Part of the challenge is that it’s not always easy to identify accessibility issues. It often requires digging deeper to find and fix them. This is where the right WordPress plugin can be useful.

Some plugins allow users to adjust visual elements like font size and color contrast. Even better, some scan your content and alert you to problems. You might be surprised to find out how many issues can pop up in your theme and other installed plugins. The results may lead you to consider different options.

With that in mind, let’s look at some of the best WordPress accessibility plugins on the market. They won’t fix every issue, but they can help you learn and improve your site.

Accessibility Checker isn’t a band-aid for your site’s shortcomings. However, it will add missing skip links, focus outlines, and form labels upon request. It also scans your site’s content and creates a laundry list of potential issues. It catches common problems, such as ambiguous link text and missing ALT attributes.

Like all automated tools, you may find some false-positive results. As such, a manual inspection is required to verify them. But the plugin offers tips for fixing any issues it finds. The free version scans your site’s pages and posts, while the pro version includes custom post types and other handy features.

Use WP Accessibility to fix common issues, such as missing language/text direction attributes, missing ARIA labels for navigation, and viewports that don’t scale. It will also enforce ALT attributes in the editor and identify media with missing descriptive text.

These are optional and can be activated as needed. The other big feature here is a front-end toolbar that controls page zooming and color contrast. This gives users more control over how they view your site.

We’re starting to see AI used for a variety of purposes, including accessibility improvements. Alt Text AI automatically analyzes uploaded images and generates an ALT description.

The feature can save you a lot of time and effort – just be sure to double-check to ensure the description is accurate. Note that the plugin requires purchasing AI “credits” to work. There’s a free trial for trying the plugin before you buy.

Are you looking to provide visitors with accessibility options? This plugin adds a widget with a variety of optional feature modules. Users can change the font size and contrast. But there are also tools for switching to a dyslexia-friendly font, highlighting titles, and pausing animations.

You’ll also find a feature that helps you create an accessibility statement. Experiment to see which features will benefit your visitors.

Accessibility is about more than fixing issues – it’s also about adding accessible features. SimpleTOC creates a WCAG 2.2-conforming table of contents for your content. It’s a great way to help users navigate longer pages and blog posts. By default, the plugin adds zero CSS or JavaScript to your site.

Instead, it relies on HTML details and summary tags, which work natively in your browser. When it comes to accessibility, simple is always better.

Media embeds, particularly from third-party services, can be difficult to use. Some are bloated with JavaScript and other code that inhibit accessibility. Able Player offers an accessibility-first solution and implements an HTML5 media player via a configurable shortcode.

It works with locally uploaded files and videos from YouTube and Vimeo. The shortcode offers several options impacting the style and functionality of the player.

Leave No User Behind

Accessibility is not a “nice-to-have” feature – it’s an obligation. It’s also an ongoing process that requires your attention. Thankfully, there are tools to help you find potential issues and fix the most common ones. The WordPress plugins above will help you in your quest. Bonus: Some will add accessible elements that benefit everyone.

No singular plugin can make your site fully accessible. But they can make your job easier. We hope you find a solution to do just that.

Website Accessibility Plugins at a Glance

The post 6 Best WordPress Plugins for Improving Website Accessibility in 2026 appeared first on The NOKIA Blog.

Good UX research is at the root of great products. It takes the guesswork out of our designs and helps us solve problems before they grow. One of the best ways to make our research effective is to keep it inclusive — testing with users with different needs and abilities, and using their feedback to build products that work for more people.

Our newest book, Accessible UX Research, can help you plan and execute great user research. Dr. Michele Williams draws from years of experience to build a clear, easy-to-follow roadmap. This book has something for everyone who wants to build digital products well:

• If you are just getting started with research, you will find helpful tips for making your research more inclusive. You will also get a primer on how to ask better questions, understand your own biases, and how to use your limited time and budget effectively.
• If you are an accessibility-minded professional, you will find a deep well of details on different assistive technologies, how to include them in your testing environment, and ways to record and share your results to create a real impact on the products you make.
• If you are a developer, a manager, or just someone who wants to understand how different abilities impact each user’s experience, you will find the history, clear descriptions, and cultural touchpoints you need in order to make sense of all the accessibility and inclusion recommendations you encounter.

About The Book

The book isn’t a checklist for you to complete as a part of your accessibility work. It’s a practical guide to inclusive UX research, from start to finish. If you’ve ever felt unsure how to include disabled participants, or worried about “getting it wrong,” this book is for you. You’ll get clear, practical strategies to make your research more inclusive, effective, and reliable.

Inside, you’ll learn how to:

• Plan research that includes disabled participants from the start,
• Recruit participants with disabilities,
• Facilitate sessions that work for a range of access needs,
• Ask better questions and avoid unintentionally biased research methods,
• Build trust and confidence in your team around accessibility and inclusion.

The book also challenges common assumptions about disability and urges readers to rethink what inclusion really means in UX research and beyond. Let’s move beyond compliance and start doing research that reflects the full diversity of your users. Whether you’re in industry or academia, this book gives you the tools — and the mindset — to make it happen.

324 pages. Written by Dr. Michele A. Williams. Cover art by Espen Brunborg. Download a free sample (PDF, 2.3MB) or get the book right away.

Please note: We’ve found a way to get printed books to our US customers! After several months of dealing with customs and tariff issues, we are happy to announce that all of our books — including this brand-new one — are once again shipping worldwide.

