Max Design articles

A bookmarklet highlighting roles that must never have author-provided names

Russ Weakley — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 13:10:30 +1000

A bookmarklet that highlights ARIA roles where author-provided accessible names are forbidden. A practical way to find naming errors and better understand ARIA naming rules.

Using the browser console for accessibility testing - Part 2

Russ Weakley — Sunday, 07 June 2026 10:20:30 +1000

Build on browser-based accessibility testing techniques using the console. This article explores additional JavaScript snippets that help inspect accessible names, descriptions, roles, states and properties directly in the browser.

Where can aria-label and aria-labelledby be used for naming elements?

Russ Weakley — Tue, 26 May 2026 09:00:30 +1100

A simple explanation of how aria-label and aria-labelledby work, where they can be used, and why some elements and roles do not support accessible naming.

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Three accessibility assumptions

Russ Weakley — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 09:10:30 +1100

Accessibility tooling encourages us to build simplified mental models of how browsers and assistive technologies work. This article unpacks three common accessibility assumptions about the DOM, accessibility trees, and screen reader speech output, and explains why real-world testing often feels unpredictable despite best practices.

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What is the minimum markup needed to create a modal?

Russ Weakley — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 06:40:30 +1100

Is it possible to build a modal dialog without any JavaScript at all? In this article, we’ll look at two small experiments that explore what the platform can already do, and what small enhancements can improve the experience for real users.

Option 1: what is the minimum needed for a modal to work?

Option 2: what is the minimum we can do to make this modal easier to understand for real users?

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Do screen readers announce “bullet” when a list uses list-style: none?

Russ Weakley — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:15:30 +1100

If you remove bullets from an unordered list using list-style: none, do screen readers still announce “bullet” before each list item?

At first glance, this feels like a screen reader question. But the answer actually lives deeper in the browser pipeline:

To explore this, we’ll start with a simple unordered list, then follow what happens as it moves through the browser, into the accessibility tree, and finally into screen reader output.

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Is aria-label allowed on static elements?

Russ Weakley — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 10:00:30 +1100

In this article, we examine how aria-label behaves on static elements in practice, across browsers and platforms, and why real-world behaviour is often more nuanced than common assumptions suggest.

The examples include clearly flagged bad-practice patterns alongside legitimate use cases, to show what is exposed at the accessibility API level — and why exposure alone does not imply recommendation.

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How can you tell what's allowed inside each HTML element?

Russ Weakley — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 10:00:30 +1100

The HTML Living Standard documents every element. This includes: where elements can appear, what they are allowed to contain, which attributes they support and how they behave in the DOM.

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HTML content categories

Russ Weakley — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 07:00:30 +1100

Modern HTML, defined in the HTML Living Standard, groups elements into content categories.

These categories do not control how elements look. They describe how elements fit into the document structure and how they relate to the elements around them.

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People with reduced vision: technology settings and possible impacts

Russ Weakley — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 05:10:30 +1100

Many people experience reduced vision at some point in their lives. This might be temporary, gradual, or permanent. It can affect how clearly someone sees text, images, and user interface elements on screens.

Understanding these options is essential for anyone building digital products.

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