+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 22, Issue 05, July 26, 2023. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 05 CONTENTS. SECTION ONE: New references. What's new at the Web Design Reference site? https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/ New links in these categories: 01: ACCESSIBILITY. 02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. 03: COLOR. 04: EVALUATION & TESTING. 05: EVENTS. 06: HTML. 07: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. 08: JAVASCRIPT. 09: MISCELLANEOUS d. 10: USABILITY. 11: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY. SECTION TWO: 12: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. WCAG 2.2 Final Web Standard Expected in August 2023 By Rachael Montgomery, Alastair Campbell, Chuck Adams, Michael Cooper, and Shawn Lawton Henry. "We expect to publish Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 as a 'W3C Recommendation' web standard in August 2023…" https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-wai-announce/2023JulSep/0000.html Almost Ready! WCAG 2.2 Is One Small Step Away From Being Officially Done! By Glenda Sims. "A new version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is almost ready. WCAG 2.2 should be finalized in August 2023. This is a minor version update. If you are already familiar with WCAG 2.0 and/or 2.1, you probably have a number of questions. And we’ve got up-to-date answers…" https://www.deque.com/blog/wcag-2-2-is-at-the-proposed-recommendation-stage/ WCAG 3 Working Draft Updated By Shawn Lawton Henry, Rachael Montgomery, Jeanne Spellman, Shawn Lauriat, and Michael Cooper. "Many aspects of WCAG 3 are in an exploratory phase, and will change. The new draft: * clarifies the maturity of each section * includes new potential approaches to conformance * lists some guidelines to be developed…" https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-wai-announce/2023JulSep/0001.html Understanding the WCAG 3 Working Draft Update By Rachael Montgomery. "…Below is an overview of what you will find in this draft…We are not requesting wide review, that is, we are not looking for general public feedback on this draft, but you are always welcome to comment through GitHub…" https://whollyaccessible.org/2023/07/24/understanding-the-wcag-3-working-draft-update/ The Future of Technology Runs Through Accessibility. No, Really! (Video) By Joe Devon. Joe's July 18 2023 Accessibility NYC Meetup presentation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOtYyxp_2io The Critical Overlap of Digital Accessibility and Plain Language (PDF) By Ashley Miller. "A thesis submitted in partial Fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts…" https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-silver/2023Jul/att-0031/Thesis_AMILLER_Final_PDF.pdf Justice Department Advances Proposed Rule to Strengthen Web and Mobile App Access for People with Disabilities By U.S. Department of Justice. "The Justice Department sent to the Federal Register for publication a notice of proposed rulemaking under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that aims to improve web and mobile applications (apps) access for people with disabilities and clarify how public entities - primarily state and local governments - can meet their existing ADA obligations as many of their activities shift online…" https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-advances-proposed-rule-strengthen-web-and-mobile-app-access-people New Kansas Accessibility Law Puts Heat on Plaintiffs By Thomas Logan. "A new Kansas law will allow businesses to sue plaintiffs and their counsel over 'abusive' litigation related to websites not complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act…" https://equalentry.com/new-kansas-accessibility-law-puts-heat-on-plaintiffs/ Thoughts on California AB 1757 By Ken Nakata. "…developers and tool providers will be on the hook if it isn't accessible…" https://convergeaccessibility.com/2023/07/24/california-ab-1757-update-copy/ Offering Healthcare? The ADA and the Affordable Care Act Mean Accessible Telehealth, #HealthTech, and Content By Lainey Feingold. "This is an article about the need to make healthcare accessible for disabled people…" https://www.lflegal.com/2023/07/healthtech-accessibility/ +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. CSS Cascade Layers By Miriam Suzanne. "If you've ever found yourself in a specificity war, you'll understand how important having control over style priority can be. During our conversation, we discussed what CSS Layers are and how you can use them in your project…" https://www.oddbird.net/2023/07/20/winging-it-01/ Visually Hidden Links with 0 Dimensions By Manuel Matuzović. "If you have used a visually-hidden class in the past, you might have noticed that the width and height is set to 1px and not 0. I've always wondered why." https://www.matuzo.at/blog/2023/zero-width-height-skip/ Why Doesn't CSS Have Scope? (Video) By Heydon Pickering. "People talk a lot about how CSS 'isn't scoped' and that this is a problem somehow. But what do they mean? Isn't apportioning scope to style what CSS is for? This session will ask whether 'global' CSS is such a bad thing, if stylesheets themselves are really a good thing, if we really need to rely on a framework developed at a genocide fomenting social media company to add scope to CSS, and what we can learn about CSS from the critical reception of Swedish death metal band Entombed's 1996 album, 'To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Speak The Truth…" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S_kXfqH-u4 Jane Austen, Tailwind and Modern Full-Stack Development By Bruce Lawson. "…Pride and Prejudice is all about the mindset of anachronistic developers who think that the only language they know is the only one that counts (the 'pride') and also that 'CSS isn't really a language' (prejudice)…" https://brucelawson.co.uk/2023/jane-austen-tailwind-and-modern-full-stack-development/ +03: COLOR. Introduction to Color & Contrast By Ellen Liebert, Matthew Russell, and Rachael Bradley Montgomery. "Making good color choices ensures that information is visible to as many sighted readers as possible and can be understood even when printed in grayscale with all of the color removed. This includes text, buttons, icons, and any other content that has meaning or conveys information…" https://www.ta11y.org/learning/topic?key=contrast.a_intro +04: EVALUATION & TESTING. Usability Testing With Older Adults By Megan Chan. "When conducting usability testing with older adults, understand your participants' needs and accommodate them accordingly." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-testing-older-adults/ Qualitative Usability Testing: Study Guide By Kate Moran. "Unsure where to start? Use this collection of links to our articles and videos to learn about planning, conducting, and analyzing qualitative user testing." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/qual-usability-testing-study-guide/ Deductively Analyzing Qualitative Data (Video) By Tanner Kohler. "Deductive analysis begins with a framework in mind and makes sense of the data through that lens." https://www.nngroup.com/videos/deductive-analysis/ Remote Usability Testing: Study Guide By Kate Moran. "Use this collection of links to our articles and videos to learn about conducting user testing remotely." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/remote-usability-testing-study-guide/ Do Click Tests Predict Clicks on Product Pages? By Jeff Sauro, Emily Short, and Jim Lewis. "How predictive are click tests? Does the first click on an image really predict what would happen on a fully functioning website?…" https://measuringu.com/do-click-tests-predict-clicks-on-product-pages/ +05: EVENTS. Creating Accessible Social Media Content August 1, 2023. Online https://www.tpgi.com/webinar-august-1-at-12pm-et-creating-accessible-social-media-content/ UX Virtual Training September 30-October 6, 2023. Online https://www.nngroup.com/training/october/ Closing the Gap October 11-13, 2023. Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. https://www.closingthegap.com/conference/ American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Design Conference October 12-14, 2023. New York, New York, U.S.A. https://www.aiga.org/design/aiga-design-conference +06: HTML. Blockquotes in Screen Readers By Adrian Roselli. "This post does not assert the correct way to code blockquotes, it will only demonstrate how screen readers announce some existing patterns…" https://adrianroselli.com/2023/07/blockquotes-in-screen-readers.html Improved Performance Beginner's Guides By Chris David Mills. "I've also published improved beginner's guides to HTML, CSS, and JS performance. See the [HTML|CSS|JavaScript] performance optimization links…" https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/Performance Accessible Animated GIF Alternatives By Tyler Sticka. "…"While the video element has room for improvement, its native playback controls make video formats the most viable animated GIF alternatives when it comes to accessibility…" https://cloudfour.com/thinks/accessible-animated-gif-alternatives/ +07: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. How to Write Good Labels By Jorge Arango. "Clear labels are essential to good information architecture. Think back to a time when you tried a new website or app and found it easy to use. Labeling likely played a key role…" https://jarango.com/2023/07/10/how-to-write-good-labels/ +08: JAVASCRIPT. How to Unit Test Vanilla JavaScript By Chris Ferdinandi. "…Today, I wanted to share the first half of the course on unit testing vanilla JavaScript…" https://gomakethings.com/how-to-unit-test-vanilla-javascript/ +09: MISCELLANEOUS. Stick to Boring Architecture for as Long as Possible By Addy Osmani. "…Before adopting a new technology, ask yourself: 'Does it solve a specific problem or significantly enhance my product? Is it worth the learning curve and potential instability? Is this going to help us further down the line?'