Robin Whittleton

Accessibility at IKEA. Opinions my own (or at least not IKEA’s). he/him 🇪🇺🇸🇪🇬🇧

#designSystems #accessibility #standardEbooks

Homepage: https://www.robinwhittleton.com
GitHub: https://www.github.com/robinwhittleton

Last Notes

2026-06-23 18:41:03 CEST

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still got lots more to do though! The ambition has never been just compliance.

2026-05-17 13:23:18 CEST

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long enough stops to charge up enough to get back to the other side.
Incidently I’m just about to drive onto Grotte to take me back to Esbjerg. https://hvidesandeshipyard.com/nb-145-grotte/
https://cdn.masto.host/frontendsocial/media_attachments/files/116/589/655/148/333/984/original/76799836a1556832.jpeg

2026-05-17 12:11:07 CEST

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see also https://www.dfds.com/en/about/media/news/dfds-to-invest-1-billion-euro-in-battery-electric-ships-for-the-channel

2026-05-03 14:01:52 CEST

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this video on my local one was good: https://youtu.be/rE_M1n-ClOA

2026-04-09 18:13:33 CEST

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at least on Mastercard there are different types of notch for different types of card; I’d hope that Visa has followed suit? https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/news-and-trends/press/2021/october/mastercard-introduces-accessible-card-for-blind-and-partially-sighted-people.html

2026-03-07 18:56:34 CET

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they’re not cheap, but I’ve broadly moved completely to Nudie as they seem pretty much bullet-proof, and they do free repairs if you’re near one of their locations: https://www.nudiejeans.com/en-SE/stores?filter=Repair+Partner&filter=Nudie+Jeans+Repair+Shop

2026-02-14 15:14:51 CET

Given the recent Ars Technica fuckup I’ve cancelled my subscription. Any non-US equivalents worth supporting with that money? (The Verge and 404 Media would be candidates, but they’re a bit US-centric.)

2025-09-29 10:34:35 CEST

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I was poking at the site and I’m quite impressed with not only how unreadable the font on https://www.taylorswift.com/my-letter/ is, but how zooming in on the page zooms it out.

2025-09-23 20:50:04 CEST

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we’ve got a product called Kreativ that does most of that. The default planner doesn’t have ceiling height and isn’t the same level of detail as the kitchen planner, but it’s probably enough. Alternatively you can scan your actual room, then try 3D IKEA furniture in it (it’ll let you delete existing furniture if there’s something you want to replace). https://www.ikea.com/de/en/home-design/

2025-06-03 09:47:29 CEST

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what matters is not the design but the outcome of the design. Maybe I’m misunderstanding your point (and please correct me if I am) but I do not see how providing a palette of high quality options and context to a designer leads to disempowering designers to effect change.

2025-06-03 09:42:29 CEST

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that design systems are somehow designed to exclude designers. The assumption here is that design systems remove autonomy from designers, but:
(a) most design work should realistically be service and content design anyway, and
(b) it doesn’t stop visual designers from doing interesting work, it just shifts the level that interesting work is done at away from noodling on a button to page-level visual design supported by design system components and tokens

2025-06-03 09:29:35 CEST

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what a horrible take on design systems. Design systems empower designers to focus on the design that matters.

2024-11-28 13:47:07 CET

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I was playing around with https://a11y-consultant.netlify.app/ yesterday, but as I’ve never taken CPACC I’ve no idea how accurate the questions and answers are. They seemed to repeat occasionally as well?

2024-11-26 15:38:06 CET

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oh wow