November 18, 2025 Smashing Newsletter: Issue #534
This newsletter issue was sent out to 182,705 subscribers on Tuesday, November 18, 2025.
Editorial
AI is reshaping how we design and build digital products, but if our tools and UIs are not accessible, we are simply amplifying exclusion at scale. From accessible AI chat to fully accessible chatbots, we need conversational UIs that work reliably with assistive technologies, respect humans, and have clear, predictable interaction patterns.
In this newsletter, we look at accessible, respectful AI that helps teams design and build sustainable, ethical workflows. They are how we make sure AI is not there, but genuinely usable and beneficial for everyone.
On the Smashing side of things, we have a few friendly online workshops to keep you on your toes:
- Why You Will Not Be Replaced by AI (Nov 19, free!)
- Smashing Meets Accessibility (Dec 10, free!)
- Theming Design Systems Design
with Samantha Gordashko. Dec 1–15 - How To Measure UX And Design Impact UX
with Vitaly Friedman. Dec 1–12 - The New CSS Toolkit Dev
with Kevin Powell. Dec 3–17 - Figma Workflow Masterclass Design
with Christina Vallaure. Dec 10–16 - Jump to all workshops →
We hope you’ll enjoy today’s newsletter! Thank you as always for reading and for your kind and ongoing support — we sincerely appreciate it!
— Iris
1. Accessible AI Chat
From how a user provides input to how responses are displayed and how resulting processes flow, chatting with AI brings along some unique accessibility challenges, particularly for screen reader and keyboard users. Mike Gower dives deep into the accessibility of AI chats and how we can work towards a more inclusive AI experience.
2. The State Of AI Accessibility
Some see AI as the ultimate solution, others as armageddon in motion. But what are the facts when it comes to AI and accessibility? In her talk at FFConf last year, Léonie Watson cut through the noise to examine the good, the bad, and the “bollocks” of AI and accessibility. A recording is available on YouTube.
3. How To Build An Accessible Chatbot
Chatbots are often an accessibility barrier. After testing dozens of chat widgets with screen readers and other assistive technologies, Darren Lee decided to build a more accessible prototype for a chat interface. As he points out, the code is quite messy, but it is intended to open discussions between teams and provide a starting point for better implementation.
4. Accessibility And The Agentic Web
Even the most accessible e-commerce website doesn’t provide enough information to let users who can’t see the product images make a confident choice. Léonie Watson explores how AI-powered personal shopping assistants can enhance accessibility and what a shift towards agentic AI could mean for the future of the web.
5. AI Work Study Guide
AI doesn’t guarantee better, more efficient work, but it can assist in your existing UX workflow. Tanner Kohler compiled a study guide with links to useful articles and videos that the NN/g published on using AI for UX work. Practical tips, not only for leveraging AI in a clever way, but also for staying valuable as a UX professional in the age of AI.
6. AI Chat Patterns
If you’re looking for a quick overview of what to consider to make a chat component accessible, the Visa Product Design System has got you covered. It summarizes accessibility best practices for implementing chat components, including an overview of how screen readers work and how to get sender identification and chat announcements right.
7. Accessibility Annotation Toolkits
Accessibility often gets overlooked and then needs to be fixed for compliance later on. To resolve potential accessibility issues before they even emerge, it is a good idea to document accessibility already in your design files. Vitaly collected Figma toolkits that make accessibility annotations so easy that they become a natural part of your design workflow.
8. Deque Axe AI
Deque released a suite of three AI-powered accessibility tools that combine human expertise with automation and AI to help developers identify and fix accessibility issues. The tools provide accessibility issue detection in the IDE, answer your accessibility questions, and run Intelligent Guided Tests right in your browser.
9. Lightning Design System
With generative AI experiences, we are facing new, dynamic UI needs. The Salesforce team expanded its Lightning Design System to support these needs, reimagining how design systems work, both within the design-development workflow and within dynamically generated user experiences. It includes guidelines for agentic design and a Figma library with patterns for designing agentic experiences.
10. Meet Accessible UX Research, A Brand-New Smashing Book 📚
In the past few years, we were very lucky to have worked together with some talented, caring people from the web community to publish their wealth of experience as printed books. For our newest book, we have teamed up with Dr. Michele A. Williams: Meet “Accessible UX Research.”
“Accessible UX Research” is your practical guide to making UX research more inclusive of participants with different needs — from planning and recruiting to facilitation, asking better questions, avoiding bias, and building trust. Print edition shipping Fall 2025. eBook also available for download in Fall 2025. Pre-order the book, and save off the full price.
That’s All, Folks!
Thank you so much for reading and for your support in helping us keep the web dev and design community strong with our newsletter. See you next time!
This newsletter issue was written and edited by Geoff Graham (gg), Cosima Mielke (cm), Vitaly Friedman (vf), and Iris Lješnjanin (il).
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