Release Notes

Stark keeps getting better for designers, developers, and product makers with our latest updates to Stark for Figma, Stark for Sketch, and our browser extensions. Best of all, these updates were inspired by feedback that came from our wonderful user community.

Feature update for Figma, Sketch, and Browser Extensions

1. ARIA notes: improves accessibility for assistive technologies like screen readers.
2. Headings annotations: allows power users to add annotations directly on the canvas that them to communicate the hierarchy of the designs to developer teammates. 
3. Touch Targets: offers suggestions for AAA WCAG compliance, in addition to AA compliance.
4. Sidekick: gets a lot of new user controls, inspired by feedback from our power users:

• • Filter your Sidekick scan per frame or artboard: With this update, users have the option to scan specific artboards or frames. Since not all of those design concepts will make it into your final product, users might want to omit those drafts from the Sidekick accessibility scans. 
  • The ability to ignore issues: This update enables users to tell Sidekick to ignore a particular design issue. When you click “Ignore,” the item will be moved into a new “Ignored” section at the bottom of the issue list. You can undo these Ignored issues at any time and move them back into the active scan.

The Stark Web App currently works with file connections in Stark for Figma but keep an eye out for more connections soon 😉. This launch enables Team and Enterprise users to have new ways to centralize, connect, take action, monitor, and report on the progress of all of their accessibility work. In a first for accessibility design and coding solutions, the Stark Web App brings all of these capabilities together into one web-based app. 

Projects, Reports, and Insights

• Team projects are shared with every person on your Stark team or enterprise account so that every member of your team is always up-to-date and in the loop on the latest accessibility status. Private projects are only visible to the person who created them. 
• Reports show a snapshot-in-time on the accessibility status of each asset in your projects. Stark automatically runs a scan every time you open a project. With every scan, we generate a report of that project and all the assets connected with it. Your latest report can be accessed from your project overview page. (Keep in mind, scans can be triggered manually as well). 
  • Reports can easily be shared with a single URL.
• Report Breakdown shows all accessibility issues detected and it’s grouped by “violations,” “potential violations,” and “passed checks.”

• Insights give you an accessibility snapshot over time. Teams have the ability to track the progress you’re making over time (we offer weekly or monthly lookback views). 

Stark for Web App and Sidekick

• After scanning a Figma file on the Web App, users can jump from a report directly to the specific artboard in Figma, and with the help of Sidekick correct issues with just a few clicks while the rest of the team (or the manager) can keep an eye on the issue count for the project going down and cheer them on. 

Sidekick is available in Stark for Figma and Sketch. This tool empowers any user on a Stark Pro, Team, or Enterprise plan to scan their design files and fix accessibility issues instantly with AI-powered suggestions for color contrast, typography, alt text, and more.

Instead of needing to manually check every single design element and component, Sidekick automatically scans your design and categorizes the issues it finds into “Violations”, “Potential Violations” and “Passed.”

Feature update in Sidekick for the Plugins 

Color Contrast:

• Pick any color from the AI-generated foreground/background colors to fix contrast ratios.

Typography:

• Select from the AI-suggested font size and/or text alignment to fix typography issues.
• Localize all your typography issues by clicking on the highlighted issue.  

Alt-text:

• Insert the AI-generated alt text suggestion, and make edits as needed to add alt text annotations to your design.

Check out the big new updates we made to our Focus Order, Alt-Text, and Typography tools in Stark for Figma, Sketch, and our Browser Extensions. This update includes Stark’s Live Preview to automatically reflect your changes as you make them accessible.

Feature update for the Plugins and Browser Extensions

Alt-text:

• Cross out and rectify the use of emojis in the text field
• Check and fix errors in context by highlighting them directly in the text field

Focus order:

• New simplified flow to add focus items with a click
• Checkbox to mark an element as skippable
• Free-form annotation field

Typography:

• Text alignment best practices recommendations
• Text size suggestions

Meet Stark for Firefox, our newest extension for creating, auditing, and testing web products in record time.

New browser extension: Stark for Firefox

• Download the Firefox extension right from your browser or by following these steps
• Check contrast and apply Color Suggestions with Live Preview
• Audit images on your website or your product for missing alt text. Plus, get tips for making your alt text better
• Test your Landmarks and Focus Order to ensure your products are easy to navigate
• Use the Vision Simulator in Live Preview to see how people with different vision types will experience your website or product
• Surface issues with your Touch Targets and get recommendations for resolving them
• Find text on your web page that's under the recommended size of 12px and use Live Preview to see how Stark's suggested changes will look

Feature update for Figma and Sketch

• We have updated the Color Picker drop-down menu that pulls in all the colors in a selection or page so the color suggestions are correctly displayed, and the background selection doesn’t get cropped by the plugin.

