#readability — Public Fediverse posts

When life gives you lemons, write better error messages

https://wix-ux.com/when-life-gives-you-lemons-write-better-error-messages-46c5223e1a2f

#HackerNews #errorhandling #userexperience #uxdesign #softwaredevelopment #readability

#macOS 27 will feature a slight #redesign to improve #readability and an AI-powered Safari feature to automatically group tabs. These changes, along with others, will be unveiled at WWDC 2026 on June 8th. https://www.macrumors.com/2026/05/10/two-macos-27-changes-rumored/?eicker.news #tech #media #news

One #accessibility issue I mention frequently is web designers, presumably for aesthetic reasons, making low-contrast colour choices. It also frequently goes along with selecting a #font so small that only people with excellent vision (and no #presbyopia) can read them, even if the #contrast were higher.

Here's an example. I'm not pointing out the software in question, even though you could identify it easily, because this isn't a dunk on that project, specifically.

This is the reference #documentation for an API, a small excerpt from the navigation links that run down a column on the left side of the page. The #text is darkish #grey on a lighter grey background. The contrast is terrible, particularly ignoring the highlighted entry because that's bolded as the current selection.

If you have #cataracts or any other #vision problem, you're going to have trouble with this. But it gets worse.

That text is 7 pixels high. On my monitors, it's 3 mm high. Ridiculous. Note that if you have fine motor-control problems or use alternative input devices, these are also extremely difficult to click on.

Here's the kicker: for this site, I have Firefox set to #scale the text up to 133%. That 7 pixels / 3 mm is *after* enlarging it.

#Web folks, please try to remember that not everyone is a twenty-something able-bodied person with zero accessibility issues.

#WebDesign #WebDesigner #usability #readability #legibility #WebPage

One #accessibility issue I mention frequently is web designers, presumably for aesthetic reasons, making low-contrast colour choices. It also frequently goes along with selecting a #font so small that only people with excellent vision (and no #presbyopia) can read them, even if the #contrast were higher.

Here's an example. I'm not pointing out the software in question, even though you could identify it easily, because this isn't a dunk on that project, specifically.

This is the reference #documentation for an API, a small excerpt from the navigation links that run down a column on the left side of the page. The #text is darkish #grey on a lighter grey background. The contrast is terrible, particularly ignoring the highlighted entry because that's bolded as the current selection.

If you have #cataracts or any other #vision problem, you're going to have trouble with this. But it gets worse.

That text is 7 pixels high. On my monitors, it's 3 mm high. Ridiculous. Note that if you have fine motor-control problems or use alternative input devices, these are also extremely difficult to click on.

Here's the kicker: for this site, I have Firefox set to #scale the text up to 133%. That 7 pixels / 3 mm is *after* enlarging it.

#Web folks, please try to remember that not everyone is a twenty-something able-bodied person with zero accessibility issues.

#WebDesign #WebDesigner #usability #readability #legibility #WebPage

One #accessibility issue I mention frequently is web designers, presumably for aesthetic reasons, making low-contrast colour choices. It also frequently goes along with selecting a #font so small that only people with excellent vision (and no #presbyopia) can read them, even if the #contrast were higher.

Here's an example. I'm not pointing out the software in question, even though you could identify it easily, because this isn't a dunk on that project, specifically.

This is the reference #documentation for an API, a small excerpt from the navigation links that run down a column on the left side of the page. The #text is darkish #grey on a lighter grey background. The contrast is terrible, particularly ignoring the highlighted entry because that's bolded as the current selection.

If you have #cataracts or any other #vision problem, you're going to have trouble with this. But it gets worse.

That text is 7 pixels high. On my monitors, it's 3 mm high. Ridiculous. Note that if you have fine motor-control problems or use alternative input devices, these are also extremely difficult to click on.

Here's the kicker: for this site, I have Firefox set to #scale the text up to 133%. That 7 pixels / 3 mm is *after* enlarging it.

#Web folks, please try to remember that not everyone is a twenty-something able-bodied person with zero accessibility issues.

