+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 4, Issue 01, July 1, 2005. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 01 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. WaSP Forms Accessibility Task Force By Andy Clarke. "The Web Standards Project (WaSP) has today announced the formation of the WaSP Accessibility Task Force..." http://webstandards.org/press/releases/archive/2005/06/23/index.html ATF: Not ŌAlcohol, Tobacco and FirearmsÕ By Joe Clark. "WaSPÕs task is actually going to be just as hard as persuading browser- and authoring-tool-makers to accept and generate compliant markup. The fact that many adaptive-technology vendors are mom-ÕnÕ-pop operations is actually a hindrance, since they are so busy and wedded to Microsoft, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Windows, and Microsoft Active Accessibility that they donÕt know the first thing about Web standards. Then thereÕs dealing with colossi like Apple and indeed Microsoft. (Adobe I wouldn't worry about, based on my insider knowledge. You heard it here first.)..." http://blog.fawny.org/2005/06/25/atf/ Suggestions for the WaSP Accessibility and Education Task Forces By Andrea Schwandt-Arbogast. "In an attempt to not have the voice of higher ed (which I feel has some additional/different concerns to those of the rest of the web world) lost in the shuffle, I thought I'd post my suggestions here, and open up the comments for other higher ed folks to add their insight. If you're like me, you could use all the help you can get with these issuesŃthe WaSP is asking for input, so letÕs give it to them!..." http://tinyurl.com/dkn9j Deaf Sites Do Web Standards: Or rather, like type and design sites, they do not. By Joe Clark. "My issue here is the fact that a lot of deaf people seem to want their specific and immediate needs met, but do not per se want accessibility. The following is an unfair generalization, but it is true some of the time with some people: 'Just give me my sign language, captioning, and interpreteters, and we can all go home'." http://blog.fawny.org/2005/05/23/deaf/ Adding Multimedia in Web Documents (part 2) WaSP Asks the W3C. "In the first part of this article, we reviewed the history of the multimedia inclusion in hypertext documents. Let us now explore in more detail how we can use the most current and recommended method to accomplish this task: the object element." http://www.webstandards.org/learn/askw3c/may2005.html +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Inline Mini Tabs By Alessandro Fulciniti. "One of the most underestimated part of CSS are inline boxes. Probably most of you know the CSS specifications on the subject, but if you haven't read it, I suggest to look at the article on inline formatting model, by Eric Meyer, one of the most in-depth articles on CSS I've ever read for its level of detail." http://web-graphics.com/mtarchive/001557.php Learn CSS, Manipulating Colors By Michael Youssef. "In the third part of this series still covering CSS Basics, Michael Youssef discusses manipulating colors in CSS. He also takes a brief look at the hexadecimal number system and how it's useful with color values. He also defines the meaning of a keyword and the Hexadecimal number system." http://tinyurl.com/7zd4e List Display Problems In Explorer For Windows - Part One By John Gallant, Holly Bergevin. "This tutorial begins a series about display problems encountered in Internet Explorer for Windows when using list elements. First up, we will discover some differences between browsers and how to compensate for them, and then we will solve the mystery of the missing bullets in IE." http://www.communitymx.com/content/article.cfm?cid=01DB3 Dr. Strangeswitcher or: How I Learned to Stop Scripting and Love CSS By Patrick Griffiths. "Don't use JavaScript! Don't use PHP! You can make a style switcher purely with CSS!" http://www.htmldog.com/articles/drstrangeswitcher/ Div Mania By Gez Lemon. "More and more web documents are appearing that consist of nothing more than a collection of div elements. In most cases, better use of CSS selectors could be used to avoid overusing the div element..." http://juicystudio.com/article/div-mania.php +03: DREAMWEAVER. Introduction to Regular Expressions in Dreamweaver By Rob Christensen. "In this article, I will provide a basic overview of regular expressions as well as an example of how they can be used to help maintain Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) code on your site." http://tinyurl.com/8hdb7 +04: EVALUATION & TESTING. Streamlining Usability Testing by Avoiding the Lab By Jared M. Spool. "The usability lab, with its fancy cameras, one-way mirrors, and comfortable observation suites, is often considered a can't-do-without necessity for conducting serious usability tests. Even those who feel it's not required will jump at the chance to use a lab when available. However, while studying successful projects over the years, we've found that usability testing can often be more effective when the team eliminates the lab from the process." http://www.uie.com/events/uiconf/articles/streamlining_usability/ +05: EVENTS. Building Dynamic Web Applications with Dreamweaver MX August 4-5, 2005. Duluth, Minnesota U.S.A. http://www.rabelle.com/con2005/index.php User Interface 10 Conference October 10-13, 2005 Cambridge, Massachusetts U.S.A. http://www.uie.com/events/uiconf/ +06: JAVASCRIPT. The JavaScript Diaries: Part 4 By Lee Underwood. "In this section of the JavaScript Diaries, we'll look at JavaScript functions. These help us to write more intricate programs. A sampling of topics includes writing functions, naming rules, calling a function, global and local variables and more." http://www.webreference.com/programming/javascript/diaries/4/ Complex Dynamic Lists: Your Order Please By Christian Heilmann. "In our struggle to reduce the number of steps site visitors must take to accomplish their goals, we face a number of challenges. One of them is to provide a good way for users to choose from a list of hierarchical elements. For example, a list that serves as a diner menu, offering a selection of drinks, main dishes, salads, and desserts." http://www.alistapart.com/articles/complexdynamiclists/ JavaScript Arrays By Dan Wellman. "Arrays in JavaScript are extremely useful for storing and manipulating information you have coded directly into the script, or information collected from the browser. In this article, Dan Wellman details how to use and manipulate them." http://www.devarticles.com/c/a/JavaScript/JavaScript-Arrays/ Ajax Cleans Up Web Applications By David Utter. "Asynchronous Javascript And XML web applications combine several technologies, in an attempt to match a desktop application experience