Chris Henrick

Could we please add aria-label=“figma” to that div? Can’t leave out that particular accessibility fail!

Re-promoting this somewhat recent blog post for Global Accessibility Awareness Day.

Aside: React isn’t my first choice for making things on the web, but since I have to use it at work I hope this post helps others who use it pay attention to & think more on a11y.

#GAAD #a11y #accessibility #webdev

I know of a handful of accessibility specialists who were impacted by yesterday’s RIF at Microsoft. If you’re looking for amazing accessibility talent (PMs and Engineering Managers), please reach out.

It's truly a bizarre world we've created where it's unsafe to ride a bike places.

We're not asking for anything special -- just the same safety that existed 100 years ago.

Bike lanes are car infrastructure and motorists should pay the costs. Fight me.

if a prototype isn't accessible, then it is likely not something that can be tested by people with disabilities.

and if that's the case, any UX decisions made based on such a prototype will be biased away from inclusive design / UX decisions.

Accessibility as a core value For 18F, accessibility wasn’t just a requirement for shipping but a core value in how we approached each project as well as working as a team.

Whatever DOGE might hope, accessibility can’t be ignored. All of us will experience some form of disability in our lives, and following best practices for accessible design makes the experience of interacting with government better for everyone.

Oakland’s political divide between the hills and flatlands is complicated The majority of voters in the flatlands are often at odds with most voters in the hills. We spoke to some.

The majority of voters in the flatlands are often at odds with most voters in the hills. We spoke to some.

This simply does not have to happen. That is keeps happening is a choice made by lots of powerful actors, all with the ability to do something different.

Well in that case I spotted: “…was to create toast notificatins”

Downside is it will flag unknown words in things like variable names or a person’s last name, but you can add to a list of “known words” so it won’t do that.

Code Spell Checker - Visual Studio Marketplace Extension for Visual Studio Code - Spelling checker for source code

Not sure what you use to write your blog posts but I have been using the Code Spell extension for VS Code and it’s a huge help for avoiding spelling mistakes: marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemNa...

Book cover with yellow and black border and white background. Black title: "Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile. Sarah Goodyear Doug Gordon Hosts of The War on Cars Podcast and Aaron Naparstek" Graphic shows yellow traffic light with vines on it.

Coming October 21st...

"Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile."

A new book about how cars ruin everything and what we can do to fight back.

Pre-order here: www.lifeaftercars.com

A graphic illustration from The Flytrap in pink, blue, and white that says "Trans on Trains" with a high-speed train in a circle of tracks.

New episode is up! We talked with @katelynburns.com about her article in @theflytrapmedia.com, asking the question "Why are so many trans people into urban planning?" It was such a great conversation! Check it out! thewaroncars.org/2025/04/22/e...

Goodbye IRS Direct File, Hello Inefficiency It takes the average person over 9 hours and costs $160 to file taxes each year. IRS Direct File meant it didn't have to.

In January, Musk declared that the IRS must provide a way for people to file their taxes online for free. Once he discovered that already existed, then he decided that it must be killed, because it is evidence that government worked well under Biden.

RFK Jr. Is using a new study on autism rates to push his anti-vaccine agenda While researchers try to determine why autism rates seem to be rising, Kennedy made it clear he’ll try to put his thumb on the scale.

NEW from me: RFK Jr. made it clear at a press conference that he'd promote "environmental factors" (read: vaccines) as a cause of autism, and trotted out a new phrase, "epidemic denial," to label people who disagree with his interpretation of data. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

How Well Is Congestion Pricing Doing? Very. One hundred days in, honking is down; bus speeds are up.

Some stats from 100 days in on congestion pricing:
- Complaints about car-honking are down 70%
- The Holland Tunnel has 65% fewer delays at rush hour; time to get thru it is down 48%
- 6 million fewer cars
- Half as many traffic-related injuries
- 1.5 million more visitors to BIDs year over year

Part vigil, part protest: A heartfelt remembrance for Michal Burawoy in Oakland The famed Berkeley sociology professor was hit and killed by a speeding drunk driver. His friends want changes.

The famed Berkeley sociology professor was hit and killed by a speeding drunk driver. His friends want changes.

Hacking Accessible Pedestrian Signals is Not a Joke: It's a Civil Rights Violation On April 12, 2025 the top story on the Palo Alto (California) online news site was "Silicon Valley Crosswalk Buttons Apparently Hacked to Imitate Musk, Zuckerberg Voices" It told the story, covered b...

