Erik Kroes - Consultant specialized in accessibility, inclusive design and design systems.
We went to the alps for 2 weeks, and now my kids (5 and 9) want me to work there. Can you help me find work in the alps? Two weeks of Vorarlberg, Austria. Challenging climbs. Hiking along kilometers of mountain paths. Plenty of mountain sun. Drinking from streams. Too many schnitzels and fries. Amazing cable cars. More pictures than fit this post. Touching snow. Seeing glaciers. Exploring gorges.…
When are you the creator of something? I find it funny to see this question in the context of AI. It's not a new question. At least, not to most people who have a background in art. Was it art when Duchamp signed a urinal, and put it in a museum? How about conceptual art, where the concept of taping a banana to a wall is the piece of art? How about Sol LeWitt, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst and Andy…
It's often presented like that, right? We don't make things accessible for ourselves. There is this group of people we would like to help. We remove barriers for the people with disabilities! I say this all with a bit of sarcasm. Yes. 1 in 4 adults have a disability. The European Council shares this number. And "More than 1 in 4 adults (28.7 percent) in the United States have some type of…
Imagine every sign stating "you are now in front of a sign". Or the LinkedIn-app is now called "this is an app". A name is supposed to help you identify something. It sets it apart from other things of the same kind. HTML already has something to tell you what kind the object/element is. That is what semantics do. A <p> is a paragraph; a bit of text. An <a> is an anchor; it's a link that can take…
There's a lot to be said about AI and accessibility . These are some thoughts on what goes wrong, and what could be improved. I won't claim I am a specialist in AI, but I do know a thing or two about accessibility. My knowledge about AI (or large language models really) comes from the omnipresence of information about them, my curiosity for them, my experiences in IT and my background in media…
I'm writing an introduction to accessibility where I feel like I scrap more than I write. This is a text that didn't make it because it was out of scope. People-first language Notice we talk about people with disabilities and not disabled people. This is people-first language . How a person like to be described varies and can be a matter of personal preference, but people-first language is a good…
I'm writing an introduction to accessibility for inklusivo . It's like I'm trying to summarize a decade of experience. That's not easy. One of the challenges is one that I encounter often: how in-depth do I want to go? Write something in-depth, and it will be too long and extensive for what I have in mind. Write something short, and I might not be explaining enough. Or maybe people find it too…
Some thoughts on the concept of the "accessibility unicorn". You might see this online sometimes. A person is looking for accessibility support. They expect the world. The expert they want needs to be able to: develop, design, write, teach, audit, fight fires, plan, strategize, document, remediate, comply, advocate... basically they need to cover every angle the person can come up with. And they…
Some thoughts on Floating Action Buttons as I always run into them, their inefficiency and their inaccessible design. The Floating Action Button was introduced by Google’s Material Design. To quote Material Design 2 : “A floating action button (FAB) performs the primary, or most common, action on a screen. It appears in front of all screen content, typically as a circular shape with an icon in its…
It's 2026. Let's join the flood of retrospectives! 2025 was busy, very busy. I was doing very full weeks of freelance accessibility work. That means up to 3 days working for VodafoneZiggo combined with 2 days for the Dutch Design System: NL Design System . Combine this with short-term assignments, social media, blogging, training, presenting (including NCDT ), supporting the Dutch accessibility…
This is not a new year's resolution. Holidays are just a great period for considerations! I'm changing some things about how I do things, mostly online. The work field of accessibility is draining. And I think changing these things will make it easier for me to continue this work. I hope they will make things better for others as well. What I have in mind: Solid accessibility content is for…
I mean, at first, they seem useful right? Your website gets an accessibility audit. You get a big list of findings to work on. Where do we start? What should we do first? How do we prioritize? How about we look at the impact on users. Great! You're thinking about users! And if it means that you're fixing things, then that's great as well! Plenty of audit reports land in drawers unused. Go get that…
I have issues with reading books. I find it very hard to read a book. But I used to read quite a lot, and I'd like to get into it again. This is me reaching out, and asking your best tips! Why don't you read? For clarity, I'm not illiterate. I'm not dyslexic either. Reading is challenging for me, mostly because of my traumatic brain injury. When I'm tired.. no, let me rephrase that. I'm usually…
How do companies make devices accessible for non-visual use? Some thoughts and a question for feedback and experience. A little bit about tactile indicators Back to the question Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock Xbox Series X / S Thoughts Braille Icons or pictograms Simple symbols in a row Your feedback and experience The premise might be easily recognisable. (At least for me it is, but that's unfair as…
Screen readers are great, and they deserve a lot of love. But let me give you a better option to start testing with. What is a screen reader? Somebody might've told you about screen readers. They're wonderful pieces of technology. A screen reader is software ( assistive technology ) that reads out loud what's visible on a screen. And it also helps people navigate that same screen, without having…
Summer 2023 I made an overview of things I was doing. Summer 2024 is behind us, and now I've got a new list. And my goodness, what a list it is. How much can one person do in a year? Community Sharing Europe Corporations Writing, research and advice Training Audits and research And more What else? Was it all accessibility? Retrospectives are so very useful. I know I've done quite a few things, but…