#WebDesign #WebDesigner #usability #readability #legibility #WebPage

One #accessibility issue I mention frequently is web designers, presumably for aesthetic reasons, making low-contrast colour choices. It also frequently goes along with selecting a #font so small that only people with excellent vision (and no #presbyopia) can read them, even if the #contrast were higher.

Here's an example. I'm not pointing out the software in question, even though you could identify it easily, because this isn't a dunk on that project, specifically.

This is the reference #documentation for an API, a small excerpt from the navigation links that run down a column on the left side of the page. The #text is darkish #grey on a lighter grey background. The contrast is terrible, particularly ignoring the highlighted entry because that's bolded as the current selection.

If you have #cataracts or any other #vision problem, you're going to have trouble with this. But it gets worse.

That text is 7 pixels high. On my monitors, it's 3 mm high. Ridiculous. Note that if you have fine motor-control problems or use alternative input devices, these are also extremely difficult to click on.

Here's the kicker: for this site, I have Firefox set to #scale the text up to 133%. That 7 pixels / 3 mm is *after* enlarging it.

#Web folks, please try to remember that not everyone is a twenty-something able-bodied person with zero accessibility issues.

#WebDesign #WebDesigner #usability #readability #legibility #WebPage

One #accessibility issue I mention frequently is web designers, presumably for aesthetic reasons, making low-contrast colour choices. It also frequently goes along with selecting a #font so small that only people with excellent vision (and no #presbyopia) can read them, even if the #contrast were higher.

Here's an example. I'm not pointing out the software in question, even though you could identify it easily, because this isn't a dunk on that project, specifically.

This is the reference #documentation for an API, a small excerpt from the navigation links that run down a column on the left side of the page. The #text is darkish #grey on a lighter grey background. The contrast is terrible, particularly ignoring the highlighted entry because that's bolded as the current selection.

If you have #cataracts or any other #vision problem, you're going to have trouble with this. But it gets worse.

That text is 7 pixels high. On my monitors, it's 3 mm high. Ridiculous. Note that if you have fine motor-control problems or use alternative input devices, these are also extremely difficult to click on.

Here's the kicker: for this site, I have Firefox set to #scale the text up to 133%. That 7 pixels / 3 mm is *after* enlarging it.

#Web folks, please try to remember that not everyone is a twenty-something able-bodied person with zero accessibility issues.

#WebDesign #WebDesigner #usability #readability #legibility #WebPage

Orange Juice – Small UX improvements that make HN much easier to read

http://oj-hn.com/

#HackerNews #OrangeJuice #UX #Improvements #HN #Readability #DesignTips

HOLY moly!! #Capyreader med #Freshrss i botnen.... 🤯 #readability #fontsize

Fast Company: This free web tool makes everything way easier to read. “The next time you find yourself facing a web page with way too much going on, remember a tool called Textise​…. Textise is a simple-as-can-be website that converts any page you’re looking at into plain text—no fuss, no formatting, no images of any sort included.”

Does anyone have any academic sources on code readability regarding *file* length and number of *files*? I can only find sources on readability of snippets.

#psychology #code #readability #codequality

🔧🤖 Behold, the "Context Gateway" – because clearly, AI agents are drowning in their own #verbosity without a superhero cape of "history compaction." 🚀 If only compressing my attention span while reading this was as easy! 📉📚
https://github.com/Compresr-ai/Context-Gateway #ContextGateway #AIagents #historyCompaction #attentionSpan #readability #HackerNews #ngated

#Development #Techniques
Newlines in URLs work · Making long links more readable in HTML https://ilo.im/16b45d

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#Newline #Tabs #Readability #URLs #DataURLs #Specification #Browsers #WebDev #Frontend #HTML #SVG

#Design #Explorations
Flickr’s URLs scheme · ”It was a beautiful and predictable scheme.” https://ilo.im/16aq98

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#Flickr #URLs #Schemes #Keyboard #Readability #Predictability #UrlDesign #ProductDesign #UiDesign #WebDesign

#Design #Explorations
Flickr’s URLs scheme · ”It was a beautiful and predictable scheme.” https://ilo.im/16aq98