Contents

In Accessible UX Research, Michele Williams takes you on a deep dive into the real world of UX research, with a roadmap for including users with different abilities and needs.

About the Author

Dr. Michele A. Williams is owner of M.A.W. Consulting, LLC – Making Accessibility Work. Her 20+ years of experience include influencing top tech companies as a Senior User Experience (UX) Researcher and Accessibility Specialist and obtaining a PhD in Human-Centered Computing focused on accessibility. An international speaker, published academic author, and patented inventor, she is passionate about educating and advising on technology that does not exclude disabled users.

Testimonials

“Accessible UX Research stands as a vital and necessary resource. In addressing disability at the User Experience Research layer, it helps to set an equal and equitable tone for products and features that resonates through the rest of the creation process. The book provides a solid framework for all aspects of conducting research efforts, including not only process considerations, but also importantly the mindset required to approach the work.

This is the book I wish I had when I was first getting started with my accessibility journey. It is a gift, and I feel so fortunate that Michele has chosen to share it with us all.”

Eric Bailey, Accessibility Advocate

“User research in accessibility is non-negotiable for actually meeting users’ needs, and this book is a critical piece in the puzzle of actually doing and integrating that research into accessibility work day to day.”

Devon Pershing, Author of The Accessibility Operations Guidebook

“Our decisions as developers and designers are often based on recommendations, assumptions, and biases. Usually, this doesn’t work, because checking off lists or working solely from our own perspective can never truly represent the depth of human experience. Michele’s book provides you with the strategies you need to conduct UX research with diverse groups of people, challenge your assumptions, and create truly great products.”

Manuel Matuzović, Author of the Web Accessibility Cookbook

“This book is a vital resource on inclusive research. Michele Williams expertly breaks down key concepts, guiding readers through disability models, language, and etiquette. A strong focus on real-world application equips readers to conduct impactful, inclusive research sessions. By emphasizing diverse perspectives and proactive inclusion, the book makes a compelling case for accessibility as a core principle rather than an afterthought. It is a must-read for researchers, product-makers, and advocates!”

Anna E. Cook, Accessibility and Inclusive Design Specialist

Technical Details

• ISBN: 978-3-910835-03-0 (print)
• Quality hardcover, stitched binding, ribbon page marker.
• Free worldwide airmail shipping from Germany.
• eBook available for download as PDF, ePUB, and Amazon Kindle.

Producing a book takes quite a bit of time, and we couldn’t pull it off without the support of our wonderful community. A huge shout-out to Smashing Members for the kind, ongoing support. The eBook is and always will be free for Smashing Members. Plus, Members get a friendly discount when purchasing their printed copy. Just sayin’! 😉

More Smashing Books & Goodies

Promoting best practices and providing you with practical tips to master your daily coding and design challenges has always been (and will be) at the core of everything we do at Smashing.

In the past few years, we were very lucky to have worked together with some talented, caring people from the web community to publish their wealth of experience as printed books that stand the test of time. Trine, Heather, and Steven are three of these people. Have you checked out their books already?

(cm, il)

The post Now Shipping: Accessible UX Research, A New Smashing Book By Michele Williams appeared first on The NOKIA Blog.

Smashing Library expands again! We’re so happy to announce our newest book, Accessible UX Research, is now available for download in eBook formats. Michele A. Williams takes us for a deep dive into the real world of UX testing, and provides a road map for including users with different abilities and needs in every phase of testing.

But the truth is, you don’t need to be conducting UX testing or even be a UX professional to get a lot out of this book. Michele gives in-depth descriptions of the assistive technology we should all be familiar with, in addition to disability etiquette, common pitfalls when creating accessible prototypes, and so much more. You’ll refer to this book again and again in your daily work.

This is also your last chance to get your printed copy at our discounted presale price. We expect printed copies to start shipping in early 2026. We know you’ll love this book, but don’t just take our word for it — we asked a few industry experts to check out Accessible UX Research too:

“Accessible UX Research stands as a vital and necessary resource. In addressing disability at the User Experience Research layer, it helps to set an equal and equitable tone for products and features that resonates through the rest of the creation process. The book provides a solid framework for all aspects of conducting research efforts, including not only process considerations, but also importantly the mindset required to approach the work.

This is the book I wish I had when I was first getting started with my accessibility journey. It is a gift, and I feel so fortunate that Michele has chosen to share it with us all.”

Eric Bailey, Accessibility Advocate

“User research in accessibility is non-negotiable for actually meeting users’ needs, and this book is a critical piece in the puzzle of actually doing and integrating that research into accessibility work day to day.”

Devon Pershing, Author of The Accessibility Operations Guidebook

“Our decisions as developers and designers are often based on recommendations, assumptions, and biases. Usually, this doesn’t work, because checking off lists or working solely from our own perspective can never truly represent the depth of human experience. Michele’s book provides you with the strategies you need to conduct UX research with diverse groups of people, challenge your assumptions, and create truly great products.”

Manuel Matuzović, Author of the Web Accessibility Cookbook

“This book is a vital resource on inclusive research. Michele Williams expertly breaks down key concepts, guiding readers through disability models, language, and etiquette. A strong focus on real-world application equips readers to conduct impactful, inclusive research sessions. By emphasizing diverse perspectives and proactive inclusion, the book makes a compelling case for accessibility as a core principle rather than an afterthought. It is a must-read for researchers, product-makers, and advocates!”

