Thoughts and things on Front-end development and related topics, by Steve Barnett.
AI (in this case, meaning mostly LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude) is powerful and can be very useful! It’s great at transforming text, converting formats, generating code, and more. But/and there are ways to use it to get the most out of it. Knowing what it can do well and what it can’t do well lets us choose where, when, and how to use it. In particular, using AI can be worthwhile when verifying the…
Some quick notes of what engineers seem to be saying about accessibility and writing code with AI. Things people are doing already Most teams are already doing a mix of these things: static analysis, unit tests, integration tests, end-to-end (e2e) tests, CI. Accessibility can be included in each of these. Using an AI to write the code Static analysis with the eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y plugin Unit…
Hi, folks at the Wellington Web Accessibility Meetup! 👋 Short URL for this page: bit.ly/wwam20260723 Google doc handout with keyboard shortcuts ☝️ Before we begin ( ⏱️ 5m) We'll focus on free, laptop, screen readers Laptop/Desktop screen readers On Windows, we recommend NVDA (it’s a bit more mature than Narrator) Narrator comes bundled with Windows VoiceOver (VO) comes bundled with macOS JAWS…
Notes for a session at the Digital Accessibility Discussion Group . Designed to help answer: “I’ve found an accessibility issue. How serious is it?” . We can use severity levels and WCAG or best practice (BP) to decide this. One reason we want to be able to consistently assign the appropriate level of seriousness to an issue is to build trust with the teams doing the work. We want them to be able…
These are some scribbles I’m pulling together to make an updated version of the Screen reader testing workshop I ran recently. That one was mostly solo work: some pointers on how and what to test, then heads down and headphones on to do the testing. The next version is going to be more social, more group work. Aside: I like taking notes. Two pages I’ve gone back to a lot are my Teaching and…
Something I aim for is a complete view . Seeing things from multiple sides and angles. Sometimes that means steel-manning someone else’s argument. Sometimes that means presenting a side that’s been neglected: I find this one to frequently be the case with AI, in particular hype-based reporting. One of the reasons that I went to an AI conference and took a bunch of notes was to get a more complete…
Last week I was in Melbourne for Web Directions - AI Engineer . I was interested in hearing from people using AI day-to-day, and the ups and down of it. As I usually do, I took a bunch of notes. My takeaways I went to about half the talks, splitting my time between the Software Engineering and AI Engineering tracks. A few themes came up across the talks I was at. Practical Choose the right model…
We’ll focus on the free screen readers. Testing with JAWS is fairly similar to testing with NVDA. Narrator comes with Windows and VoiceOver comes with macOS NVDA is a free download, Windows only We’re just covering getting started Most of the problems occur with foundational stuff, the building blocks of the web. There’s loads more to explore and learn if you’re interested! We’ll be testing on…
Last week was the NZ Tech Rally conference. It was so good! Everything about the event was high quality. Also, I gave a talk about design systems and accessibility . A few top takeaways for me: Don’t mistake speed for alignment Design for disagreement in meetings and workshops Don’t mistake intelligent discussion for moving forward (or making a decision) Clarity is important (but that doesn’t…
Last week NZ Tech Rally had a great pre-conference panel meetup. My top takeaways: The rise of AI has lead to a rise in old-fashioned automation Ask “How did you arrive at that decision?” The hype is ridiculous, but there are realistic, good, use cases Below are my sketchnotes. AI adoption in high trust environments AI in a measured and safe way Cautious with AI and decisions , outcomes Code…
I went to the May 2026 Wellington Web Accessibility Meetup and listened to two great talks, and a lively Q & A. Below are my sketchnotes from the talks. Text version of sketchnotes from the May 2026 Wellington Web Accessibility Meetup Influencing Accessibility Change – Mark Lynskey Accessibility is everyone’s responsibility Circles of influence: you, your team, your organisation, more! Treat…
Having a policy for AI usage in the workplace is important. Below are some gathered notes, a sketch of a first draft of a policy. Table of contents Decide when to use it Use it thoughtfully Review the output Be a considerate coworker An incomplete reading list Decide when to use it Start with the problem rather than AI as the solution. Decide where on the spectrum of “never use AI for this task”…
On Saturday 21st March 2026 I was at Code Camp Wellington . The speakers were great and the crowd was friendly! A few plucked highlights from talks for me: The importance of thinking well self-awareness, reflection, deliberate action, precision, quality Being wary of the impact on ourselves when using AI Agents work better when you get your accessibility right Sketchnotes Below are my sketchnotes…
The HTML version of my talk at Code Camp Wellington 2026. Or: “Easy is not always an uncomplicated good” 🤬 🧑💻 The front-page Choose friction to choose growth 🧑🎓 🧱 🛋️ Foreword 📧 steve.barnett@intopia.digital 🤓 Digital Accessibility Consultant 🛠️ Finding and removing friction 1. Friction Quick definition(s) 📕 📗 📘 Friction is resistance The force of resistance to relative motion That…
I had a quick read through of the Canadian Government’s CAN-ASC-6.2:2025 – Accessible and Equitable Artificial Intelligence Systems . Here are some quick notes on it. Much of the document is about the how, the implementation: using AI in an equitable way for people with disability. I was pleasantly surprised, though, at the bits that did not treat AI and its use as a foregone conclusion, as an…
A good way to increase long-term efficiency is by running a 30 minute retro at the end of every project. Why do retros Retros are the best, structured, way to continuously improve by building on successes and learning from mistakes. They should be treated as an essential part of a project, similar to the investment in project management time. The way we improve is to: keep doing what’s working…
For the past few years I’ve been doing a quick worky year-in-review. Here’s the one for this year. This year more than others I feel very run dry and out of energy at the end. A big part of this is not taking a proper holiday. I’m working on it! Speaking I gave two talks this year, both on Getting “Accessibility Ready” for a Design System . The first was in September at Inclusive Design 24 (here’s…
Short version: probably yes. Recently I was working with a team on a page that’s a listing of people who are professional service providers. Each provider has a head shot photo. So, naturally, we were discussing if those photos needed to have text alternatives. In general WCAG Success Criteria 1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A) says that all non-text content must have a text alternative that serves…
Also known as slide shows and sliders, carousels come and go out of fashion. They tend to fall into the bucket of “designers like them, customers don’t”. There are a few approaches we can take. Try not to use a carousel Don’t bring up carousels at all. Mike Monteiro’s excellent The Market Is Always Out of Carousels talks about this from a design perspective. Discuss the reasons why they’re usually…
My notes from “You Deserve A Tech Union” by Ethan Marcotte . I picked it up when it came out, but didn’t read it. The current tech landscape, in particular the rise of AI, nudged me to pick it up and read it now. Power Power is a hierarchy of the people who make the decisions and the people who have to conform to them Our power comes from taking collective action, fighting for dignity,…