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#Flickr #URLs #Schemes #Keyboard #Readability #Predictability #UrlDesign #ProductDesign #UiDesign #WebDesign

#Design #Explorations
Flickr’s URLs scheme · ”It was a beautiful and predictable scheme.” https://ilo.im/16aq98

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#Flickr #URLs #Schemes #Keyboard #Readability #Predictability #UrlDesign #ProductDesign #UiDesign #WebDesign

#Design #Explorations
Flickr’s URLs scheme · ”It was a beautiful and predictable scheme.” https://ilo.im/16aq98

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#Flickr #URLs #Schemes #Keyboard #Readability #Predictability #UrlDesign #ProductDesign #UiDesign #WebDesign

Why are #MotionBlur, #FilmGrain, #ChromaticAberration, #DepthOfField, #Bloom, #Vignette, #LensFlare, #VolumetricFog and heavy #TAA enabled by default? They may look #Cinematic, but in real #Gameplay they are awful. 🫣

They blur the image, reduce #Clarity and #Readability, hide details, cost reaction time — and waste a lot of #FPS on effects that actively
make the image worse. For me, some of them even cause #MotionSickness. I disable all of this #Immediately. They directly hurt #Performance and #Playability.

I buy a 4K monitor and powerful hardware to get max. sharpness and textures, only to end up with blur and lower performance that completely negate it? 🤨

I want #VisualClarity, #Precision, #Control.
Gameplay first. Graphics second.

https://youtu.be/1uviTtuZei8?si=MoOzYTc7WK0QYw3Z

#games #gaming #pcgaming

👌🏽:

“Generating C Code That People Actually Want To Use” [2019], Jonathan Protzenko (http://jonathan.protzenko.fr/2019/01/04/behind-the-scenes.html).

On HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19304400

On Lobsters: https://lobste.rs/s/4vfysy/generating_c_code_people_actually_want

#C #Compilers #Transpilers #Readability #Programming #PLDI #CodeGeneration #Verification

👌🏽:

“Generating C Code That People Actually Want To Use” [2019], Jonathan Protzenko (http://jonathan.protzenko.fr/2019/01/04/behind-the-scenes.html).

On HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19304400

On Lobsters: https://lobste.rs/s/4vfysy/generating_c_code_people_actually_want

#C #Compilers #Transpilers #Readability #Programming #PLDI #CodeGeneration #Verification

👌🏽:

“Generating C Code That People Actually Want To Use” [2019], Jonathan Protzenko (http://jonathan.protzenko.fr/2019/01/04/behind-the-scenes.html).

On HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19304400

On Lobsters: https://lobste.rs/s/4vfysy/generating_c_code_people_actually_want

#C #Compilers #Transpilers #Readability #Programming #PLDI #CodeGeneration #Verification

👌🏽:

“Generating C Code That People Actually Want To Use” [2019], Jonathan Protzenko (http://jonathan.protzenko.fr/2019/01/04/behind-the-scenes.html).

On HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19304400

On Lobsters: https://lobste.rs/s/4vfysy/generating_c_code_people_actually_want

#C #Compilers #Transpilers #Readability #Programming #PLDI #CodeGeneration #Verification

👌🏽:

“Generating C Code That People Actually Want To Use” [2019], Jonathan Protzenko (http://jonathan.protzenko.fr/2019/01/04/behind-the-scenes.html).

On HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19304400

On Lobsters: https://lobste.rs/s/4vfysy/generating_c_code_people_actually_want

#C #Compilers #Transpilers #Readability #Programming #PLDI #CodeGeneration #Verification

🧡💜 Lancement de la BBB ReadMe 🧡💜

Jeudi à 19h au Café Alcantra du Pianofabriek. Ouvert à toustes !

La BBB ReadMe est une fonte post-binaire à haut potentiel de lisibilité dessinée par Clara Sambot @eugbidaut @Ludi (+ avec un peu d'aide de Capu Colomès 🐣).

#typeface #font #typography #launch #dyslexia #dyslexiafont #legibility #readability #byebyebinary #postbinary #queer

Google Adsense Ads Removed

Reading Time: 2 minutes

For years, or even decades I have had Google Adsense on my site, and I have been paid several times over the years. In recent years though Google Adsense has flooded my site with ads, but has not flooded me with revenue so yesterday I removed the ads.