You just ran an automated test and it tells you your buttons don't have accessible names. What does that mean, why does it matter, and how do you check this yourself? What is an accessible name? Why do accessible names matter? How do I check for accessible names on buttons? What does the Accessibility pane show? What more is in the sub-section? Note What is an accessible name? The accessible name…
There are lots of tools/addons/widgets you can add to your website, with the intent of improving usability or accessibility. You can also build multiple versions and variations, to cater to different people and needs (or for compliance ). Should you or shouldn't you do this? The downsides I've been quite conflicted about this. Let's start with the downsides first. My background is as a developer.…
Your assumptions about facilitation and accommodation can be wrong. They're often shaped differently and smaller than you think. Awareness is key. You might have come across the term "accommodation" in the context of disability. Maybe it was during a hiring process, and you were asked if you needed any accommodations. It could've been buying a ticket for an event. It can also be in a…
I've been looking for something for months. It's a tool that's a mix of IndieWeb , accessibility and nonexistence. There are plenty of tools out there that do -some- of what I want. But none of them seem to do all of it. I'm now calling for your help. I'm looking for a programmer to build this. The idea is simple (in my mind). I want to post short messages on my website, and I want them to be…
Designers often (if they're nice) design multiple versions of a website. The designs get names like "mobile version", "tablet version" and "desktop version". I appreciate the effort, but I've noticed confusion stemming from these terms. They are often counterproductive. The assumptions It's not just touch It's not just small screens Alternative terms Conclusion The assumptions The image that lives…
Onderzoek wijst uit dat alle landelijke politieke partijen mensen digitaal uitsluiten. Een groot deel van de bevolking heeft geen toegang tot hun website. Op 22 november doen er 20 partijen landelijk mee aan de verkiezingen. Van elke partij is de website beoordeeld op digitale toegankelijkheid met een automatische test. Overheden zijn verplicht om toegankelijk te zijn voor alle burgers, inclusief…
People like people who are like them. That's practical for making friends. It's not when you want a well-rounded team. A bit of background Diversity to the rescue What is diversity? Neurodiversity Diversity is not a superpower (Personal) conclusion A bit of background There's this thing called "affinity bias". It's when people tend to like people who are a lot like them. It's one of a ton of…
Newsletters aren't for me. I do love sharing though. I came up with some alternatives including a Discord server. Let me share with you why I think that's a good idea. I've seen several people in my "bubble" start newsletters. I think that's great. Moving away from unstable platforms and walled gardens and creating a channel for sharing. I'd love to run a successful newsletter. But I won't. It's…
There's a simple question I ask myself whenever I consider the usage of a toast-component. What is a toast? A toast is a non-modal notification that often popups at the bottom of the screen. At least, that's the most common implementation. It may be in another spot sometimes. It may or may not contain interactive content. Sometimes even multiple items. It may or may not disappear by itself. It may…
Accessibility audits are great, except when you want to solve issues. Structural issues require inspection beyond the surface, and solutions beyond patching up. What is an accessibility audit? An accessibility audit is an evaluation of your website or app by an accessibility specialist. Often they'll follow the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) and check if your…
Often when people talk about accessibility, it appears to be this binary thing. Something either is or isn’t accessible. And that’s true, but it also isn’t. Is it accessible? I learned a lot about accessibility with this mindset. I’ve always thought of accessibility as a bridge. You can fix 99% of the bridge, but if one section is missing, people still can’t cross. A bridge with holes isn’t a…
Look at modern websites at you'll see their code covered in aria-roles: a pretty <div> with role="button" here, a nice <a> with role="link" further along, and so on. But what is an aria-role, and what does it actually do? This all started (for me) with a question I asked recently. I asked if people could tell me what the accessible name is of the following element: <div role="img" alt="I'm an…
The anchor link is one of the most elemental of HTML-elements. The idea of linking things is kind of the core idea of HyperText (the HT in both HTML and HTTP). And oh my, do we love to (ab)use links on the web! What's the problem? How is the accessible name calculated Aria-labelledby Aria-label Content What we could learn from this Further reading What's the problem? What we put inside a link (in…
I’ve spent years working in accessibility doing everything from printing and hanging up posters, to joining and leading a Design Systems team. These days I apply my experience as a freelance consultant and these are a few of the things I’ve done recently. Consulting is fun. Taking experience from one task to another means continuous learning. Looking back on what I've done in 6 months makes me…
Designing a focus state? A focus state that works on every background is a great starting point. Understand how it works, and improve it for your use-case! What is a focus state? Why is the focus state important? What's the problem? What's the solution? Introducing the oreo-focus Show me how Show me the code Notes What is a focus state? A lot of people use keyboards to navigate websites and apps.…
Products can be made in a way that they can be used by everybody, including people with disabilities. Not everybody knows this, or how to do this. Working in the field of accessibility means supporting people to build accessible.