Anna E. Cook, Accessibility and Inclusive Design Specialist

About The Book

The book isn’t a checklist for you to complete as a part of your accessibility work. It’s a practical guide to inclusive UX research, from start to finish. If you’ve ever felt unsure how to include disabled participants, or worried about “getting it wrong,” this book is for you. You’ll get clear, practical strategies to make your research more inclusive, effective, and reliable.

Inside, you’ll learn how to:

• Plan research that includes disabled participants from the start,
• Recruit participants with disabilities,
• Facilitate sessions that work for a range of access needs,
• Ask better questions and avoid unintentionally biased research methods,
• Build trust and confidence in your team around accessibility and inclusion.

The book also challenges common assumptions about disability and urges readers to rethink what inclusion really means in UX research and beyond. Let’s move beyond compliance and start doing research that reflects the full diversity of your users. Whether you’re in industry or academia, this book gives you the tools — and the mindset — to make it happen.

High-quality hardcover, 320 pages. Written by Dr. Michele A. Williams. Cover art by Espen Brunborg. Print edition shipping early 2026. eBook now available for download. Reserve your print copy at the presale price.

Contents

1. Disability mindset: For inclusive research to succeed, we must first confront our mindset about disability, typically influenced by ableism.
2. Diversity of disability: Accessibility is not solely about blind screen reader users; disability categories help us unpack and process the diversity of disabled users.
3. Disability in the stages of UX research: Disabled participants can and should be part of every research phase — formative, prototype, and summative.
4. Recruiting disabled participants: Recruiting disabled participants is not always easy, but that simply means we need to learn strategies on where to look.
5. Designing your research: While our goal is to influence accessible products, our research execution must also be accessible.
6. Facilitating an accessible study: Preparation and communication with your participants can ensure your study logistics run smoothly.
7. Analyzing and reporting with accuracy and impact: How you communicate your findings is just as important as gathering them in the first place — so prepare to be a storyteller, educator, and advocate.
8. Disability in the UX research field: Inclusion isn’t just for research participants, it’s important for our colleagues as well, as explained by blind UX Researcher Dr. Cynthia Bennett.

Who This Book Is For

Whether a UX professional who conducts research in industry or academia, or more broadly part of an engineering, product, or design function, you’ll want to read this book if…

1. You have been tasked to improve accessibility of your product, but need to know where to start to facilitate this successfully.
2. You want to establish a culture for accessibility in your company, but not sure how to make it work.
3. You want to move from WCAG/EAA compliance to established accessibility practices and inclusion in research practices and beyond.
4. You want to improve your overall accessibility knowledge and be viewed as an Accessibility Specialist for your organization.

About the Author

Dr. Michele A. Williams is owner of M.A.W. Consulting, LLC – Making Accessibility Work. Her 20+ years of experience include influencing top tech companies as a Senior User Experience (UX) Researcher and Accessibility Specialist and obtaining a PhD in Human-Centered Computing focused on accessibility. An international speaker, published academic author, and patented inventor, she is passionate about educating and advising on technology that does not exclude disabled users.

Technical Details

Community Matters ❤️

Producing a book takes quite a bit of time, and we couldn’t pull it off without the support of our wonderful community. A huge shout-out to Smashing Members for the kind, ongoing support. The eBook is and always will be free for Smashing Members. Plus, Members get a friendly discount when purchasing their printed copy. Just sayin’! 😉

More Smashing Books & Goodies

Promoting best practices and providing you with practical tips to master your daily coding and design challenges has always been (and will be) at the core of everything we do at Smashing.

In the past few years, we were very lucky to have worked together with some talented, caring people from the web community to publish their wealth of experience as printed books that stand the test of time. Trine, Heather, and Steven are three of these people. Have you checked out their books already?

(cm, il)

The post Accessible UX Research, eBook Now Available For Download appeared first on The NOKIA Blog.

The Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA) has become ingrained in internet browsing since personal computers gained momentum in the consumer electronics market. For nearly as long as people have been going online, web developers have sought ways to block spam bots.

The CAPTCHA service distinguishes between human and bot activity to keep bots out. Unfortunately, its methods are less than precise. In trying to protect humans, developers have made much of the web inaccessible to people with disabilities.

Authentication methods, such as CAPTCHA, typically use image classification, puzzles, audio samples, or click-based tests to determine whether the user is human. While the types of challenges are well-documented, their logic is not public knowledge. People can only guess what it takes to “prove” they are human.

What Is CAPTCHA?

A CAPTCHA is a reverse Turing test that takes the form of a challenge-response test. For example, if it instructs users to “select all images with stairs,” they must pick the stairs out from railings, driveways, and crosswalks. Alternatively, they may be asked to enter the text they see, add the sum of dice faces, or complete a sliding puzzle.

Image-based CAPTCHAs are responsible for the most frustrating shared experiences internet users have — deciding whether to select a square when only a small sliver of the object in question is in it.

Regardless of the method, a computer or algorithm ultimately determines whether the test-taker is human or machine. This authentication service has spawned many offshoots, including reCAPTCHA and hCAPTCHA. It has even led to the creation of entire companies, such as GeeTest and Arkose Labs. The Google-owned automated system reCAPTCHA requires users to click a checkbox labeled “I’m not a robot” for authentication. It runs an adaptive analysis in the background to assign a risk score. hCAPTCHA is an image-classification-based alternative.