For a while we had to tell Google Adsense where we wanted ads, and how we wanted them to be displayed. With time they gave us the option "Let google place the ads automatically" out of practicality, but Google placed ads so aggressively that legitimate sites looked like spam sites. I felt that way about my own blog.

Initially I thought, "If I blog daily, and generate traffic, I might get revenue from ads again" but in a period of months I get three or four francs. When you consider the impact that these ads have on user experience (UX), it isn't worthwhile. People browse to the site, see multiple ads and think "This is a spam site, I'm bouncing" and it's reflected in the metrics that Google Analytics collects from our site.

Within this context, it's a shame that Google doesn't test ad placement, and bounce rate. If it did it would probably find that its own aggressive ad placement is affecting site, and blog, stickiness.

Ad Alternatives

Google Adsense and Amazon Associates were interesting opportunities a decade ago, when the web was still young. These days, with ad blockers, and higher barriers to entry for Amazon Associates, it makes sense to think of alternatives.

Buy Me a Coffee

Including Buy me A Coffee is quick and easy via the WordPress Plugin, and it's less invasive than Google Adsense ads. People contribute if they want to.

Patreon

Podcasts and YouTube channels like to use Patreons to get monthly contributions for their content, instead of relying on ads on YouTube and in podcasts. Some podcasters, such as the BBC have automated ad injection in podcasts, so if you're listening to an English podcast, and you get loud, french ads, in Switzerland, it is deeply upsetting, to the point that I abandon podcast series that I like. Ads need to be part of the flow, and, when you're out on a walk, pleasant.

With ad injection by a number of podcast RSS feeds, the ads are so loud and obnoxious that podcasts, that I loved, are abandoned and I unsubscribe.

Sponsors and Direct Ads

For years now, I have thought that direct advertising, and sponsors, would be more effective than Google Adsense and other forms of monetisation. As they're direct, you can control how integrated ads are, to the look of the site. If they're domain relevant, then they contribute to the site, rather than detract from it.

And Finally

For years it has puzzled me that Google does not follow its own best practices advise, when it comes to automated ad placement via their wordpress plugin. Google has direct access to data about how ad placement affects bounce rate, and yet they continue.

Now to see if the bounce rate declines.

#ads #Google #layout #monetisation #readability #spam

I would really appreciate your help. #blog #readability #help #assistance #proof #proofreading #checkitout

http://invisiblymisdiagnosed.com/2025/09/30/i-could-really-use-your-help-9-30-25/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

I would really appreciate your help. #blog #readability #help #assistance #proof #proofreading #checkitout

http://invisiblymisdiagnosed.com/2025/09/30/i-could-really-use-your-help-9-30-25/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

I would really appreciate your help. #blog #readability #help #assistance #proof #proofreading #checkitout

http://invisiblymisdiagnosed.com/2025/09/30/i-could-really-use-your-help-9-30-25/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

I would really appreciate your help. #blog #readability #help #assistance #proof #proofreading #checkitout

http://invisiblymisdiagnosed.com/2025/09/30/i-could-really-use-your-help-9-30-25/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

🔧 Ah, the noble quest of squeezing integers into tight-fitting jeans in #Rust. Clearly, squeezing every last bit out of #memory is far more important than, say, writing #code that a human could actually read. 🚀 Here's hoping for a future where we can all obsess over the minutiae of #byte #boundaries in peace. 🙄
https://lukefleed.xyz/posts/compressed-fixedvec/ #Programming #Management #Readability #HackerNews #ngated

The Good, the Bad, and the Unreadable, by @malin-h.bsky.social:

https://stiftelsenfunka.org/about-us/columns/the-good-the-bad-and-the-unreadable/

#fonts #readability #legibility #accessibility #wcag

The Best Line Length, by @glyph:

https://blog.glyph.im/2025/08/the-best-line-length.html

#readability #codeeditors

Everything I have learned about good typsetting on websites and blogs

This post is an example of “blog your homework”, the idea that when you research something, you should write about it. I’ve been looking at making blogs and indie personal websites nice and readable.

