web-design-guidelines

name	web-design-guidelines
version	2.0.0
description	[Code Quality] Use when reviewing UI code for accessibility, responsiveness, performance, and UX best practices.
argument-hint	<file-or-pattern>

Quick Summary

Goal: Review UI code for WCAG 2.2 accessibility, Core Web Vitals performance, and modern web design best practices.

Workflow:

1. Identify Target — Use provided file/pattern or ask user which components to review
2. Scan Files — Read and Grep target files for violation patterns
3. Check Categories — Accessibility, keyboard nav, forms, animation, performance, touch/mobile, content, dark mode/i18n
4. Report Findings — Group by file, use file:line format, terse findings, prioritized summary

Key Rules:

• Review-only skill: finds issues, does NOT fix them
• Check categories in priority order (accessibility first)
• Also reference docs/project-reference/scss-styling-guide.md if available

Be skeptical. Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence percentages (Idea should be more than 80%).

Web Design Guidelines Review

Review UI code for compliance with WCAG 2.2, Core Web Vitals, and modern web design best practices. This is a review-only skill -- it finds issues, not fixes them.

When to Use

• Reviewing UI code for accessibility compliance before release
• Auditing a component or page for WCAG 2.2 violations
• Checking Core Web Vitals performance patterns in code
• Validating responsive design and mobile-friendly patterns
• Pre-PR UI quality gate check

When NOT to Use

• Building UI -- use frontend-design
• Creating design specs -- use design-spec
• Workflow-wired UI review gate -- use /review-ui (the project UI review gate that runs in the review-changes parallel batch on frontend changes: long-content overflow, responsive flex, flex-vs-fixed sizing, z-index discipline, SCSS/BEM). This skill is the generic, framework-agnostic a11y/UX checklist that /review-ui cross-references — not a duplicate.
• Project SCSS review -- also check docs/project-reference/scss-styling-guide.md

Prerequisites

• Full guidelines reference: references/guidelines.md
• Project SCSS: docs/project-reference/scss-styling-guide.md (if available)

Workflow

1. Identify target files

   • IF file/pattern argument provided → use it
   • IF not → ask user which files or components to review

2. Scan files using Read and Grep tools

3. Check against categories (in priority order):

   • Accessibility -- semantic HTML, ARIA, labels, alt text, color contrast, focus indicators
   • Keyboard navigation -- tab order, focus trap in modals, escape key handling
   • Forms -- labels, validation, error display, autocomplete, paste not blocked
   • Animation -- prefers-reduced-motion respected, no transition: all, GPU-safe properties only
   • Performance -- image dimensions set, lazy loading, no layout thrashing, virtualization for large lists
   • Touch/Mobile -- touch targets >= 44px, touch-action: manipulation, safe areas
   • Content -- text overflow handled, empty states, responsive breakpoints
   • Dark mode / i18n -- color-scheme, logical CSS properties, Intl.* formatters

4. Report findings in output format below

Output Format

Group by file. Use file:line format. Terse findings. No preamble.

## {ui-source-root}/components/Button

{ui-source-root}/components/Button:42 - icon button missing aria-label
{ui-source-root}/components/Button:55 - animation missing prefers-reduced-motion check
{ui-source-root}/components/Button:67 - transition: all -> list specific properties
{ui-source-root}/components/Button:89 - div with onClick -> use <button>

## {ui-source-root}/components/Modal

{ui-source-root}/components/Modal:12 - missing overscroll-behavior: contain
{ui-source-root}/components/Modal:78 - no focus trap for modal dialog

## {ui-source-root}/components/Card

[check] No issues found

## Summary

- 4 accessibility issues
- 2 performance issues
- 1 UX issue
- Priority: Fix accessibility issues first (WCAG compliance)

Examples

Example 1: Accessibility review

Input: "Review the user profile component for accessibility"

Action: Read component file, check for semantic HTML, ARIA attributes, label associations, color contrast patterns, keyboard navigation, focus indicators. Report each violation with file:line.

Example 2: Visual polish review

Input: "Check the dashboard page for design best practices"

Action: Scan for animation performance (no transition: all), image optimization (dimensions, lazy loading), responsive patterns (breakpoints, safe areas), typography (line height, max-width), empty states handling. Report categorized findings.

Related Skills

Skill	When to use instead
frontend-design	Building UI (not reviewing)
design-spec	Creating design specifications
/review-ui	Project UI review gate (overflow, responsive flex, z-index, SCSS/BEM); runs in review-changes batch on frontend changes

---

[IMPORTANT] Use TaskCreate to break ALL work into small tasks BEFORE starting — including tasks for each file read. This prevents context loss from long files. For simple tasks, AI MUST ATTENTION ask user whether to skip.

AI Mistake Prevention — Failure modes to avoid on every task:

Re-read files after context changes. Context compaction, resume, or long-running work can make memory stale; verify current files before acting. Verify generated content against source evidence. AI hallucinates APIs, names, claims, and document facts. Check the relevant source before documenting or referencing. Check downstream references before deleting or renaming. Removing an artifact can stale docs, generated mirrors, configs, and callers; map references first. Trace the full impact chain after edits. Changing a definition can miss derived outputs and consumers. Follow the affected chain before declaring done. Verify ALL affected outputs, not just the first. One green check is not all green checks; validate every output surface the change can affect. Assume existing values are intentional — ask WHY before changing. Before changing a constant, limit, flag, wording, or pattern, read nearby context and history. Surface ambiguity before acting — don't pick silently. Multiple valid interpretations require an explicit question or stated assumption with risk. Keep shared guidance role-relevant. Universal guidance must help every receiving skill or agent; code-specific obligations belong only in code-specific protocols.

Critical Thinking Mindset — Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act. Anti-hallucination: Never present guess as fact — cite sources for every claim, admit uncertainty freely, self-check output for errors, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence — certainty without evidence root of all hallucination.

MUST ATTENTION apply critical + sequential thinking — every claim needs appropriate traced evidence (file:line for repo/code claims; source URL or artifact section for research, product, content, and docs claims); confidence >80% to act, <60% DO NOT recommend. Anti-hallucination: never present guess as fact, admit uncertainty freely, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence.

MUST ATTENTION apply AI mistake prevention — verify generated content against evidence, trace downstream references before deleting or renaming, verify all affected outputs, re-read files after context loss, and surface ambiguity before acting.

Closing Reminders

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION break work into small todo tasks using TaskCreate BEFORE starting

MUST ATTENTION — Protocols in force (concise digest of the SYNC/shared blocks this skill carries):

• AI Mistake Prevention: verify generated content against evidence, trace downstream references, verify all affected outputs, re-read after context loss, surface ambiguity.
• Critical Thinking: Traced file:line proof per claim; confidence >80% to act.

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION search codebase for 3+ similar patterns before creating new code IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION cite file:line evidence for every claim (confidence >80% to act) IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION add a final review todo task to verify work quality

[TASK-PLANNING] Before acting, analyze task scope and systematically break it into small todo tasks and sub-tasks using TaskCreate.