Other authentication methods include multi-factor authentication (MFA), QR codes, temporary personal identification numbers (PINs), and biometrics. They do not follow the challenge-response formula, but serve fundamentally similar purposes.

These offshoots are intended to be better than the original, but they often fail to meet modern accessibility standards. Take hCaptcha, for instance, which uses a cookie to let you bypass the challenge-response test entirely. It’s a great idea in theory, but it doesn’t work in practice.

You’re supposed to receive a one-time code via email that you send to a specific number over SMS. Users report receiving endless error messages, forcing them to complete the standard text CAPTCHA. This is only available if the site explicitly enabled it during configuration. If it is not set up, you must complete an image challenge that does not recognize screen readers.

Even when the initial process works, subsequent authentication relies on a third-party cross-site cookie, which most browsers block automatically. Also, the code expires after a short period, so you have to redo the entire process if it takes you too long to move on to the next step.

Why Do Teams Use CAPTCHA And Similar Authentication Methods?

CAPTCHA is common because it is easy to set up. Developers can program it to appear, and it conducts the test automatically. This way, they can focus on more important matters while still preventing spam, fraud, and abuse. These tools are supposed to make it easier for humans to use the internet safely, but they often keep real people from logging in.

These tests result in a poor user experience overall. One study found users wasted over 819 million hours on over 512 billion reCAPTCHA v2 sessions as of 2023. Despite it all, bots prevail. Machine learning models can solve text-based CAPTCHA within fractions of a second with over 97% accuracy.

A 2024 study on Google’s reCAPTCHA v2 — which is still widely used despite the rollout of reCAPTCHA v3 — found bots can solve image classification CAPTCHA with up to 100% accuracy, depending on the object they are tasked with identifying. The researchers used a free, open-source model, which means that bad actors could easily replicate their work.

Authentication methods like CAPTCHA have an accessibility problem. Machine learning advances forced these services to grow increasingly complex. Even still, they are not foolproof. Bots get it right more than people do. Research shows they can complete reCAPTCHA within 17.5 seconds, achieving 85% accuracy. Humans take longer and are less accurate.

Many people fail CAPTCHA tests and have no idea what they did wrong. For example, a prompt instructing users to “select all squares with traffic lights” seems simple enough, but it gets complicated if a sliver of the pole is in another square. Should they select that box, or is that what an algorithm would do?

Although bot capabilities have grown by magnitudes, humans have remained the same. As tests get progressively more difficult, they feel less inclined to attempt them. One survey shows nearly 59% of people will stop using a product after several bad experiences. If authentication is too cumbersome or complex, they might stop using the website entirely.

People can fail these tests for various reasons, including technical ones. If they block third-party cookies, have a local proxy running, or have not updated their browser in a while, they may keep failing, regardless of how many times they try.

Authentication Issues With CAPTCHA

Due to the reasons mentioned above, most types of CAPTCHA are inherently inaccessible. This is especially true for people with disabilities, as these challenge-response tests were not designed with their needs in mind. Some of the common issues include the following:

Issues Related To Visuals And Screen Reader Use

Screen readers cannot read standard visual CAPTCHAs, such as the distorted text test, since the jumbled, contorted words are not machine-readable. The image classification and sliding puzzle methods are similarly inaccessible.

In one WebAIM survey conducted from 2023 to 2024, screen reader users agreed CAPTCHA was the most problematic item, ranking it above ambiguous links, unexpected screen changes, missing alt text, inaccessible search, and lack of keyboard accessibility. Its spot at the top has remained largely unchanged for over a decade, illustrating its history of inaccessibility.

Issues Related To Hearing and Audio Processing

Audio CAPTCHAs are relatively uncommon because web development best practices advise against autoplay audio and emphasize the importance of user controls. However, audio CAPTCHAs still exist. People who are hard of hearing or deaf may encounter a barrier when attempting these tests. Even with assistive technology, the intentional audio distortion and background noise make these samples challenging for individuals with auditory processing disorders to comprehend.

Issues Related To Motor And Dexterity

Tests requiring motor and dexterity skills can be challenging for those with motor impairments or physical disabilities. For example, someone with a hand tremor may find the sliding puzzles difficult. Also, the image classification tests that load more images until none that fit the criteria are left may pose a challenge.

Issues Related To Cognition And Language

As CAPTCHAs become increasingly complex, some developers are turning to tests that require a combination of creative and critical thinking. Those that require users to solve a math problem or complete a puzzle can be challenging for people with dyslexia, dyscalculia, visual processing disorders, or cognitive impairments.

Why Assistive Technology Won’t Bridge The Gap

CAPTCHAs are intentionally designed for humans to interpret and solve, so assistive technology like screen readers and hands-free controls may be of little help. ReCAPTCHA in particular poses an issue because it analyzes background activity. If it flags the accessibility devices as bots, it will serve a potentially inaccessible CAPTCHA.

Even if this technology could bridge the gap, web developers shouldn’t expect it to. Industry standards dictate that they should follow universal design principles to make their websites as accessible and functional as possible.

CAPTCHA’s accessibility issues could be forgiven if it were an effective security tool, but it is far from foolproof since bots get it right more than humans do. Why keep using a method that is ineffective and creates barriers for people with disabilities?

