* WEB DESIGN UPDATE. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. NOTE: As a navigation aid for screen readers, all headings begin with an asterisk and end with a full stop. All items are also numbered in the contents and throughout the issue, with numbers appearing immediately after the asterisks. Please let me know if there is anything else we can do to make navigation easier. [Issue starts.] * December 19, 2002. * Volume 1, Issue 25. * What's new at the Web Design Reference site? New Links In These Categories: 1: ACCESSIBILITY. 2: ASSOCIATIONS 3: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. 4: COLOR. 5: EVALUATION & TESTING. 6: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. 7: NAVIGATION. 8: PHP. 9: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. 10: TOOLS. 11: USABILITY. SECTION ONE: New references. * 1: ACCESSIBILITY. An Inclusive Internet States discover there's more than one way to improve Web site accessibility By Shane Peterson Get more accessible with CSS By Shawn Morton The Lifecycle of Web Accessibility By Antonio Volpon * 2: ASSOCIATIONS. Research and Development Interest Group (RDIG) By W3C This is a new W3C/WAI group whose goal is to facilitate discussion and discovery of the accessibility aspects of research and development of future Web technologies. It's mission is "to increase the number of Web-related researchers who incorporate accessibility into their research design, to identify projects researching Web accessibility, and suggest techniques that may contribute to new projects". * 3: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Making Headlines With Cascading Style Sheets By Christopher Schmitt It covers 15 examples to spice up generic headlines. Meanwhile, you can still download the 50 headline examples as code from Christopher's book site. He is still in progress of converting them to HTML-based tutorial on the site, but those who want to experiment with the "formatting exercises" right away can pass "go" and download from: * 4: COLOR. Color Theory / Choosing a Color Scheme By Adrian Roselli et al. Chapter 2: Using Color of the book "Web Graphics for Non-Designers" Choosing a Color Scheme (continued) By Adrian Roselli et al. Good Color Practice By Adrian Roselli et al. * 5: EVALUATION & TESTING. Setup Instructions for Tapeless Usability Lab By Joel Aufrecht Instructions for Usability Testing By Joel Aufrecht Evaluating Web Sites for Accessibility By Judy Brewer, Chuck Letourneau et al. * 6: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. Proposal for an IA Curriculum By Victor Lombardi "The AIfIA Education Curriculum Initiative will create a framework which instructors will use to create information architecture programs, courses, and syllabi for courses." Prototype now, save time later By Matthew Osborn * 7: NAVIGATION. The Psychology of Navigation By Jesse James Garrett Persuasive Navigation By Jeff Lash Navigation Complex By Peter Paul Koch All About Facets & Controlled Vocabularies By Karl Fast, Fred Leise and Mike Steckel * 8: PHP. Building a Generic Error Reporting Class in PHP By icarus * 9: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. Wthremix By w3mix The W3C recently redesigned their web site. They used valid XHTML and CSS for layout to make the site more accessible, degrade in old browsers, and easily transport to different devices such as handheld systems. To some the new design is far from inspiring or a selling point for standards as good design. If only they would have let you get your hands on it. Well, now you can! Here is the challenge from Wthremix: "Wthremix is a design challenge for coders, and a coding challenge for designers. Here's the idea: create a redesign of the W3C homepage. Design an intuitive layout and navigation, organize the content with the user in mind, and create an aesthetic which reflects the importance and influence of the institution. Show us what you think the W3C homepage should look like, how it should communicate to it's users and, to make your point, use valid standards-compliant, tableless XHTML and CSS. If you've been thinking about incorporating tableless XHTML into your workflow, but have been hesitant to learn, this is the perfect opportunity. It will cost you nothing but the time you put into it, and if your design is chosen, you'll be rewarded." The judging panel is star-studded and includes the likes of Zeldman and Todd Dominey. No prizes have been announced yet, but they do exist. Maybe a book about Forward Compatibility? * 10: TOOLS. Accessible Form Builder By Ian Lloyd There's a brand new tool lets you create an accessible form (as long as you only need text input fields) which includes title attributes, label tags, and all in XHTML format. * 11: USABILITY. holistic usability By everything.ch E-Commerce Usability: Tools and techniques to perfect the on-line experience By David Travis Website for this book contains a usability survival kit, usability bookshelf, and sample chapters. [Section one ends.] * SECTION TWO: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? Accessibility Information. Association Information. Book Listings. Cascading Style Sheets Information. Color Information. Dreamweaver Information. Evaluation & Testing Information. Event Information. Flash Information. Information Architecture Information. JavaScript Information. Miscellaneous Web Information. Navigation Information. PHP Information. Sites & Blogs Listing. Standards, Guidelines & Pattern Information. Tool Information. Typography Information. Usability Information. XML Information. [Section two ends.] * SUBSCRIPTION INFO. WEB DESIGN UPDATE is available by subscription only. For information on how to subscribe and unsubscribe please visit: * SIGNATURE. Laura L. Carlson Information Technology Systems and Services University of Minnesota Duluth Duluth, MN 55812-3009 mailto:lcarlson@d.umn.edu [Issue ends.]