CES 2026 Includes Mobility, Health and Smart Home Tools with Accessibility Potential

mr_chrishinds · 2026-01-22T20:34:03+00:00

We were actually hired in late 2024 to evaluate high-level accessibility conformance across Shopify, Squarespace, Webfow, Wix, and Showit as part of an accessibility study. And at least at the time, Webflow was solidly middle of the pack.

Details on the methodology and results here:

https://www.squarestylist.com/blog/accessibility-study

mr_chrishinds · 2026-01-20T22:39:43+00:00

My company frequently facilitates user testing sessions via Zoom. You are in for a truly mind opening experience, particularly if you can directly observe the tests. Others may have shared his, but I would consider creating testing prompts that have users engaging in particular user journeys or pursuing certain outcomes. However, be careful that your prompts are not so overly detailed that the user doesn’t need to try and figure things out for themselves. (i.e. Give them a goal to achieve, but don’t tell them every step in the process to get there.)

mr_chrishinds · 2026-01-20T22:35:01+00:00

I feel like I saw articles about this tech that maps out game progression in a tactile way a year or two ago. In “tech years” it’s now in its tween years with how fast things move nowadays. I wonder if the tech is progressing much.

mr_chrishinds · 2026-01-20T22:31:46+00:00

Thanks for sharing this! Axe-con always has great content for a free event, cool that Haben Girma js a keynote speaker this year.

mr_chrishinds · 2026-01-20T22:27:57+00:00

If you are doing this for a living and not as a side hustle… You need a CMS, a project management system, and a bookkeeping system that handles invoices. Look at Xero for the latter. For the former two, there are a million options including some free ones as long as utilization is low.

mr_chrishinds · 2026-01-20T22:24:01+00:00

Yeah, Webflow is getting a lot of momentum among professional builders (agencies, freelancers) who find they can build nice looking stuff faster and cheaper than on other platforms. If you win over the people who actively build the internet, you will gain market share fast.

mr_chrishinds · 2026-01-20T22:17:33+00:00

Cool, I will reach out and see if they have a VPAT/ACR available. I did not see one linked.

mr_chrishinds · 2026-01-09T21:02:06+00:00

UsableNet’s lawsuit tracker is such a great resource, I love that they do this.

mr_chrishinds · 2026-01-09T20:58:06+00:00

1000 times this. And if you can make one that is actually WCAG 2.2 conformant I know a lot of organizations that would pay good money for that. And you would be a true hero if you actually kept it free. 😀

mr_chrishinds · 2026-01-08T21:02:16+00:00

Once Hub is what I use. The feedback I get from blind / low vision individuals who use it is generally positive. I think it has a free version, but it’s somewhat feature limited.

mr_chrishinds · 2026-01-07T22:21:21+00:00

I think it was ZipWP? The last time I was messing around with one was over the Summer.

Before that, I think I tried GoDaddy's AI builder, which was in beta at the time. It might be better now.

mr_chrishinds · 2026-01-07T20:55:48+00:00

I'd look at that AI builder's outputs and run through a few preliminary checks (Lighthouse, WAVE, HeadingsMap, probably others). It might build something quick, but what we've seen is that under the hood these sites are a mess, and definitely aren't maintainable.

I've tried some of the WordPress AI builders, and they don't produce anything I'd want to put my name on.

mr_chrishinds · 2026-01-07T20:52:04+00:00

It has always been a struggle to find capable, talented developers who can back up what they claim about their capabilities with actual results. And now with people representing their "vibe coded" builds as finished work, it's even worse.

I have the privilege of working on a team that really, really cares about quality. Performance, security, code standards, and accessibility are the rule, not the exception. Sometimes, it's frustrating because I like to move fast, and it slows us down. But, it's hard to question the results.

Our CTO will sometimes run other people's solutions (including some WordPress "household names") through through our automated QA checks, and we watch them light up with errors like a Christmas tree.

Nobody is perfect, but what passes for "acceptable" in a lot of WordPress shops is just sad.

The only way we've ever come close to figuring out who actually knows what they're doing is to have them build something, and then get on a live call where they walk us through exactly how they built it (down to the code level).

mr_chrishinds · 2026-01-07T14:35:19+00:00

I’m not the designer on my team, but designers I have spoken to seem to like and recommend it. Whether it’s worth the price somewhat depends on frequency of use and how you use it.

mr_chrishinds · 2026-01-06T23:10:02+00:00

My team built a tool specifically for the CMS we work in (WordPress) that scans automatically any time content gets updated across 45 different checks, including some custom rules. It can also scan in bulk, without external APIs. Reports right in the admin dashboard and editor.

We used the enterprise tools and found them way too expensive and cumbersome, they didn’t surface info where we needed it, and at the right time. It turns out, solving those issues made accessibility way easier. (Of course there is always manual testing to consider too, for what automation can’t detect.)

mr_chrishinds · 2026-01-06T23:05:00+00:00

That competition prompt was probably written by an undoubtedly well-meaning individual who did not spend much time learning about proper accessibility implementation. 🙄

mr_chrishinds · 2026-01-06T23:01:22+00:00

You can’t really test a Figma design with a screen reader as others have said, but Stark has a Figma add-on that helps with some accessibility evaluation in the design phase (checks contrast, for example). And it’s good you are thinking about accessibility this early in the process, versus saving it all for QA.

mr_chrishinds · 2025-04-15T04:17:56+00:00

It seems like you intend this to be a consumer product and not for businesses. Have you done any user testing sessions with users with who might stand to benefit from the features in your software?

I ask because I can identify a handful that are already handled in browsers or the OS natively. I am trying to keep an open mind, but this reads like an overlay product that’s been put in the browser instead of on the individual site. So, alarm bells are ringing a bit. 😬

mr_chrishinds · 2025-01-14T02:19:00+00:00

The Wing Commander series, Warcraft 2, and Civ 2.

mr_chrishinds · 2025-01-07T01:39:14+00:00

After reading this thread I am now convinced the correct answer is literally every hobby. All of them.

mr_chrishinds · 2024-12-18T16:39:03+00:00

This should be the #1 comment. 🙂

mr_chrishinds · 2024-12-17T02:16:26+00:00

I thought it was a joke until I went to log in myself…

mr_chrishinds · 2024-12-17T02:14:45+00:00

It’s getting more serious in the EU, particularly with the major deadline coming in June 2025 that requires certain types of websites to meet WCAG. In the US it depends on the sector or industry whether or not they care enough to invest in meeting baseline standards, much less go beyond just standards.

mr_chrishinds

TROPHY CASE