button, showing that the entire button is clickable. It includes a description that reads 'yes, please.'

Well-intended product design can turn into a usability/accessibility nightmare. Something as simple as a button can be marked up with HTML/CSS in myriad ways. We can make sure it’s done properly with a sensible markup.

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Illustration of a large group of diverse people, representing many ethnicities, genders, ages, and religions.

Two weeks ago a small publisher sent me an email about the book I'm writing. They asked what it was about. I responded with a synopsis and a link to the talk I've been giving which is the foundation for it. It’s about exclusivity and biases in design.

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Colorful illustration of two men talking in a library, one wearing casual dress and the other wearing a suit.

While there are many reasons to make a product accessible, the most important is simply because it’s the right thing to do. But you may have a client, team, or boss who doesn’t see the value. It’s absurd that we even have to sell accessibility, but often we do. If this is your world, I got you (complete with resources, below).

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The Mastodon logo with an illustration of a cute mastodon that's smiling with its eyes squinting in delight. It’s holding a mobile device and looking off to the side. A search form input is overlaid with placeholder text that reads 'search.'

One of the biggest complaints I hear about Mastodon is that its local search is unusable. It certainly was. But not anymore. Now it’s quite powerful, if you know the basics. So here’s a primer for you. Because I love Mastodon, you, and good UX.

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Grid of all of the record covers shown below in this article.

This is my annual list of records that brought me the most joy during a respective calendar year. 2023 brought the world some really spectacular music. Here is a list of my favorites (18 in total).

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Flat 2D illustration of faceless people in front of a collage of computer devices with social posts and a hashtag in bubbles, adjacent to a list of hashtags that read “UXDesign, UIDesign, WebAccessibility”

My post about hashtag accessibility on Mastodon (and later LinkedIn) got a lot of attention. There were so many replies from people who didn’t know about the accommodation I outlined, who vowed to commit to it. I also learned a lot from folks who weighed in with great insights.

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Grid of all of the record covers shown below in this article.

Music is a very significant part of my life. I was a full-time musician for a number of years, with a lot of records and shows under my belt. But more immediately relevant, I’m a music fan. I listen to music all day, every day.

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Screenshot of a failed text message with the “green” SMS status and a warning that reads ‘not delivered.’

Having an iPhone and a Mac makes for a lot of seamless transitioning between mobile and computer. One of those transitions is with messaging. Text on one device, then move to the other. Everything continues where you left off. It works really well and really fast.

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Looking down at an antique Favorit typewriter with a piece of paper sticking out of the top of it.

One of the most prominent dark UX patterns is hiding paths to exit doors. Faint unsubscribe links, ambiguous language, and even forcing people to call a phone number to opt-out of digital products. The intention is the same every time: retain customers.

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Early version of Cadaverous Quartet logo with four corpses huddled together singing which overlays a texture created from letters and magazine articles.

Following is a story about my six-year journey as a drummer in a death metal band you’ve probably never heard of whose collection of recordings is being republished by a record company you also probably haven’t heard of—26 years after we called it quits.

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