There are better alternatives.

Principles For Accessible Authentication

The idea that humans should consistently outperform algorithms is outdated. Better authentication methods exist, such as multifactor authentication (MFA). The two-factor authentication market will be worth an estimated $26.7 billion by 2027, underscoring its popularity. This tool is more effective than a CAPTCHA because it prevents unauthorized access, even with legitimate credentials.

Ensure your MFA technique is accessible. Instead of having website visitors transcribe complex codes, you should send push notifications or SMS messages. Rely on the verification code autofill to automatically capture and enter the code. Alternatively, you can introduce a “remember this device” feature to skip authentication on trusted devices.

Apple’s two-factor authentication approach is designed this way. A trusted device automatically displays a six-digit verification code, so they do not have to search for it. When prompted, iPhone users can tap the suggestion that appears above their mobile keyboard for autofill.

Single sign-on is another option. This session and user authentication service allows people to log in to multiple websites or applications with a single set of login credentials, minimizing the need for repeated identity verification.

One-time-use “magic links” are an excellent alternative to reCAPTCHA and temporary PINs. Rather than remembering a code or solving a puzzle, the user clicks on a button. Avoid imposing deadlines because, according to WCAG Success Criterion 2.2.3, users should not face time limits since those with disabilities may need more time to complete specific actions.

Alternatively, you could use Cloudflare Turnstile. It authenticates without showing a CAPTCHA, and most people never even have to check a box or hit a button. The software works by issuing a small JavaScript challenge behind the scenes to automatically differentiate between bots and humans. Cloudflare Turnstile can be embedded into any website, making it an excellent alternative to standard classification tasks.

Testing And Evaluation Of Accessible Authentication Designs

Testing and evaluating your accessible alternative authentication methods is essential. Many designs look good on paper but do not work in practice. If possible, gather feedback from actual users. An open beta may be an effective way to maximize visibility.

Remember, general accessibility considerations do not only apply to people with disabilities. They also include those who are neurodivergent, lack access to a mobile device, or use assistive technology. Ensure your alternative designs consider these individuals.

Realistically, you cannot create a perfect system since everyone is unique. Many people struggle to follow multistep processes, solve equations, process complex instructions, or remember passcodes. While universal web design principles can improve flexibility, no single solution can meet everyone’s needs.

Regardless of the authentication technique you use, you should present users with multiple authentication options upfront. They know their capabilities best, so let them decide what to use instead of trying to over-engineer a solution that works for every edge case.

Address The Accessibility Problem With Design Changes

A person with hand tremors may be unable to complete a sliding puzzle, while someone with an audio processing disorder may have trouble with distorted audio samples. However, you cannot simply replace CAPTCHAs with alternatives because they are often equally inaccessible.

QR codes, for example, may be difficult to scan for those with reduced fine motor control. People who are visually impaired may struggle to find it on the screen. Similarly, biometrics can pose an issue for people with facial deformities or a limited range of motion. Addressing the accessibility problem requires creative thinking.

You can start by visiting the Web Accessibility Initiative’s accessibility tutorials for developers to better understand universal design. Although these tutorials focus more on content than authentication, you can still use them to your advantage. The W3C Group Draft Note on the Inaccessibility of CAPTCHA provides more relevant guidance.

Getting started is as easy as researching best practices. Understanding the basics is essential because there is no universal solution for accessible web design. If you want to optimize accessibility, consider sourcing feedback from the people who actually visit your website.

Further Reading

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The post The Accessibility Problem With Authentication Methods Like CAPTCHA appeared first on The NOKIA Blog.

Last year, a study found that cars are steadily getting less colourful. In the US, around 80% of cars are now black, white, gray, or silver, up from 60% in 2004. This trend has been attributed to cost savings and consumer preferences. Whatever the reasons, the result is hard to deny: a big part of daily life isn’t as colourful as it used to be.

The colourfulness of mass consumer products is hardly the bellwether for how vibrant life is as a whole, but the study captures a trend a lot of us recognise — offline and on. From colour to design to public discourse, a lot of life is getting less varied, more grayscale.

The web is caught in the same current. There is plenty right with it — it retains plenty of its founding principles — but its state is not healthy. From AI slop to shoddy service providers to enshittification, the digital world faces its own grayscale problem.

This bears talking about. One of life’s great fallacies is that things get better over time on their own. They can, but it’s certainly not a given. I don’t think the moral arc of the universe does not bend towards justice, not on its own; I think it bends wherever it is dragged, kicking and screaming, by those with the will and the means to do so.

Much of the modern web, and the forces of optimisation and standardisation that drive it, bear an uncanny resemblance to the trend of car colours. Processes like market research and A/B testing — the process by which two options are compared to see which ‘performs’ better on clickthrough, engagement, etc. — have their value, but they don’t lend themselves to particularly stimulating design choices.

The spirit of free expression that made the formative years of the internet so exciting — think GeoCities, personal blogging, and so on — is on the slide.

The ongoing transition to a more decentralised, privacy-aware Web3 holds some promise. Two-thirds of the world’s population now has online access — though that still leaves plenty of work to do — with a wealth of platforms allowing billions of people to connect. The dream of a digital world that is open, connected, and flat endures, but is tainted.