Why am I writing this?

This all started a few days ago when I realised how hard this blog was to read. I updated my CSS for larger font sizing. According to one source, 20px font sits nicely in the overlap for good readability on desktop and mobile. Thus, I went with size 20px.

Am I qualified to write this?

No, not remotely. That’s why I am writing this as a homework notebook. Expect lots of links and cited sources. After all, you should not take what I say on faith. You should trust but verify. Or distrust and verify. Whichever works for you.

Legibility vs Readability

Alyssa Clarke has 12 Typography Guidelines For Good Website Usability for Usability Geek. One of her points is that there is a distinct difference between legible and readable. My old website design was legible – you could perceive all the words, but, with its long word-to-line ratio, it was not so readable.

With websites, we should aim for readable, not just legible.

Be aware of ideal line lengths

There is an optimal line length. I tend to think of it as “roughly 12 words”, but there is some far more accurate guidance out there.

The ideal line length for readable text is 50–75 characters per line (CPL), with 66 CPL being the sweet spot. This range helps reduce eye strain, improves comprehension, and ensures a smooth reading experience. Lines that are too long or too short disrupt reading flow, making content harder to follow.

Optimal Line Length for Readability, Andrew Martin, uxpin.com

Filippos Protogeridis cites research from the Baymard Institute, The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web, as well as the book Typographie by E. Ruder. for giving 50-75 characters per line on desktops, and 30-50 CPL on mobile. There is a single goodish-for-both value of 50 CPL. Although one might want to do mobile-first responsive design and optimise hard for each screen size.

Yet when text is difficult to read due to the length of the lines, users are much less willing to engage with the text, or struggle to read efficiently.

Readability: The Optimal Line Length, Edward Scott (Research Lead), Baymard Institiute

Do better writing

Marieke van de Rakt, writing for Yoast in “5 tips for writing readable blog posts“, suggests short sentences, clear paragraphs, and more transition words.

I can testify that some blogs and indie sites are easier to read because they were written by someone who has a lot of practice writing. I have a few hacky tips that can make your writing seem easier to read.

• After three sentences strongly consider a new paragraph
• Use a few one-sentence paragraphs.
• Throw in the odd one-word sentence.
• Any time you write “and” or place a comma, ask yourself if you could replace it with a full stop.
• Read it out loud before you publish.

Anyone who feels they know what they are doing should ignore these rules. They are nothing more than training wheels.

Use headings based on hierarchy, says Yale University

Yale says, not only should you use headings you should also avoid using bold and mark up as actual headings. This makes it easier for idiots like me to keep place in the post, scan for the bit that interests me, refer back to that one nice bit I want to cite but have to reread the whole thing for because now I can’t find it.

More than that, actual header tags are good SEO and most importantly, good for visitors that need special tools to help them read and enjoy your content.

Better writing tips from Yale include:

• Write at a high school grade level,
• Limit paragraphs to around ~80 words if possible
• Avoid jargon and difficult language where possible

My own advice for engaging idiots like me

Pictures!

No, seriously, images relevant to the article (like diagrams and infographics) help people like me to stay engaged. Sometimes a funny meme that reinforces a point or a decorative image that looks nice with the content can help my easily distracted brain stay on task for reading your lovely and informative words.

Font choice matters

On the A11y Collective blog, Andrée Lange addresses the problems with poor font choice in “How to Pick the Perfect Font Size: A Guide to WCAG Accessibility”.

Choosing a font size that’s too small or too large can decrease readability, especially for users who may be experiencing conditions such as myopia, hyperopia, or astigmatism. This could make it harder for them to absorb your web content and navigate your site, leading to many unwanted consequences, such as poor user experience, increased bounce rates, bad Search Engine Optimization (SEO) performance, and reduced conversions.

How to Pick the Perfect Font Size: A Guide to WCAG Accessibility, Andrée Lange, A11y Collective

The A11y Collective article has a lot of best practice technical and design details. For those wanting further reading and insights, this might be the one for you.