Feature update in Stark for Figma

• Updated Focus Order, Landmarks, and Alt-text features so the annotations are placed correctly when using Auto-Layout.
• Updated Alt-text annotations to work within Figma Sections.

Turn on the new APCA mode:

• Click the new settings icon in the top right corner of Stark’s Contrast tool.
• Select Perceptual Contrast (APCA).
• If Stark detects a contrast violation, we’ll suggest alternate foreground or background colors to fix any contrast issues.

Run a WCAG Audit and Report in Stark:

You’ll see four big numbers: Score, Violations, Potential, and Passed. Here’s what each of these numbers means.

• Score: The percentage of scans that passed tests over the total number of elements scanned.
• Violations: The number of elements that didn’t pass because they don’t meet the WCAG standards.
• Potential: We flag issues where context is important and we couldn’t reliably confirm a failed test; we make it easy for designers or developers to quickly review these items.
• Passed: The number of elements that meet WCAG standards and passed the Stark Audit.

Feature update for all plugins and browser extensions (Chrome, Arc, Safari, Microsoft Edge, Brave).

Meet the five new simulations to Stark’s Vision Simulator 🎉

• Ghosting
• Yellowing
• Loss of contrast
• Bright Fight
• Tunnel Vision

We acknowledge that simulations are perfectly imperfect. In that spirit, it is our intention to provide you with a set of tools to get exposure to others’ experiences as a first step.

We’re kicking off 2023 with an update to Stark for Mac.

Feature update in the Mac app

• We’re bringing our extensive library to Stark for Mac. If you’re a Stark for Mac user, you can now browse and read resources in the app, like on Stark’s site.
• Whether you need an in-depth guide to accessibility basics or a checklist of WCAG requirements for contrast ratios, you can access all the information you need right where you do your work.

We’ve rolled out a Contrast Checker to Stark for Figma and Sketch—complete with advanced layer detection and the option to check all colors on a page and from your design system. 

 Feature update to Contrast Checker in Stark for Figma and Sketch 

• Improved accuracy in identifying colors you’re comparing in a selection 
• New Color Picker drop-down menu that pulls in all the colors in a selection or page
• For Figma users: Check local styles in your file 
• For Sketch users: Check local colors from your document, default colors from Sketch, and global colors from remote libraries 

Meet Stark for Safari and Stark for Arc, our newest extensions for creating, auditing, and testing web products in record time. 

New browser extension: Stark for Safari 

• Download the Safari extension from the Mac App Store or by following these steps 
• Check contrast and apply Color Suggestions with Live Preview 
• Audit images on your website or your product for missing alt text. Plus, get tips for making your alt text better 
• Test your Landmarks and Focus Order to ensure your products are easy to navigate 
• Use the Vision Simulator in Live Preview to see how people with different vision types will experience your website or product 
• Surface issues with your Touch Targets and get recommendations for resolving them 
• Find text on your web page that's under the recommended size of 12px and use Live Preview to see how Stark's suggested changes will look 

New browser extension: Stark for Arc

• Download the Arc extension from the Chrome Web Store or by following these steps 
• Check contrast and apply Color Suggestions with Live Preview 
• Audit images on your website or your product for missing alt text. Plus, get tips for making your alt text better 
• Test your Landmarks and Focus Order to ensure your products are easy to navigate 
• Use the Vision Simulator in Live Preview to see how people with different vision types will experience your website or product 
• Surface issues with your Touch Targets and get recommendations for resolving them 
• Find text on your web page that's under the recommended size of 12px and use Live Preview to see how Stark's suggested changes will look 

There are 2 requests we've heard most from customers who want to bring their teams or entire organizations to Stark: Free trials for teams and free accounts for Students and educators. Here's what we're offering: 

New Education plans 

All students and educators from primary and secondary schools, colleges, universities, and alternative education programs are eligible for a free Stark Pro account when they sign up for an Education plan. 

If you think you qualify, here's what you need to do: 

• Create a free Stark account with your .edu or personal email address 
• Email us at education@getstark.co and tell us whether you're a student or educator 
• Get verified for a free Stark Pro plan 

New 30-day trials for Team plans 

Once you create an account, you and your team members will have 30 days to try out the plan before you decide to fully onboard your team. 

Tired of messy spreadsheets, confusing handoffs, and expensive retrofitting? Making your software accessible doesn’t have to be that way. Stark connects with Figma and Sketch to meet your team where they already work. With all the tools you need in one place, find accessibility issues in your design before it goes to production, or fix what’s already in flight.