Monopolies

One of the main sources of concern for me is that although more people are online than ever, they are concentrating on fewer and fewer sites. A study published in 2021 found that activity is concentrated in a handful of websites. Think Google, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, and, more recently, ChatGPT:

“So, while there is still growth in the functions, features, and applications offered on the web, the number of entities providing these functions is shrinking. […] The authority, influence, and visibility of the top 1,000 global websites (as measured by network centrality or PageRank) is growing every month, at the expense of all other sites.”

Monopolies by nature reduce variance, both through their domination of the market and (understandably in fairness) internal preferences for consistency. And, let’s be frank, they have a vested interest in crushing any potential upstarts.

Dominant websites often fall victim to what I like to call Internet Explorer Syndrome, where their dominance breeds a certain amount of complacency. Why improve your quality when you’re sitting on 90% market share? No wonder the likes of Google are getting worse.

The most immediate sign of this is obviously how sites are designed and how they look. A lot of the big players look an awful lot like each other. Even personal websites are built atop third-party website builders. Millions of people wind up using the same handful of templates, and that’s if they have their own website at all. On social media, we are little more than a profile picture and a pithy tagline. The rest is boilerplate.

Should there be sleek, minimalist, ‘grayscale’ design systems and websites? Absolutely. But there should be colourful, kooky ones too, and if anything, they’re fading away. Do we really want to spend our online lives in the digital equivalent of Levittowns? Even logos are contriving to be less eye-catching. It feels like a matter of time before every major logo is a circle in a pastel colour.

The arrival of Artificial Intelligence into our everyday lives (and a decent chunk of the digital services we use) has put all of this into overdrive. Amalgamating — and hallucinating from — content that was already trending towards a perfect average, it is grayscale in its purest form.

Mix all the colours together, and what do you get? A muddy gray gloop.

I’m not railing against best practice. A lot of conventions have become the standard for good reason. One could just as easily shake their fist at the sky and wonder why all newspapers look the same, or all books. I hope the difference here is clear, though.

The web is a flexible enough domain that I think it belongs in the realm of architecture. A city where all buildings look alike has a soul-crushing quality about it. The same is true, I think, of the web.

In the Oscar Wilde play Lady Windermere’s Fan, a character quips that a cynic “knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.” In fairness, another quips back that a sentimentalist “sees an absurd value in everything, and doesn’t know the market price of any single thing.”

The sweet spot is somewhere in between. Structure goes a long way, but life needs a bit of variety too.

So, how do we go about bringing that variety? We probably shouldn’t hold our breath on big players to lead the way. They have the most to lose, after all. Why risk being colourful or dynamic if it impacts the bottom line?

We, the citizens of the web, have more power than we realise. This is the web, remember, a place where if you can imagine it, odds are you can make it. And at zero cost. No materials to buy and ship, no shareholders to appease. A place as flexible — and limitless — as the web has no business being boring.

There are plenty of ways, big and small, of keeping this place colourful. Whether our digital footprints are on third-party websites or ones we build ourselves, we needn’t toe the line.

Colour seems an appropriate place to start. When given the choice, try something audacious rather than safe. The worst that can happen is that it doesn’t work. It’s not like the sunk cost of painting a room; if you don’t like the palette, you simply change the hex codes. The same is true of fonts, icons, and other building blocks of the web.

As an example, a couple of friends and I listen to and review albums occasionally as a hobby. On the website, the palette of each review page reflects the album artwork:

I couldn’t tell you if reviews ‘perform’ better or worse than if they had a grayscale palette, because I don’t care. I think it’s a lot nicer to look at. And for those wondering, yes, I have tried to make every page meet AA Web Accessibility standards. Vibrant and accessible aren’t mutually exclusive.

Another great way of bringing vibrancy to the web is a degree of randomisation. Bruno Simon of Three Journey and awesome portfolio fame weaves random generation into a lot of his projects, and the results are gorgeous. What’s more, they feel familiar, natural, because life is full of wildcards.

This needn’t be in fancy 3D models. You could lightly rotate images to create a more informal, photo album mood, or chuck in the occasional random link in a list of recommended articles, just to shake things up.

In a lot of ways, it boils down to an attitude of just trying stuff out. Make your own font, give the site a sepia filter, and add that easter egg you keep thinking about. Just because someone, somewhere has already done it doesn’t mean you can’t do it your own way. And who knows, maybe your way stumbles onto someplace wholly new.

I’m wary of being too prescriptive. I don’t have the keys to a colourful web. No one person does. A vibrant community is the sum total of its people. What keeps things interesting is individuals trying wacky ideas and putting them out there. Expression for expression’s sake. Experimentation for experimentation’s sake. Tinkering for tinkering’s sake.

As users, there’s also plenty of room to be adventurous and try out open source alternatives to the software monopolies that shape so much of today’s Web. Being active in the communities that shape those tools helps to sustain a more open, collaborative digital world.

Although there are lessons to be taken from it, we won’t get a more colourful web by idealising the past or pining to get back to the ‘90s. Nor is there any point in resisting new technologies. AI is here; the choice is whether we use it or it uses us. We must have the courage to carry forward what still holds true, drop what doesn’t, and explore new ideas with a spirit of play.

Here are a few more Smashing articles in that spirit:

I do think there’s a broader discussion to be had about the extent to which A/B tests, bottom lines, and focus groups seem to dictate much of how the modern web looks and feels. With sites being squeezed tighter and tighter by dwindling advertising revenues, and AI answers muscling in on search traffic, the corporate entities behind larger websites can’t justify doing anything other than what is safe and proven, for fear of shrinking their slice of the pie.