Build the most components you can to have the least amount of work. I'll tell you why that's logical. When you're composing your components Let's sketch an ideal situation first. You've got (a Design System with) a component library. You want to build a new component ABCD that's a combination of components A, B, C and D. First you design, build and test these individual components in isolation.…
There are some useful principles to keep in mind when considering accessibility and inclusive design, but this one is probably my personal favorite. It helps a lot of people (including me, which makes it super important 👀) and can apply to so many situations. Always make sure people know what to expect. Example #1 - The stop-and-go haircut Let's start with a video clip I just came across on…
When you're building something and you're moving fast, make sure to look back every now and then. Check if everybody is on board before moving further. Make sure to include people every step of the way. Accessibility has priority over other issues You start using a new product (hurray). You encounter an accessibility issue (meh). You can report it in a repository (hurray). A helpful maintainer…
The color contrast ratios mentioned in WCAG can give you an insight in how usable your color palette is. How that works isn't very transparent. Learn more about how the color contrast ratio is determined, and what that means for you (and your palette). Contents Contents How it used to be The fabric store Color, it's pretty complicated Color models Red, Green and Blue Hue, Saturation and Lightness…
I shared an image of Afghan refugees too haphazardly. Let's have a second look. First impression On Twitter I " quote tweeted " this image with the text "They couldn't get the magic carpet in the background?" That did not get across what I intended to say. At all. What stood out for me is that the image seemed over the top, filled with stereotypes and maybe even a caricature of the situation. I…
Images are visual communication. Consider what you’re trying to communicate before you do. The "cover image" of this writing is from a project I did while studying photography. I wanted to discuss photography but not specific photos. I discovered it’s almost impossible to talk about photos, without discussing what’s in the photos. So I created images that "felt" like photos but didn’t have a clear…
In 2019 we started planning for a new house. I started sketching layouts because I didn't know what our needs were. It's kinda hard discussing budget with construction companies if you have no idea what you want to ask from them. Drawing houses was fun. With every iteration I felt like getting closer to an ideal living space. With every iteration, it's also really easy to add something. A bit of…
Everything you put on your website is old. Every website is an archive. The web is a collective history. The images in this post are from a series called Time Works. Each image is the result of a time lapse. 944 pictures shot over 944 seconds. The first picture is the source of the first horizontal line. The second of the second. And so on. The further you go down the image, the further you go in…
This website is 100% semantic. There are no <div> s or <span> s. Every element has been chosen to play a role, because every element has a role. I even tried to follow the HTML Document Outline . Still some possible improvement there, but at least that's not actively used right now. (I'm still a fan of the idea though. One of very few probably.) Why only semantic elements? You might have seen…
When people talk about the quality of HTML code, it is often about semantics. But what are semantics? What is semantic HTML, and why should you care about it? Table of Contents What is Semantic HTML? Wat do semantics do? How should I do it? What do I want to communicate? Is my page structure clear? Is that it? What is Semantic HTML? Semantics is communicating your intention through your chosen…
Everybody loves toggle switch on mobile, or so I've heard. But if you're building a website, how do you reproduce this without excluding people. The result Let's start with the most important part. This is the end result as featured on Codepen: See the Pen Toggle Button by Erik ( @erikkroes ) on CodePen . What is this? When I use my phone, I expect a Switch (that's how android calls them) to…
Web Components are a newly supported standard. They're a great match for Design Systems because they're futureproof and work with any framework. Building proper UI Web Components can be quite a task though, especially if you want them to be accessible. Here are some pointers on what to look out for. Throughout this article I'll use Lion a few times as an example. Lion is a collection of white…
I think I'm allowed at least one personal message these days. There's no thread or solid reasoning in this. My mind is still mushy so there should be typo's, but it's the mind I have. 🎉 But to me it's all about gratitude and privilege. How it started So, first some steps back. To how it all started. I had brain surgery in 2002 and 2004. In 2002 they operated to remove a pilocytic astrocytoma.…
Web Monetization is a new proposed API standard. It makes websites able to request a stream of very small payments from a visitor. The best part, you can already use it and it's easy! What is Web Monetization? Web Monetization is a proposed API standard that allows websites to request a stream of very small payments from a user e.g. fractions of a cent. This provides a framework for new revenue…
Around one billion people in the world experience some form of disability. These people are also more likely to have other burdens. These include lower education, inadequate health care, lower wages and an increased cost of living. The internet, in its core, is nondiscriminatory. Everybody can be equal when access is equal. That is where digital accessibility comes in. When you create a website,…
It's been a while since I've spent some time and energy on my website. The content was outdated. The overall structure and design no longer offered what I needed from a website. A self portrait of mine from more artistic times. I am using a view camera, obscuring my head with a blanket, but with the camera aimed at the viewer through a mirror. That has changed now as I've redone the whole thing.…