Don't hack #accessibility features of crossing signals. It's not a joke. It's a safety risk, civil rights violation, an unethical thing to do. Yes, someone did hack signals in Palo Alto with the "voice" of musk + zuckerberg. I wrote about it here: www.lflegal.com/2025/04/aps-... #blind #disability

Completely agree with this point:

“Clever engineers write clever code. Exceptional engineers write simple code.”

Back in when people wanted “ninjas”, I said I wanted to be/wanted to work with gardeners. Ninjas come in and leave a bloody mess in the morning. Gardeners patiently cultivate.

Pedro Pascal’s new movie celebrates the strangest Oakland moments of the 1980s "Freaky Tales," starring Pedro Pascal, takes inspiration from a real-life nazi showdown outside the punk rock venue 924 Gilman Street.

One of the freakiest parts of Freaky Tales
Really happened… www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/a... @sfgate.com

“Restapi” is my new favorite fake word thanks to @tolin.ski and @wesbos.com via @syntax.fm Let’s see if I can get this to catch on at work by pretending it’s a serious piece of jargon devs need to now know 😂

Looking for someone(s) to share my rehearsal space in Jack London / downtown Oakland.

If you’re a musician and need a great place to practice, hit me up!

sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/muc/d/oa...

#SFBA #SanFrancisco #Oakland #music #musicians

Headline of the linked article. It’s a Sign: AI Platform for Teaching American Sign Language Aims to Bridge Communication Gaps The Signs platform is creating a validated dataset for sign language learners and developers of ASL-based AI applications. February 20, 2025 by Michael Boone

I don’t like this at all.

blogs.nvidia.com/blog/ai-sign...

I’ll quote myself:

“To suggest that AI is needed to bridge […] gaps is to suggest that there aren’t human experts already out there capable of doing so. It devalues an entire body of expertise.”

ashleemboyer.com/blog/how-to-...

Just imported a bunch of posts from Xitter using the Cyd app. Looks like they didn't retain the original date of the post so it appears I posted over a hundred times in a matter of seconds... 🤔

A historic oceanfront park on San Francisco’s western edge will officially open on 4/12. The new park, the largest pedestrianization project in California history, will give residents & visitors a place to walk, bike, relax, & connect with the coast like never before.

18F was doing exactly the type of work that DOGE claims to want – yet we were eliminated shortly after midnight. Read our letter to the American people:
18f.org

DOGE by contrast appears to be a temporary wrecking crew paving the way for aligned Silicon Valley vendors to fill the gap. Removing 18F will make that easier. Dan Tangherlini, the former GSA Administrator who oversaw 18F posted that: 18F was popular among the agencies; annoying to the contracting community; and frightening to the contractors and consultants who could charge unsuspecting agencies whatever they could get away with. Small, but mighty, 18F was the OG DOGE, but with a mission to create actual efficiency, and more importantly, effectiveness. These were smart, technical, caring, dedicated, and patriotic public servants. Their dismissal with a late-night email demonstrates that this administration either doesn’t know how to effectively enhance government efficiency, or really doesn’t care. We built it from scratch before. We will just have to do it again.

Gutting 18F will make pave the way for private contractors, many aligned with Musk, to fill the gap that DOGE has created, but at a much inflated cost.
From Dan Tangherlini, former GSA Administrator who oversaw 18F.

Infographic showing the economic value created by free Landsat data. 25 billion in direct value, ~900 million in indirect value, and ~670 million in indirect cost saved. Landsat Next is expected to add another 8 billion in value.

A reminder that government is fundamentally different from business: the Landsat program created more than $30 Billion in value by giving away free data. www.usgs.gov/landsat-miss...

The Practical Accessibility Course A get-right-down-to-it online course for Web designers and developers who want to start creating more accessible Web user interfaces and digital products today

If you’re a design engineer, a designer, a front-end developer, a JavaScript developer, or a back-end developer, Sara Soueidan's "Practical Accessibility" can give you the essential knowledge you need to gain a deep understanding of accessibility.

practical-accessibility.today

Building an Accessible Modal Dialog in React – Chris Henrick A comprehensive tutorial on using the HTML dialog element with React to create a reusable and accessible modal dialog.

I just published a new blog post:
Building an Accessible Modal Dialog in React, a comprehensive tutorial on using the HTML dialog element with React to create a reusable and accessible modal dialog.

clhenrick.io/blog/react-a...

#React #frontEnd #webDev #a11y #accessibility #html #javaScript