…" https://addyosmani.com/blog/boring-architecture/ Good Code Is- By Jens Oliver Meiert. "On a question everyone does and does not have an answer for…" https://meiert.com/en/blog/good-code-is/ Vision for W3C Chris Wilson, Editor. "…The Web is for all humanity. The Web is designed for the good of its users. The Web must be safe for its users. There is one interoperable world-wide Web…" https://www.w3.org/TR/2023/DNOTE-w3c-vision-20230725/ +10: USABILITY. Using Imagery in Visual Design By Rachel Krause. "When choosing images for your visual designs, match similar characteristics, balance high quality with adequate file size, prioritize information-carrying images over purely decorative ones, and provide robust alternative text." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/imagery-in-visual-design/ 10 Common Usability Problems With Websites By Claire Maguire. "…To ensure that websites provide a seamless user experience and optimise user satisfaction, it is essential to address a range common usability problems. 'I know I want to improve my website's usability, but where on earth do I start?', you might ask. We have put together a list of top 10 usability issues encountered on websites, along with our recommendations for improving them…" https://www.nomensa.com/blog/10-common-usability-problems-with-websites/ +11: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY. Building a Greener Web (Video) By Michelle Barker. "…If you’re not sure what action you, as a developer, can take, my talk from All Day Hey conference provides some facts, figures and starting points for thinking about sustainability in the context of web development…" https://css-irl.info/video-building-a-greener-web/ Digital is Toxic By Gerry McGovern. "There is no such thing as digital sustainability. There is no such thing as green computing. There is no such thing as clean energy. There is no such thing as renewable energy. There is no such thing as net zero. If we have any chance to survive long term as a species we must stop lying to ourselves…" https://gerrymcgovern.com/digital-is-toxic/ [Section one ends.] ++ SECTION TWO: +12: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? Accessibility Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/accessibility.html Association Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/associations.html Book Listings. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/books.html Cascading Style Sheets Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/css.html Color Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/color.html Drupal Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/drupal.html Evaluation & Testing Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/testing.html Event Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/events.html HTML Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/html.html Information Architecture Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/architecture.html JavaScript Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/javascript.html Miscellaneous Web Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/misc.html Navigation Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/navigation.html PHP Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/php.html Sites & Blogs Listing. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/sites.html Standards, Guidelines & Pattern Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/standards.html Tool Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/tools.html Typography Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/type.html Usability Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/usability.html WebWaste & Sustainability Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/webwaste.html XML Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/xml.html [Section two ends.] ++END NOTES. + SUBSCRIPTION INFO. WEB DESIGN UPDATE is available by subscription. For information on how to subscribe and unsubscribe please visit: https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/webdev_listserv.html The Web Design Reference Site also has a RSS 2.0 feed for site updates. + TEXT EMAIL NEWSLETTER (TEN). As a navigation aid for screen readers we do our best to conform to the accessible Text Email Newsletter (TEN) guidelines. Please let me know if there is anything else we can do to make navigation easier. For TEN guideline information please visit: http://www.headstar.com/ten + SIGN OFF. Until next time, Laura L. Carlson Information Technology Systems and Services University of Minnesota Duluth Duluth, MN U.S.A. 55812-3009 mailto:lcarlson@d.umn.edu [Issue ends.]