664: Figma Sites, CSS Carousels, and Internship Prep

What It Covers

Shop Talk Show episode 664 examines Figma Sites launch accessibility failures, CSS carousel specification problems, logical properties for RTL language support, and practical advice for front-end development internship preparation.

Key Questions Answered

• •Figma Sites Accessibility: Figma launched Sites feature with significant accessibility problems including div-only markup and no semantic HTML. Despite Figma being a web company that should understand web standards, the product shipped with fundamental issues that make generated websites unusable for assistive technology users.
• •CSS Carousel Specification Flaws: The new CSS carousel specification shipped with accessibility problems including improperly implemented tab patterns where tabs don't reference their associated panels, and navigation dots labeled only as "content item" repeatedly. The specification appears accessible at surface level but fails deeper testing.
• •Logical Properties for Internationalization: Using CSS logical properties like margin-inline-start instead of margin-left enables automatic layout flipping for right-to-left languages including Hebrew, Arabic, and Urdu. This approach provides free internationalization support for millions of users without additional development work or translation services.
• •Internship Preparation Strategy: Before starting a front-end internship, install and hello-world the company's entire tech stack including Node, TypeScript, Git, and frameworks. Familiarize yourself with their product, run accessibility audits using Axe DevTools, and inventory your CSS and JavaScript strengths to communicate capabilities clearly.
• •Browser Feature Shipping Process: Major web platform features like CSS carousels and Figma Sites launch without adequate accessibility review despite being developed publicly for 18 months. The process lacks clear checkpoints where accessibility experts can provide paid audits before shipping, leading to features requiring potential un-shipping or major revisions.