+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 2, Issue 42, April 9, 2004. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 42 CONTENTS. SECTION ONE: New references. What's new at the Web Design Reference site? http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/webdesign/ New links in these categories: 01: ACCESSIBILITY. 02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. 03: DREAMWEAVER. 04: EVALUATION & TESTING. 05: EVENTS. 06: JAVASCRIPT. 07: MISCELLANEOUS. 08: NAVIGATION. 09: PHP. 10: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. 11: TOOLS. 12: USABILITY. 13: XML. SECTION TWO: 14: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Web User Education Guidelines By Derek Featherstone "Web Accessibility is the responsibility of several key stakeholders. This includes web developers and content creators, browser makers, assistive technology and authoring tool creators, and those that create technical specifications for new languages and emerging technologies. It is also the responsibility of the end user, and they need our help." http://www.wats.ca/articles/educationguidelines/57 Accessibility Checklist By yourusabilityresource.com "We always hear about accessibility and how important it is. Well, here's a simple and straightforward checklist (using points form Dive Into Accessibility) to think about whenever you build a new site..." http://www.yourusabilityresource.com/2004/03/accessibility_c.html Accessibility Quick Tips By webdevtips.com "...how can you check that your website is up to par? There are a number of basic tests you can make to address some of the main issues. The following list includes guidelines that provide a good start in increasing accessibility to disabled people..." http://www.webdevtips.com/webdevtips/article.php?item=54 +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Hi-Fi Design with CSS By Dave Shea This is a transcript of Dave Shea's SXSW Panel Discussion. http://www.mezzoblue.com/archives/2004/03/18/hifi_design_/index.php CSS: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly By Douglas Bowman In Doug's SXSW presentation he officially 'deprecated' the original Fahrner Image Replacement technique. He has stated, "Simply put, use of display:none; to hide text prevents it from being read aloud in certain screen readers. Based on Joe's article for ALA, we shouldn't count on those screen readers altering their behavior until the CSS3 'reader' media type is more widely supported. While we still haven't come across the Holy Grail of image replacementŅand may not until CSS3 is hereŅa few alternatives are currently available which remain more accessible than the original FIR." http://www.stopdesign.com/present/sxsw2004/goodbad/ CSS: Where Little Things Mean a Lot By Christopher Duell This is an introductory tutorial. Christopher explains a few of the basics. http://www.devarticles.com/c/a/HTML/CSS-Little-Things-Mean-a-Lot/ CSS From the Ground Up By Joe Gillespie Step 7 - CSS Boxes Step 8 - Custom Divs Step 9 - All together now http://www.wpdfd.com/editorial/basics/cssbasics7.html +03: DREAMWEAVER. Potential Risk in Dreamweaver Remote Database Connectivity By Macromedia "Dreamweaver's remote database connectivity for testing dynamic database-driven websites installs scripts that may reveal DSNs to outside attackers. A sophisticated attacker may also be able to use these scripts to send SQL commands to the server and gain control of the database server." http://tinyurl.com/2ge9o +04: EVALUATION & TESTING. The Top 3 Priorities of the Talking Horse By Jared M. Spool "Once the team knows the users' tasks, they can look for places where support problems can appear. Unfortunately, we've found that inexpensive techniques such as design inspections or heuristic evaluations rarely identify these issues accurately. Teams are better off conducting rigorous, task-based, usability testing. Testing is a better approach to help identify where problems will originate." http://www.uie.com/articles/talking_horse/ Use Cases and interaction design By Henrik Olsen "Use cases are widely used in large projects to capture the functional requirements of software systems. In the hands of interaction designers, use cases can serve as a powerful tool for brainstorming workflows and bridging the gaps between design and development." http://www.guuui.com/issues/02_04.php +05: EVENTS. Syllabus 2004 July 18-22, 2004 San Francisco, California, U.S.A. http://www.syllabus.com/conferences/summer2004/ +06: JAVASCRIPT. Formatting Numbers for Currency Display and More By George C. "Formatting numbers so they confirm to a specific format in JavaScript can be deceivingly tricky, such as the currency format. This articles looks at number formatting, from rounding to formatting numbers for currency display using two new methods of JavaScript 1.5." http://evolt.org/article/rdf/20/60300/index.html +07: MISCELLANEOUS. Jared Spool: The InfoDesign interview By Dirk Knemeyer "Jared is one of the most important - and best-recognized - voices in the field of usability. User Interface Engineering, the firm that he founded in 1988, is the world's largest research, training and consulting firm specializing in website and product usability." http://www.informationdesign.org/special/spool_interview.php Get Control! An Introduction to Process and Documentation Parts 1 - 3 Choosing a Balanced Approach By Dave Hecker "Web development process management is no mean feat but, as Dave explains, it can be made easier by the application of a few best practices. In Part 3 of his complete series, he discusses the importance of flexibility, signoffs, project iterations, and clear business communication." http://www.sitepoint.com/article/process-and-documentation +08: NAVIGATION. Information taxonomy plays a critical role in Web site design and search processes By ZDNet "Information taxonomy is a Web developer's best friend because it can help reach those two most elusive goals of effective Web design: user satisfaction and return on investment. Conversely, even the most efficient search engine cannot completely overcome problems caused by poorly conceived or completely absent information taxonomy." http://tinyurl.com/2nk8c +09: PHP. PHP For Designers By Matt Mullenweg "...Writing code is not very different from writing prose or poetry, it's just a different medium and audience. There are rules of syntax, grammar, and style. In English, word choice can make or ruin a sentence. The PHP language is rich in strong and supple functions and choosing the right one is critical. In PHP you should strive for your code to be as simple as possible, but no more. It is a fine balance to maintain but will ultimately save you time and money. I hope this introduction will demonstrate these principles and expand your understanding and application of PHP regardless of your previous skill..." http://www.digital-web.com/features/php_for_designers.shtml +10: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. The Way Forward with Web Standards Compiled by Stephanie Troeth Edited by Tara Cleveland and Rebecca Milot-Bradford "Even though Web standards are being embraced by many Web authors, some businesses are reluctant to invest in standards-based Web sites without concrete reasons to do so. To help Web authors interested in advocating Web standards, this article assembles arguments and information about Web standards into one document and explains Web standards in terms of how they affect business. After outlining what Web standards are and how they are used, the article clearly demonstrates that adopting Web standards can improve many aspects of a Web site, such as: the amount of bandwidth used, load times, providing a foundation for accessibility, device independence and quality assurance processes. The article refutes several negative myths about Web standards and describes strategies for embracing standards. This article will lay the foundation for further research by MACCAWS into the nature of the business benefits Web standards." http://www.maccaws.org/kit/way-forward/ What Every Web Site Owner Should Know About Standards: A Web Standards Primer By maccaws.org This is an overview for non-tech Web site owners, clients and bosses. http://www.maccaws.org/kit/primer/ +11: TOOLS. W3C-LinkChecker "W3C is pleased to announce the first standalone release of the W3C Link Checker. Started by Hugo Haas in 1999, the project is now managed by Ville Skytta and the W3C Quality Assurance (QA) Activity. Documentation and source code are available." http://search.cpan.org/dist/W3C-LinkChecker/ +12: USABILITY. Web Usability: The Basics By WebCredible "Web usability is about making your website in such a way that your site users can find what they're looking for quickly and efficiently. A usable website can reap huge benefits on to your website and your business." http://tinyurl.com/2z4eo How well can you use the web? By Mark Ward "The web is getting easier to use - but many of the difficulties encountered are partly down to users themselves, says usability guru Dr Jakob Nielsen." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3578149.stm Are You Publishing Too Much On Your Website? By Gerry McGovern "Many websites are still publishing content that is not core to their business. The justification is that such content will indirectly deliver benefit. This is not a good idea. Focus on the content that is directly applicable to your organization's objectives. Any other content confuses. It wastes time and money." http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2004/nt_2004_04_05_focus.htm +13: XML. Get Off Your RSS! By Nathan Matias Read Nathan Matias's wrap up of RSS readers. http://www.sitepoint.com/article/get-off-your-rss RSS: A Quick Start Guide for Educators By Will Richardson This guide is receiving praise in the blogosphere. It provides instructions on how to set up an RSS reader and ideas on how to use RSS in the classroom. It is available as an MS Word document or PDF. http://www.weblogg-ed.com/2004/03/30#a1655 [Section one ends.] ++ SECTION TWO: +14: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? Accessibility Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/accessibility Association Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/associations Book Listings. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/books Cascading Style Sheets Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/css Color Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/color Dreamweaver Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/dreamweaver Evaluation & Testing Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/testing Event Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/events Flash Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/flash Information Architecture Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/architecture JavaScript Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/javascript Miscellaneous Web Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/misc Navigation Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/navigation PHP Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/php Sites & Blogs Listing. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/sites Standards, Guidelines & Pattern Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/standards Tool Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/tools Typography Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/type Usability Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/usability XML Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/xml [Section two ends.] ++END NOTES. + SUBSCRIPTION INFO. WEB DESIGN UPDATE is available by subscription. For information on how to subscribe and unsubscribe please visit: http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/webdevlist The Web Design Reference Site also has a RSS 2.0 feed for site updates. + TEXT EMAIL NEWSLETTER (TEN) STANDARD. As a navigation aid for screen readers we do our best to conform to the accessible Text Email Newsletter (TEN) Standard. Please let me know if there is anything else we can do to make navigation easier. For TEN Standard information please visit: http://www.headstar.com/ten + SIGNATURE. Laura L. Carlson Information Technology Systems and Services University of Minnesota Duluth Duluth, MN 55812-3009 mailto:lcarlson@d.umn.edu [Issue ends.]