Lest we forget, though, most of the web isn’t beholden to those types of pressure. From pet projects to wikis to forums to community news outlets to all manner of other things, there are countless reasons for websites to exist, and they needn’t take design cues from the handful of sites slugging it out at the top.

Connected with this is the dire need for digital literacy (PDF) — ‘the confident and critical use of a full range of digital technologies for information, communication and basic problem-solving in all aspects of life.’ For as long as using third-party platforms is a necessity rather than a choice, the needle’s only going to move so much.

There’s a reason why Minecraft is the world’s best-selling game. People are creative. When given the tools — and the opportunity — that creativity will manifest in weird and wonderful ways. That game is a lot of things, but gray ain’t one of them.

The web has all of that flexibility and more. It is a manifestation of imagination. Imagination trends towards colour, not grayness. It doesn’t always feel like it, but where the internet goes is decided by its citizens. The internet is ours. If we want to, we can make it technicolor.

(yk)

The post The Grayscale Problem appeared first on The NOKIA Blog.

UX research can take so much of the guesswork out of the design process! But it’s easy to forget just how different people are and how their needs and preferences can vary. We can’t predict the needs of every user, but we shouldn’t expect different people using the product in roughly the same way. That’s how we end up with an incomplete, inaccurate, or simply wrong picture of our customers.

There is no shortage of accessibility checklists and guidelines. But accessibility isn’t a checklist. It doesn’t happen by accident. It’s a dedicated effort to include and consider and understand different needs of different users to make sure everyone can use our products successfully. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Michele A. Williams on a shiny new book around just that.

Meet Accessible UX Research, your guide to making UX research more inclusive of participants with different needs — from planning and recruiting to facilitation, asking better questions, avoiding bias, and building trust. Pre-order the book.

About The Book

The book isn’t a checklist for you to complete as a part of your accessibility work. It’s a practical guide to inclusive UX research, from start to finish. If you’ve ever felt unsure how to include disabled participants, or worried about “getting it wrong,” this book is for you. You’ll get clear, practical strategies to make your research more inclusive, effective, and reliable.

Inside, you’ll learn how to:

• Plan research that includes disabled participants from the start,
• Recruit participants with disabilities,
• Facilitate sessions that work for a range of access needs,
• Ask better questions and avoid unintentionally biased research methods,
• Build trust and confidence in your team around accessibility and inclusion.

The book also challenges common assumptions about disability and urges readers to rethink what inclusion really means in UX research and beyond. Let’s move beyond compliance and start doing research that reflects the full diversity of your users. Whether you’re in industry or academia, this book gives you the tools — and the mindset — to make it happen.

High-quality hardcover. Written by Dr. Michele A. Williams. Cover art by Espen Brunborg. Print shipping in August 2025. eBook available for download later this summer. Pre-order the book.

Contents

1. Disability mindset: For inclusive research to succeed, we must first confront our mindset about disability, typically influenced by ableism.
2. Diversity of disability: Accessibility is not solely about blind screen reader users; disability categories help us unpack and process the diversity of disabled users.
3. Disability in the stages of UX research: Disabled participants can and should be part of every research phase — formative, prototype, and summative.
4. Recruiting disabled participants: Recruiting disabled participants is not always easy, but that simply means we need to learn strategies on where to look.
5. Designing your research: While our goal is to influence accessible products, our research execution must also be accessible.
6. Facilitating an accessible study: Preparation and communication with your participants can ensure your study logistics run smoothly.
7. Analyzing and reporting with accuracy and impact: How you communicate your findings is just as important as gathering them in the first place — so prepare to be a storyteller, educator, and advocate.
8. Disability in the UX research field: Inclusion isn’t just for research participants, it’s important for our colleagues as well, as explained by blind UX Researcher Dr. Cynthia Bennett.

Who This Book Is For

Whether a UX professional who conducts research in industry or academia, or more broadly part of an engineering, product, or design function, you’ll want to read this book if…

1. You have been tasked to improve accessibility of your product, but need to know where to start to facilitate this successfully.
2. You want to establish a culture for accessibility in your company, but not sure how to make it work.
3. You want to move from WCAG/EAA compliance to established accessibility practices and inclusion in research practices and beyond.
4. You want to improve your overall accessibility knowledge and be viewed as an Accessibility Specialist for your organization.

About the Author

Dr. Michele A. Williams is owner of M.A.W. Consulting, LLC – Making Accessibility Work. Her 20+ years of experience include influencing top tech companies as a Senior User Experience (UX) Researcher and Accessibility Specialist and obtaining a PhD in Human-Centered Computing focused on accessibility. An international speaker, published academic author, and patented inventor, she is passionate about educating and advising on technology that does not exclude disabled users.

Testimonials

“Accessible UX Research stands as a vital and necessary resource. In addressing disability at the User Experience Research layer, it helps to set an equal and equitable tone for products and features that resonates through the rest of the creation process. The book provides a solid framework for all aspects of conducting research efforts, including not only process considerations, but also importantly the mindset required to approach the work.

This is the book I wish I had when I was first getting started with my accessibility journey. It is a gift, and I feel so fortunate that Michele has chosen to share it with us all.”

