Musings Archives - Hooked On Code

Built In, Not Bolted On

by Derek Featherstone Speaker Intro: Derek Featherstone is the Chief Experience Officer at Level...

Safety, Justice, Compassion – Contributing to the Tech Paradigm Shift

An Event Apart talk by Eva PenzeyMoog Speaker Intro: Eva PenzeyMoog is a principal designer at 8th...

The Eclipse Soundscapes: Citizen Science Project (ES: CSP) will introduce accessible opportunities for citizen scientists to participate in real and meaningful scientific research focusing on how eclipses affect Earth’s life. Regine and her students have conducted in-depth research to create a multi-sensory experience related to the 2023 and 2024 Eclipse. This talk will discuss the analysis and design behind making a web application focused on accessibility for the NASA Eclipse Soundscapes project. Together we will explore what it means to create accessible experiences related to science, sound, and data. This presentation is based upon work supported by NASA under project Eclipse Soundscapes: Citizen Science Project, award No. 80NSSC21M0008.

Elements Heard, Not Seen

Voice interfaces like Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and others are products we understand as users, but can feel impenetrable when we’re asked to design for them. When the only context our users have in front of them is a smart speaker without a screen, where do we even begin? In a world where navigation becomes negotiation—where scrolling becomes speaking—voice interaction design demands that we treat our canvas as time, not space. Preston will show how to connect the dots between familiar elements we’ve long known and alien affordances we’re just beginning to understand.

Accessibility and Progressive Enhancement: A Framework for a More inclusive Web

What do progressive enhancement and accessibility have in common? They both put the user first. When combined, they create a more inclusive foundation and are a powerful framework that can change the way you approach designing and building for the Web. While Progressive Enhancement advocates for separating HTML, CSS, and JavaScript layers, it can also be used to connect these layers in a way that ensures a more accessible and inclusive end result.

In this talk, Sara will share how she strategically combines accessibility and progressive enhancement to create more inclusive products. From writing HTML enhanced with ARIA to using CSS to enforce accessibility requirements, and making sure JavaScript behavior meets user expectations, she will share design considerations and code techniques for creating more robust and resilient accessible digital experiences.