* 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.
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[Issue starts.]
* April 10, 2003.
* Volume 1, Issue 42.
* What's new at the Web Design Reference site?
New Links In These Categories:
1: ACCESSIBILITY.
2: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.
3: DREAMWEAVER.
4: EVALUATION & TESTING.
5: EVENTS.
6: FLASH.
7: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE.
8: JAVASCRIPT.
9: MISCELLANEOUS.
10: NAVIGATION.
11: PHP.
12: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.
13: USABILITY.
14: XML.
SECTION ONE: New references.
* 1: ACCESSIBILITY.
The image problem
By Joe Clark
Chapter five of Joe's book is now on line. This is "The fullest explanation of how to make online images accessible yet written, with dozens of special cases explained."
What is the alternative? Making web graphics accessible.
By Tim Roberts
"Does accessibility come at the expense of good design? Do highly graphical sites require text-only versions? Tim Roberts says definitely not."
Alternative Interfaces for Accessibility
By Jakob Nielsen
"The key difference between user interfaces for sighted users and blind users is not that between graphics and text; it's the difference between 2-D and 1-D. Optimal usability for users with disabilities requires new approaches and new user interfaces."
Design for machines first, people second!
By Jim Byrne
Visually Impaired Users - How To Help Them
By Carmen Mardiros
* 2: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.
W3C buttons without images
By Marek Prokop
"W3C buttons on this page are made without images using pure XHTML and cascading style sheets..."
CSS Layouts Vs. Table Layouts - Alternate Browsers and Accessibility Issues
By Carmen Mardiros
* 3: DREAMWEAVER.
Dreamweaver MX: Getting used to the changes
By John Wilker
This article discusses the Dreamweaver MX environment from a ColdFusion programmer's perspective.
* 4: EVALUATION & TESTING.
Finding the Right Users
By Peter Merholz
"If you're using the eenie meenie method to select users for your research, perhaps it's time you tried something a little more scientific. There is no such thing as sound user research without an airtight user-selection process behind it."
Eight is Not Enough
By Christine Perfetti and Lori Landesman
"With more users testing your site, you'll get more feedback, find more problems, and have more data, but there may be some less obvious advantages as well."
* 5: EVENTS.
University of Maryland Human-Computer Interaction Lab
20th Anniversary Symposium and Open House
May 29-30, 2003
College Park, Maryland, U.S.A.
CSCL 2003
Computer Support for Collaborative Learning
June 14-18, 2003
Bergen, Norway
WWW/Internet 2003
ADIS International Conference
November 5-8, 2003
Algarve, Portugal
WWW2003
The Twelfth International World Wide Web Conference
May 20-24, 2003
Budapest, Hungary
* 6: FLASH.
Flash MX and Accessibility
By Jeffrey Veen
Flash - New Technology That Slows Down Users
By Carmen Mardiros
* 7: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE.
Information Architecture: You Do It, You Just Don't Know It
By Mir G. Haynes
"Technical communicators stand to gain a great deal from understanding the work of the information architect. Even if you don't build Web sites, by thinking like an information architect, you'll greatly enhance the products you do develop. Whether you build online help systems, develop Web-based training, create or maintain knowledge bases, conduct usability testing, or help maintain your corporate intranet, you'll find it worth your while to get in touch with your inner information architect. Doing so will make your products easier for users to use and for owners/developers to maintain."
Writing Smart Annotations
By Dan Saffer
"One of the most tedious, yet necessary, tasks of an information architect or interaction designer is annotating wireframes..."
Card-Based Classification Evaluation
By Donna Maurer
"We hear and talk a lot about card sorting in various forms, and how it can be used as input on a hierarchy or classification system (or a taxonomy, if you like more technical words). We hear that we should test our hierarchies, but we don't talk about how."
* 8: JAVASCRIPT.
JavaScript and accessibility
By Peter-Paul Koch
JavaScript Optimization
By Jeff Greenberg
Take advantage of advanced JavaScript functions
By Edmond Woychowsky
"You can find oodles of documentation on the Internet about using basic functions, but just try to find some info on advanced features of JavaScript functions."
* 9: MISCELLANEOUS.
A Conversation With Steve Champeon
By Brian Alvey
"In this conversation, Steve discusses his popular WebDesign-L mailing list, the new Web Standards Project, his career on the Web and the tools of his trade."
Joe Clark Interview
By Tim Roberts
"Joe Clark is a Toronto based accessibility consultant and journalist renowned for not pulling punches. He is also the author of the book 'Building Accessible Websites'."
* 10: NAVIGATION.
Creating a Controlled Vocabulary
By Karl Fast, Fred Leise and Mike Steckel
* 11: PHP.
PHP Web Databases
By Keith Brown
"A series of workshops developed for the novice PHP user. Starts with an introduction to PHP leading to the development of web-based databases using MySQL."
Using PHP With LDAP (part 1) - Plugging In
By Harish Kamath
"Among its many other capabilities, PHP also comes with a full-featured API to connect to, and communicate with, LDAP directory servers. This article explores how PHP and LDAP can be used together, beginning with a crash course in LDAP basics and proceeding to a series of simple examples that demonstrate how PHP can be used to search an LDAP directory and format the results for the Web."
Using PHP With LDAP (part 2) - Plugging In
By Harish Kamath
"In this second, and concluding, article, dig deeper into PHP's LDAP API by writing complex search queries and building a Web-based administration module to retrieve and modify entries from the LDAP directory tree."
* 12: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.
Forward compatibility and web standards
By Peter-Paul Koch
Web standards improve 2theadvocate.com navigation
By Adrian Holovaty
"Adrian Holovaty demonstrates how standards compliant code and effectively written JavaScript can decimate the size of a clunky navigation interface, and make it more usable and accessible."
Standards: Optional Features or Law?
By Dimitris Dimitriadis
* 13: USABILITY.
Archive of the Workshop on Usability and the Web
By National Institute of Standards and Technology in collaboration with the World Wide Web Consortium
"On November 4-5, 2002 in collaboration with the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) hosted a
workshop to develop a plan for Web usability efforts. The major outcome of
this workshop was a draft charter for submission to the W3C for the formation
of a Usability Interest Group."
Usability is good management
By Gerry McGovern
Usability return on investment (ROI) in the research literature
By Louise Ferguson
* 14: XML.
Tips archive
By Simon St. Laurent
Simon St. Laurent's XHTML tactics, strategy, workarounds and more.
XML and JavaScript in the Browser
By John E. Simpson
"In this month's Q&A column, John Simpson describes some JavaScript libraries for parsing XML in popular web browsers, and he offers a high-level explanation of XSL-FO."
An XML Hero Reconsiders?
By Kendall Grant Clark
"Kendall Grant Clark assesses reaction to an essay by Tim Bray that claimed XML was too difficult to work with. Was Bray right, or is he out of touch?"
[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.
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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.]