Eric Bailey, Accessibility Advocate

“User research in accessibility is non-negotiable for actually meeting users’ needs, and this book is a critical piece in the puzzle of actually doing and integrating that research into accessibility work day to day.”

Devon Pershing, Author of The Accessibility Operations Guidebook

“Our decisions as developers and designers are often based on recommendations, assumptions, and biases. Usually, this doesn’t work, because checking off lists or working solely from our own perspective can never truly represent the depth of human experience. Michele’s book provides you with the strategies you need to conduct UX research with diverse groups of people, challenge your assumptions, and create truly great products.”

Manuel Matuzović, Author of the Web Accessibility Cookbook

“This book is a vital resource on inclusive research. Michele Williams expertly breaks down key concepts, guiding readers through disability models, language, and etiquette. A strong focus on real-world application equips readers to conduct impactful, inclusive research sessions. By emphasizing diverse perspectives and proactive inclusion, the book makes a compelling case for accessibility as a core principle rather than an afterthought. It is a must-read for researchers, product-makers, and advocates!”

Anna E. Cook, Accessibility and Inclusive Design Specialist

Technical Details

• ISBN: 978-3-910835-03-0 (print)
• Quality hardcover, stitched binding, ribbon page marker.
• Free worldwide airmail shipping from Germany starting in August 2025.
• eBook available for download as PDF, ePUB, and Amazon Kindle later this summer.
• Pre-order the book.

Producing a book takes quite a bit of time, and we couldn’t pull it off without the support of our wonderful community. A huge shout-out to Smashing Members for the kind, ongoing support. The eBook is and always will be free for Smashing Members as soon as it’s out. Plus, Members get a friendly discount when purchasing their printed copy. Just sayin’! 😉

More Smashing Books & Goodies

Promoting best practices and providing you with practical tips to master your daily coding and design challenges has always been (and will be) at the core of everything we do at Smashing.

In the past few years, we were very lucky to have worked together with some talented, caring people from the web community to publish their wealth of experience as printed books that stand the test of time. Addy, Heather, and Steven are three of these people. Have you checked out their books already?

(as, cm)

The post Meet Accessible UX Research, A Brand-New Smashing Book appeared first on The NOKIA Blog.

Hyperlinks don’t always get the attention they deserve from web designers. Sure, we might make a few tweaks. However, we don’t always go the extra mile to make them stand out.

Perhaps that’s because the styling options used to be limited. Link color and underlining were the primary options. Hover and focus states seemed to be where most of the creativity occurred. Other enhancements tended to require add-ons like JavaScript.

CSS has changed the game in recent years. Several properties are available to customize the look of hyperlinks. They also provide a higher level of control regarding details like spacing and sizing.

It’s a whole new world of possibilities. Let’s check out some CSS properties that help make hyperlinks more attractive.

A Default Link

We’ll start with a default link configuration. A link color and CSS states were added – but that’s it. It will serve as a baseline as we explore the CSS properties below.

See the Pen Link Styling:Plain by Eric Karkovack

It used to be that a link’s underline had to be the same color as its text. The text-decoration-color property allows us to choose a separate hue. It also works with overlines, strikethroughs, and anything else set by the text-decoration property.

We’ve added a brown underline to compliment our green link text.

See the Pen Link Styling:text-decoration-color by Eric Karkovack

This niche property determines how the link’s text decoration interacts with glyphs. The default setting is auto, where the browser interrupts underlines and overlines so they don’t touch a glyph. You’ll notice this with lowercase letters that go below the baseline.

Setting the property to none means the underline or overline draws a straight line – regardless of where glyphs are located.

See the Pen Link Styling:text-decoration-skip-link by Eric Karkovack

The thickness of a link’s underline typically follows what’s defined in the font-weight property. That is, bold text will result in a thicker underline. This property lets us set a consistent value for every link in the cascade.

See the Pen Link Styling:text-decoration-thickness by Eric Karkovack

Text decorations don’t have to be a straight line. This property lets you change the style to dashed, dotted, double, or wavy lines.

See the Pen Link Styling:text-decoration-style by Eric Karkovack

Here’s a way to specify how closely (or not) an underline is to the text above. Adding a few pixels of space between them can improve legibility.

Note that this property doesn’t impact instances of the HTML underline tag (<u>). It only affects instances where the text-decoration property is set.

See the Pen Link Styling:text-underline-offset by Eric Karkovack

Another niche property, text-underline-position specifies the position of the underline relative to its text. Setting it to under is ideal for mathematical and scientific formulas. It makes subscript characters easy to read – even when underlined.

See the Pen Link Styling:text-underline-under by Eric Karkovack

Going Further with Link Styles

Hyperlinks don’t have to be bland. There are now plenty of ways to make them as much a part of your brand as other design elements.

The properties above are all worth considering when styling links. They’re relatively simple to implement and can make links more attractive and accessible. Best of all, they’re native CSS and won’t impact page load performance.

You can also use them beyond default styles. Style them for various states, such as changing the link’s underline color during a hover event. In addition, there’s an opportunity to add animation and transitions to create all sorts of fun micro-interactions.

Just beware – it’s possible to take things a little too far. Always keep best practices in mind to enhance the user experience. Anything that makes links harder to read or use isn’t worth doing.

It’s time to get creative! Experiment with these CSS properties and see how you can bring a little life to your links.

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The post CSS Properties to Make Hyperlinks More Attractive appeared first on The NOKIA Blog.