Jordan DeVos explains in “Designing for Readability: A Guide to Web Typography (With Infographic)” the importance of typography (font selection) on the web. Here’s the infographic (might not work on federated copies).

Infographic by Toptal

Do some testing – find your goldilocks zone

If you have the know-how or are willing to learn it, some testing may be of great value. Edward Scott’s article talks about testing (in an e-commerce setting) and verifying that there is a goldilocks zone for line length, not too long and not too short.

It turns out that the subconscious mind is energized when jumping to the next line (as long as it doesn’t happen too frequently; see above bullet point). At the beginning of every new line the reader is focused, but this focus gradually wears off over the duration of the line (“Typographie”, E. Ruder).

During our e-commerce testing, we’ve verified these basic readability precepts for users who are navigating e-commerce sites.

Readability: The Optimal Line Length, Edward Scott, Baymard Institute

Accessibility of writing

Nick Awad talks about website readability as an accessibility factor. He says that good formatting (which we have talked about a lot) is important but so too is accessible language.

A key component of readability is the language chosen for written content. Opt for simple language that resonates with a wide array of readers. Clear communication often outweighs complex vocabulary. For example, use simpler words like “use” instead of “utilize.”

Website Readability, Nick Awad, accessibility.com, 2024

Nick Awad also lists some tools that can be used to check accessibility in terms of reading ease, contrast, and simplicity.

• Web FX Readability Test- This tool evaluates readability based on a provided URL.
• Readability Formulas Scoring System– This tool uses various formulas to measure the readability of input text. These formulas account for sentence length and word complexity to estimate the text’s readability. 
• Hemingway Editor– Beyond traditional readability scores, the Hemingway Editor identifies complex sentences, passive voice, and other potential content issues. It suggests ways to make the text more straightforward. 
• WebAIM Color Contrast Checker– Readability extends beyond text complexity to presentation. This tool ensures the text has appropriate contrast against its background, essential for users with visual impairments and overall readability. 

Website Readability, Nick Awad, accessibility.com, 2024

I’d maybe add The Gunning Fog Index (or FOG) Readability Formula.

Harvard University stresses the importance of white space and resizing options

Harvard University’s website has a presentation on accessibility titled “Design for readability“. The unnamed writer talks about the use of visual and semantic space.

In arty terms, you need to give the text room to breathe. In terms of me, please keep distractions away from my focus so I can give my attention to the text I am reading.

For good accessibility support, you should support resizing, says Harvard.

Support text resizing. Check how your content responds to enlarged text. Avoid using narrow columns of content because they will not respond well to scaling.

Design for readability, https://accessibility.huit.harvard.edu/design-readability

Digital Accessibility, Willamette University

I’ve included this link mostly to provide a plurality of authoritative sources. Williamette covers a lot of ground mentioned already. They do provide a good summary of all the points, along with best practices for content organisation and visual display.

Like any good expert, they cite their courses. I’ve included those citations as further reading for anyone interested.

• WebAIM: Typefaces and Fonts
• CSUN, Readability
• WebAIM: Evaluating Cognitive Web Accessibility
• WebAIM: Writing Clearly and Simply
• Harvard University, Design for Readability
• Yale University, Readability

Digital Accessibility, Willamette University

Responsive design and font choices

Erik D. Kennedy writes in “The Responsive Website Font Size Guidelines“, going into depth about ideal sizes for different screen types. To get his point across (very well IMHO), Erik uses all the tricks of good writing – bullet points, headings, graphics, tables…

Talking of tables, here’s the one Erik opens with.

Read The Responsive Website Font Size Guidelines for the full deep dive.

Conclusion(s)

I felt that I learned a lot during this research session. I’m pretty sure that I have yet to implement all the recommendations I have found here. Feel free to criticise me for that. It is a fair comment after all.

There are a lot of factors, from accessibility to optimal reading ease, to consider. Some parts are design aspects, others are a skill issue. That is okay, I think. If on each revision of our sites and blogs we factor in one more accessibility or good design aspect, our content will be better and easier to engage with.

