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🎨 Palette: Add semantic <kbd> tags for keyboard shortcut discoverability #262

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🎨 Palette: Add semantic <kbd> tags for keyboard shortcut discoverability #262

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4 changes: 4 additions & 0 deletions .Jules/palette.md
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -19,3 +19,7 @@
## 2024-08-06 - Screen Reader Accessible Dynamic Text
**Learning:** Dynamic text changes, like game scores, are invisible to screen readers unless explicitly marked. Do not place static text (like instructions) inside an `aria-live` region, as it forces screen readers to unnecessarily repeat the static text every time the dynamic content updates. Extract static text into a separate sibling element.
**Action:** Add `aria-live="polite"` to the container of the dynamic value and extract static text out of it.

## 2025-10-27 - Keyboard Shortcuts Semantics
**Learning:** Explicitly highlighting keyboard shortcuts using semantic <kbd> tags with physical key styling improves intuitiveness and discoverability for users playing web games or using custom keyboard inputs.
**Action:** Always wrap key shortcuts in <kbd> and apply text-shadows to ensure high contrast against dynamic backgrounds.
16 changes: 15 additions & 1 deletion src/views/mario-game.njk
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Expand Up @@ -61,6 +61,20 @@
font-size: 16px;
font-family: Arial;
pointer-events: none;
text-shadow: 1px 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8);
}

kbd {
background-color: #f7f7f7;
border: 1px solid #ccc;
border-radius: 4px;
box-shadow: 0 1px 0 rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2), 0 0 0 2px #fff inset;
color: #333;
display: inline-block;
font-family: monospace;
font-size: 14px;
padding: 2px 6px;
text-shadow: none; /* override the parent shadow for clear text on the key */
}
</style>
</head>
Expand All @@ -69,7 +83,7 @@

<div id="game">
<div id="score-container">Score: <span id="score-value" aria-live="polite">0</span></div>
<div id="instructions">Press Space or ↑ to jump!</div>
<div id="instructions">Press <kbd>Space</kbd> or <kbd>↑</kbd> to jump!</div>
<div id="mario"></div>
<div class="ground"></div>
</div>
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