Opinionated but ultimately pragmatic, Melanie Sumner has been enthusiastically building for the web since 1997.| Just Melanie from the Internet
I ran into some UI patterns that raised some red flags; one was having a modal/dialog triggered from…some other element that is already “on top” of the current page (e.g., other modals, dropdown menus, flyout panels/drawers). After digging into it a bit more, I figured out why it bothers me. I’ve compiled some points to consider, but the TL;DR is this: avoid mixing dropdowns, search boxes, and modals in a single interaction. Each pattern has its place, but combining them can create ac...| Just Melanie from the Internet
I work for a company that was recently acquired by IBM. We’re now HashiCorp, an IBM Company. Anyway, they had an offsite event to welcome us; flew most of us to Austin for a week. I found some interesting (to me) art while I was there, so I’m going to share the pieces I purchased and some of the things I’ve bought online since then (they were the larger pieces that would not have fit in my luggage).| Just Melanie from the Internet
It’s Monday. More than that, it’s the Monday following CSUN ATC 2025, and the web is chock full of awesome takes, hot takes, and really bad takes. So I guess it’s time to add mine!| Just Melanie from the Internet
I spoke at axe-con last week, and it was one of the most satisfying talks I’ve given…ever. I rarely get a lot of feedback from talks, and I have generally assumed this was either because I am not great at speaking in public, or the subject matter is just not interesting enough to give feedback about, or even both. This time it was different. So I’m going to write them down, anonymously because I didn’t ask anyone if I could quote them specifically, but I do also want to be able to rea...| Just Melanie from the Internet
It’s a new year, and I’ve been participating in the typical new year rituals of editing and organizing. In attempt to wrangle some of my physical book collection, some of books I have naturally sort themselves into categories. These books have been super useful to me, so I’m going to share them.| Just Melanie from the Internet
Despite my persistent reticence to go anywhere during winter holidays, I received an invitation to attend a cousin’s wedding in California, and, after talking it through with my husband, decided to go. I hadn’t seen these cousins for nearly 30 years. I also found out that my two sisters planned to attend, and the three of us haven’t been in the same place at the same time since at least 2002. At this point in my life, I’m an experienced traveler, so that part was easy. The rest? Not s...| Just Melanie from the Internet
For years, I felt like there was this persistent fog around my brain. If I could just try a little harder. If I could train my mind and focus a little more. I could do so much. I could be the best version of myself. If. The list was endless. Turns out, it wasn’t me, it was my brain. I had ADHD, I just didn’t know it yet. I’ve been on this journey for many years now, so maybe it’s time to talk about it. Maybe my story will help someone a little bit.| Just Melanie from the Internet
I avoid using the word “care” when I talk about accessibility, and I believe that part of my success in reaching engineers is that I have avoided that word. I try to avoid all emotion words, really. Many web developers/software engineers get really upset if you use the word “care”, because in doing so, you’re implying some shortcoming on their end if they do not. And heavens forbid a software engineer being forced to face a shortcoming…or a feeling. It is, as memes would suggest, ...| Just Melanie from the Internet
Sometimes working with a larger team means that you’ll get more varied opinions about how something should be done. Now, this is good when the final result is one that covers more gaps and includes more use cases. But what about accessibility? WCAG is the conformance standard, but it’s the bare minimum. Specifications can be confusing or interpreted differently depending on your background. Teams have a lot of challenges, and accessibility is one of the big ones.| Just Melanie from the Internet
Before we begin, some disclaimers and other things of note: While I am, at the time of this original post, one of the co-editors for the Accessible Name and Description Computation specification, this does not mean that I am a comprehensive authority on the topic. I am the co-editor because at the time, another editor was needed and I stepped up. I learn more all the time. There will be some swearing in this series. “I just don’t understand the AccName spec. It’s too confusing.” I fel...| Just Melanie from the Internet
I dislike doing accessibility audits. Even more, I really, really, REALLY hate receiving them from other people. Okay, maybe I should clarify a little. My strong hatred is generic audit reports that companies pay a lot of money for but don’t produce useful results. Maybe I should just explain. So when my place of employment (at the time of this writing) was asking, “hey some customer asked for a thing called a VPAT, do you know what that is?” I was interested at the opportunity to weigh...| Just Melanie from the Internet
I bought an Elgato Stream Deck in the fall of 2020, and it came up recently that I may use it in a non-conventional way. Elgato has my attention as a gamer; I use their key lights, microphone, and even tried their web cam for a while (the web cam didn’t keep; I have a Sony ZV-1 and I’m happy with it). I currently use my Stream Deck attached to my Macbook Pro for work; here are some of the things I have it set up to help with: GitHub commands I can never remember (or, just don’t want to ...| Just Melanie from the Internet
Some context: This blog piece is really me unpacking some emotional stuff. I know! Feelings! In a tech blog? No way! But seriously, maybe it will help you too, though. If not, that’s totally fine…YMMV. Yesterday, I was in a discussion about an accessibility-related technical issue, and a person in the discussion said something along the lines of “I don’t understand how you can’t empathize with the user here.” TBQH, my brain…broke. I wanted to laugh/scream/cry because isn’t tha...| Just Melanie from the Internet
A few months back, I had to work on a situation where the details element was being used as a dropdown menu for a site navigation. In this post, I’m going to explain why I think you should not use a details element as a dropdown menu. TL;DR? Don’t use the element for a dropdown menu, use a| Just Melanie from the Internet
Recently, my internet has been awash with Lensa.ai images. At first I was resistant, but then I realized that the computers have my everything anyway, so might as well. How would AI imagine me? What would I learn about myself? Would I finally have an avatar I didn’t hate? I had questions.| Just Melanie from the Internet
This is a guide. This document intends to provide insight into the steps that I take when evaluating the accessibility of a page. It can be used to estimate the work needed to do any kind of accessibility evaluation in general, or help inform your own process.| Just Melanie from the Internet