Good font choice, layout, design, colour, and language use all contribute to an accessible and engaging web page. The more of these factors you get at least somewhat right, the better your content will be and the easier to engage with the content therein. In other words, if we want more readers, we (especially I) must work to improve accessibility and design within many factors.

Any improvement is, I think, a good thing. If each of us walks away from these articles with one nugget of truth and uses it, the web will be that much better for it.

Please comment, reply, or mention anything I have missed, misunderstood, or got wrong. Are there any design and content issues that you would add? How well do you think your blog or website meets this advice and best practice? (Mine could use work, I can see that.)

#accessibility #blogYourHomework #blogging #cited #design #fonts #layout #readability #typsetting #writing

It’s More Than Picking a Pretty Font, by @uxdesigncc:

https://archive.fo/V8dek

#accessibility #fonts #legibility #readability #typography #wcag

#Design #Guides
Picking a pretty font? · A guide to accessible typography https://ilo.im/164y1s

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#Fonts #Typography #Accessibility #Legibility #Readability #ProductDesign #UiDesign #WebDesign #WebDev #Frontend

#Development #Techniques
Easier to use regexes in JavaScript · “This is how regular expressions are meant to be written.” https://ilo.im/164w9a

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#Programming #Coding #JavaScript #RegEx #Readability #Whitespace #Comments #Documentation #WebDev

German, the language with the most compelling argument for camelCase and PascalCase.

#languages #German #Deutsch #readability #comprehension

I'm once again looking for a read-it-later/article archive tool. I think I've tried them all by now and I'm amazed that for such a basic task there's no good solution. I think my demands are very reasonable:

– article content extraction (not just bookmarks) and comfortable reader
– full text search over the entire archive
– website and Android app with synchronization between them
– not a whole lot of random unrelated features like todo lists or whatever thrown in for no reason

I was using Pocket for many years and even paid for the "premium" (which basically got me a few extra fonts because the "premium" features like tag suggestions didn't work), however Pocket got worse and worse at article extraction, to the point where it just opened to website instead of showing the extracted text for more than half of the saved articles. Also no one seems to actively work on it it seems. Pretty much the same problems with Instapaper. I tried Feedly and Inoreader which kinda works I guess but they're primarily RSS readers, which I don't need. raindrop.io does extract article texts but shows them only in the Android app, in a browser it'll still open the website, also the full text search doesn't work reliability. Then there's Wallabag but that seems very Alpha and I don't want to host the service myself. Tried a bunch more which I can't remember right now.

As a temporary solution I'm now saving articles to @notesnook since I'm using that for notes anyway. Article extraction works alright but there's no way to archive notes, so it's all cluttered with articles now and I can barely find my own notes anymore.

If anyone knows of a tool that reliably does all the things mentioned above, please let me know!

#readitlater #readability #pocket #feedly #inoreader #instapaper #raindropio

#Web #usability and #accessibility ...

This is from crimethinc.com, but I'm not trying to pick particularly on them. There are many, many, many sites just as bad or worse.

This is a screenshot from an article on their site today, rendered in Firefox (Linux).

See the hair-thin font? See the fact that it's light grey on a white background? There's virtually no contrast between the text and the background.

This is an accessibility nightmare for those with any sort of vision problem. Picking the colour out of the screenshot (I didn't look at the CSS), it appears the text is basically 45% grey. This is ludicrous.

If the font face had some heft, it might be still be half-assed readable with contrast this low.

But as is... If I were to take my contacts out, I wouldn't even be able to tell that this screenshot *had* any of the normal-sized text in it, much less be able to read any of it.

Web designers, I beg you: please consider more than the appearance of what you're creating when you're making design choices.

Remember that not everyone is a 20- or 30-something with near-perfect vision.

Remember that people have cataracts or other types of eye cloudiness which necessitate high-contrast text to be able to read, even if they scale the fonts up by a huge amount.

Remember that vision degrades naturally in people in many ways other than "just wear glasses" can fix.