All-new Stark for Mac works with Figma and Sketch

• Get automated accessibility audits of your Figma and Sketch files 
• Use the Contrast Checker and get smart Color Suggestions 
• Generate simulations for various vision types with the Vision Simulator 
• Get tips and suggestions for writing alt text 
• Establish Landmarks and a Focus Order to make your design easy to navigate 
• Learn on the job with in-app education 
• Copy and paste Objective-C, Swift, and HTML code snippets
• Connect to Stark plugins to get live updates to your design file 

New account dashboard 

The next time you log into Stark, you’ll notice a new dashboard that gives you a few ways to customize your experience:

• Download and install our plugins, browser extension, the Mac app, or a combination that suits your unique needs 

• Choose the communications and educational resources you receive to ensure you’re learning what you want

• Upgrade your subscription, change your payment method, and manage your invoices all in one place

• Connect with Support or visit Stark’s website from your dashboard’s side panel

Feature update for Team subscriptions 

• Upgrade to a Team plan directly from your account without reaching out to a customer representative to set it up 

We’ve brought our beloved accessibility checklist widget in FigJam to Figma, streamlining your team’s workflow from ideation to production.

New in Stark for Figma and FigJam

• Updated UI to match our redesigned plugins and extensions
• Create new checklists tailored to a designer’s, engineer’s, and product manager’s expertise
• Get educational guidance about tasks included in each checklist
• Use sticky notes to comment on UI, share ideas, and collaborate asynchronously with members of your team

Our all-new Stark Suite connects the tools you and your team already use in a streamlined end-to-end accessibility workflow you'll actually love. Whether you're building a website, online shop, mobile app, or SaaS product, Stark gives every designer, engineer, PM, and QA expert the manual and automated tools to make it accessible in record time.

Dark Mode in Stark for Figma, Sketch, and Chrome is here. Whether you prefer low light because it's easier on your eyes or you just think it's beautiful, Stark's new Dark Mode gives you maximum perceived contrast and legibility to support you throughout your workflow. 

New in Stark for Figma, Sketch, and Chrome 

• Designed to work with your OS preferences
• Provides maximum contrast and legibility 

We've rolled out the updates from the latest redesign to our plugin for Adobe XD. 

Feature update in Stark for Adobe XD 

• A redesigned sidebar where you can do your work with your design always in view. 
• A clearer design for our Contrast Checker that lets you see color swatches, hex codes, and suggestions at a glance. 
• A simplified UI for the Vision Simulator that makes it easier to see which simulation you've selected on the Generate tab. 

Jumping off our big redesign from last week, we’ve finished rolling out UI changes to all our plugins. We’ve also been busy squashing some bugs and making improvements with fast follows based on your feedback.

Feature update in Stark for Figma 

• We heard our latest update changed the shortcut menu in a way that was impacting many of your workflows. We quickly pushed out an update to get you back to launching any Stark tool from the command palette.
  
  Check out our Loom to see how you access it.

Feature update in Stark for Sketch

• Minimize the Stark menu as you do in Chrome with the 2 minimize arrows we’ve added. This makes it easier for you to move Stark out of the way if you need to take a screenshot or work on your design without distraction. 

Fixes 

• Overflow scrollbars appearing on simulations in the Vision Simulator in Stark for Chrome.
• An “Upgrade to Pro” message popping up when color suggestions are clicked in the Contrast Checker.

Your Stark experience just got simpler! Our biggest redesign to date introduces an all-new Stark that’s more organized, more streamlined, and even more user-friendly.

Want to learn more about this design update? Get your insider’s look here

Feature updates for Stark for Figma, Sketch, and Chrome 

• A new tools menu that appears as soon as you open Stark to keep you organized and speed up your workflow
• A clearer design for our Contrast Checker that lets you see color swatches, hex codes, and suggestions at a glance
• A simplified UI for the Vision Simulator that makes it easier to see which simulation you’ve selected on the Generate tab

Feature update for all plugins

• Next time you use the Vision Simulator, you’ll notice fewer simulation options that cover a wider range of vision types and allow us to generate more accurate simulations for the most severe cases of color blindness. Find out more about this latest update

Feature update for all plugins 

• We heard your feedback about the Contrast Checker, and we delivered: Open the Check Contrast window even if there’s an error with the current layer you’ve selected. This lets you choose another layer and keep working without disruption. 

Feature update in Stark for Figma 

• The blurred vision simulation in the Vision Simulator will now apply the blur effect to the parent frame instead of each individual layer.