Kevin Marks
Really it’s on @stevenlevy’s blog, on @Ev’s software -platisher no more http://adactio.com/links/11367
How the Web Became Unreadable
Kevin writes a plea on Ev’s blog for better contrast in web typography:
When you build a site and ignore what happens afterwards — when the values entered in code are translated into brightness and contrast depending on the settings of a physical screen — you’re avoiding the experience that you create. And when you design in perfect settings, with big, contrast-rich monitors, you blind yourself to users. To arbitrarily throw away contrast based on a fashion that “looks good on my perfect screen in my perfectly lit office” is abdicating designers’ responsibilities to the very people for whom they are designing.
Responses
Chris Aldrich
“Kevin writes a plea on Ev’s blog” - I often still think of Medium this way too. Though isn’t Backchannel technically a Conde Nast joint now? Kevin, do you get to eventually “own” the actual post after an embargo period? More journalists should be syndicating content in an IndieWeb-centric way like this, but still able to keep all the likes/comments after-the-fact for their portfolio. (Particularly when they do all the follow up commentary and respond to comments as well as you do.)
Related links
Justified Text: Better Than Expected? – Cloud Four
Some interesting experiments in web typography here.
Introducing TODS – a typographic and OpenType default stylesheet | Clagnut by Richard Rutter
This is a very handy piece of work by Rich:
The idea is to set sensible typographic defaults for use on prose (a column of text), making particular use of the font features provided by OpenType. The main principle is that it can be used as starting point for all projects, so doesn’t include design-specific aspects such as font choice, type scale or layout (including how you might like to set the line-length).
Data Design Language
I like this approach to offering a design system. It seems less prescriptive than many:
Designed not as a rule set, but rather a toolbox, the Data Design Language includes a chart library, design guidelines, colour and typographic style specifications with usability guidance for internationalization (i18n) and accessibility (a11y), all reflecting our data design principles.
Dark mode and variable fonts | CSS-Tricks
This is such a clever use of variable fonts!
We can use a lighter font weight to make the text easier to read whenever dark mode is active.
Related posts
Billboards and Novels by Jon Tan
Liveblogging Jon’s talk at An Event Apart in Atlanta.
Accessibility audits for all
Catching some accessibility issues doesn’t need to be left to the experts.
Assumption
Separate your concerns.
Accessibility testing
It’s not just about finding the issues—it’s about finding the issues at the right time.
An nth-letter selector in CSS
The latest installment in the long tradition of calling for this pseudo-element.