#WebDesign #WebDesigner #web #design #font #contrast #vision #eye #readability #legibility #unreadable

🚀 Behold the epic tale of Janet's #PEG #module, where the author heroically excludes regular expressions like they're yesterday's news. 💥 Marvel at the labyrinth of #parsing magic that claims to be more readable, but only if you have a PhD in arcane text processing. 📜✨
https://bakpakin.com/writing/how-janets-peg-works.html #Janet #readability #textprocessing #regex #HackerNews #ngated

Two years ago at #CSUN I learned about what became my favorite browser extension, BeeLine Reader. I've been a subscriber ever since.

It's easy to set up on desktop, but has been some struggle to get working on Android. But this week I discovered it works with Microsoft's Edge Canary mobile browser, which has experimental support for extensions. Instructions are here: https://u.osu.edu/keck.60/2023/03/26/beeline-reader-android

#AndroidAccessibility #Accessibility #Readability #Legibility

#Development #Techniques
Approaches to the ‘&’ selector in CSS · More maintainable, readable, and clever CSS nesting https://ilo.im/1628p2

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#ModernCSS #Maintainability #Readability #Ampersand #CssNesting #Framework #WebDev #Frontend #CSS #Sass

#Development #Techniques
Approaches to the ‘&’ selector in CSS · More maintainable, readable, and clever CSS nesting https://ilo.im/1628p2

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#ModernCSS #Maintainability #Readability #Ampersand #CssNesting #Framework #WebDev #Frontend #CSS #Sass

Bitzer is the latest #typeface by James Plattner, now available on Future Fonts @futurefonts Designed for headlines, #logos and editorial design, Bitzer’s narrow proportions allow for efficient #text arrangement without compromising #readability. 🔗 https://futurefonts.xyz/james-plattner/bitzer

#variablefonts #newfont #typedesign #typefacedesign #typefaces #fontdesigner #fonts #fontdesign #variablefont #futurefonts #jamesplattner #therightfont

Navigating the Digital Divide: Assessing the Web Accessibility of ABLE Program Websites for Persons With Disabilities

Abstract

This study investigates the accessibility of websites for the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) account program for people with disabilities, which is critical for ensuring individuals can fully benefit from ABLE accounts. Utilizing the Wave Evaluation Tool, Adobe Pro DC’s Accessibility Checker, and the Flesch-Kincaid (FK) readability formula, this study comprehensively analyzes 44 ABLE websites, and their program disclosure documents, for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), for clarity in communicating fees and risks, and for readability for individuals with disabilities.

Key findings include:

Prevalence of Low Web Accessibility
...

#ABLE #readability

Navigating the Digital Divide: Assessing the Web Accessibility of ABLE Program Websites for Persons With Disabilities

Abstract

This study investigates the accessibility of websites for the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) account program for people with disabilities, which is critical for ensuring individuals can fully benefit from ABLE accounts. Utilizing the Wave Evaluation Tool, Adobe Pro DC’s Accessibility Checker, and the Flesch-Kincaid (FK) readability formula, this study comprehensively analyzes 44 ABLE websites, and their program disclosure documents, for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), for clarity in communicating fees and risks, and for readability for individuals with disabilities.

Key findings include:

Prevalence of Low Web Accessibility
...

#ABLE #readability

#Development #Techniques
Cool URIs don’t change, but humans do · Human-friendly URLs can be both stable and flexible https://ilo.im/15zc5i

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#Readability #Maintenance #Webpage #Url #UrlDesign #Design #UiDesign #WebDesign #WebDev #Backend

#Development #Techniques
Cool URIs don’t change, but humans do · Human-friendly URLs can be both stable and flexible https://ilo.im/15zc5i

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#Readability #Maintenance #Webpage #Url #UrlDesign #Design #UiDesign #WebDesign #WebDev #Backend

#Development #Techniques
Cool URIs don’t change, but humans do · Human-friendly URLs can be both stable and flexible https://ilo.im/15zc5i

_____
#Readability #Maintenance #Webpage #Url #UrlDesign #Design #UiDesign #WebDesign #WebDev #Backend

#Development #Techniques
Cool URIs don’t change, but humans do · Human-friendly URLs can be both stable and flexible https://ilo.im/15zc5i

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#Readability #Maintenance #Webpage #Url #UrlDesign #Design #UiDesign #WebDesign #WebDev #Backend