My Notebook :: Page 4 :: Aaron Gustafson

Nuclear Anchored Sidenotes

Saved on: 14 Nov 2023
Filed Under: CSS HTML

I always learn a ton from Eric’s methodical approach to CSS. This one’s no different and is a wonderful introduction to anchor positioning. Love it!

Widgets!

Posted on: 09 Oct 2023
Filed Under: progressive web apps experiments JavaScript Microsoft

A cute little red robot projecting a picture of itself on the wall. 3d render.

It was a long time coming, but I finally had a chance to put the work I did on a widgets proposal for PWAs into practice on my own site. I’m pretty excited about it!

Accessible Figma designs just got easier

Saved on: 29 Sep 2023
Filed Under: accessibility design

I love that folks in Microsoft are releasing the tools we use to build more accessible experiences.

Microsoft announces new Copilot Copyright Commitment for customers

Saved on: 22 Sep 2023
Filed Under: AI/ML industry

While I really appreciate Microsoft standing behind the AI it’s deploying, I do wonder how this squares with the U.S. Copyright Office’s ruling that prompt-generated content isn’t copyrightable.

Tolu Adegbite

Saved on: 19 Sep 2023
Filed Under: accessibility inclusive design

Excellent interview with Tolu Adegbite on her career and the importance of giving voice to other marginalized communities within the disability space.

Remembering Molly

Posted on: 08 Sep 2023
Filed Under: influences career personal industry

Molly loved to take pictures. Here she’s sitting on a couch taking a picture of me taking a picture of her. It was a favorite pastime of ours. She was wearing a black shirt with a laced coverup and has a beautiful smile on her face. This was probably at the Hampton Inn near the Convention Center as we were there for SXSW.

We lost a seminal figure in the world of web design this week. And I lost a good friend and mentor. Molly Holzschlag cared deeply for the web and those of us who till its soils.

Please size your inline SVGs

Posted on: 21 Aug 2023
Filed Under: CSS design HTML SVG

Digital art. A blueberry with arms and legs like a person. It’s sitting on the ground with its back to the viewer and is clearly crying. The tears are pooling around it on the ground.

While it is a bit of an edge case, every now and then I’ll hit a site—yes, even a high profile one—and the CSS will fail to load for some reason. When this happens, inevitably every inline SVG resource on the page will grow to fill the entire width of my viewport, making for a really awkward experience.

Design for Developers

Posted on: 18 Jul 2023
Filed Under: design web design web development CSS

One of my favorite web designers, Stephanie Stimac, asked me to write the foreword for her amazing new book, Design for Developers. With her permission, and Manning’s, I’m reprinting it here.

Opportunities for AI in Accessibility

Posted on: 09 Jun 2023
Filed Under: accessibility AI/ML inclusive design the future

A child’s drawing of a cute red robot whose hands are hammers. The robot is centered.

In reading through Joe Dolson’s recent piece on the intersection of AI and accessibility, I absolutely appreciated the skepticism he has for AI in general as well as the ways in which many have been using it. In fact, I am very skeptical of AI myself, despite my role at Microsoft being that of an Accessibility Innovation Strategist helping run the AI for Accessibility grant program. As with any tool, AI can be used in very constructive, inclusive, and accessible ways and it can be used in destructive, exclusive, and harmful ones. And there are a ton of uses somewhere in the mediocre middle as well.

Read-only web apps

Saved on: 07 Jun 2023
Filed Under: progressive enhancement JavaScript web development

I love Jeremy’s proposed compromise on JavaScript in web apps:

Your app should work in a read-only mode without JavaScript.

Dispatches From The Internets