over the Internet." http://tinyurl.com/demof The Anatomy of an AJAX Framework By Marco Tabini. "With more and more talk about AJAX (XMLHttpRequest in Javascript) floating around, Marco Tabini wanted to provide a good overall picture of what an AJAX framework really is and so posted this blog entry discussing the matter." http://blogs.phparch.com/mt/index.php?p=51 Javascript: What's Next? By Alessandro Fulciniti. "I was thinking about how javascript has evolved in recent times. The subject is really wide, so consider this post as a links-article: instead of repeating or summarizing what others have said, I'll use links as if they were concepts trying to maintain a logical thread. So, at least for the first reading, I'll suggest you to not jump on links, since most of them have a title. In this article I'm sharing some of my reflections; I ask you to not consider them an absolute truth, but rather, my personal and modest point of view supported by some must-read articles and recent ground-breaking techniques. I hope that this will be both a resource to modern coding and an inspiration for further thinking." http://web-graphics.com/mtarchive/001568.php Ajax Reconsidered By Adam Bosworth. "I've been thinking about why Ajax is taking off these days and creating great excitement when, at the time we originally built it in 1997 (DHTML) and 1997 (the XML over HTTP control) it had almost no take up." http://www.adambosworth.net/archives/000044.html Generic Form Validation Routine By Gez Lemon. "This article investigates associating a generic form handler to all forms on a web page using ECMAScript. Using a client-side scripting language to check for errors is good for usability, as the script is executed directly on the visitor's machine. This not only saves the visitor having to wait for the form to come back from the server with a list of errors, but also saves bandwidth on the server. That doesn't negate the requirement for server-side validation. This is a progressive enhancement technique, which requires server-side validation to be in place, and used purely to improve the usability of forms." http://juicystudio.com/article/generic-form-validation.php +07: MISCELLANEOUS. Ten Questions for Russ Weakley By Maxine Sherrin. "Russ Weakley is a web designer for the Australian Museum who somehow in the last few years has also found the time to: 1.) write a series of tutorials that clarified tricky aspects of CSS and web standards for an innumerable number of people taking their first steps in this area: Listutorial, Floatutorial and Selectutorial; 1.) along with Peter Firminger, guide into the world the Web Standards Group mailing list and (almost!) monthly meetings 3.) be a co-convenor of the Web Essentials series of conferences; 4.) work on a large number of freeelance web design projects with constant awareness of web standards and accessiblity." http://webstandardsgroup.org/features/russ-weakley.cfm WaSP Interviews Jonathan Linczak By WaSP. "Armed with a passion for standards and website development, Jonathan Linczak became webmaster and project lead for the conversion of Hiram College to a standards-compliant website. How did he do it? What challenges did he face? Jon takes us behind the scenes." http://webstandards.org/act/campaign/edutf/interviews/linczak.html Web Standards in the Real World: An Interview with Molly E. Holzschlag By Joshua Porter. "To use CSS effectively, developers must understand markup (HTML, XHTML). Developers also need a solid understanding of browsers and how to manage them - this is perhaps the toughest part of the job. Finally, it's essential for developers to understand how CSS itself works. It's a far more complex language than people realize, and without a full understanding of it, and how browsers work, designers are immediately at a disadvantage. This is why proper training is so imperative at this time...The learning curve to develop for standards is very high and demands that people constantly learn. The sheer volume of knowledge required to work this way is humbling and I am challenged every single day by it. I think that's why it's so interesting for many developers." http://www.uie.com/events/uiconf/articles/holzschlag_interview/ 10 Bad Project Warning Signs By Andy Budd. One of the great things about being a freelance web designer is the ability to turn down projects. I've come across a few projects recently that sounded interesting but made me feel nervous. It wasn't any one specific thing; rather a series of small little things that set my internal alarm bells ringing. As such I've written up a list of bad project warning signs. Individually none of these signs should be deal breakers. However put a few of them together and it may be worth thinking twice about taking on that project. http://tinyurl.com/94ons A Few Tips On Estimating Web Projects By D. Keith Robinson. "Today I want to talk about how to estimate projects and ensure that your estimates work for you as well as your clients. I've found this can be really tricky and if not done correctly can cause real headaches down the road. A proper scope assessment is key to the success and smooth going of any Web project and the project estimate is a big part of a good scope assessment. As well, how that estimate is handled and used throughout the process can have a great effect on the bottom-line of the project." http://tinyurl.com/7gf2g +08: NAVIGATION. Skip Links By Gez Lemon. "Skip links are an accessibility feature to help visitors navigate their way around a document. Ask two different developers on how best to implement skip links, and you'll very likely receive two different replies. Some people like visible skip links, others like hidden skip links, and some people don't like skip links at all. This article examines the different approaches of implementing skip links." http://juicystudio.com/article/skip-links.php Breadcrumb (Contextual) Links And Search Engine Optimization By Shari Thurow. "I am in favor of using breadcrumb links, not only from a usability perspective but also from a search perspective. Below are four reasons why breadcrumb links are good for both site visitors and search engines..." http://tinyurl.com/7b3pa +09: PHP. Mastering Regular Expressions in PHP By Dennis Pallett. "What are Regular Expressions? How do I use them? Is there a secret to mastering them? It's all in here..." http://tinyurl.com/a3y37 PHP and Cookies, A Good Mix! By Dennis Pallett. "Whether you're new to using cookies in PHP or just want to brush up on your skills, this tutorial is for you..." http://tinyurl.com/d4awt Planning PHP Projects By Aaron Morse. "The biggest problem I see is most PHP scripts is a lack of structure and organization. What heralds this is a lack of planning. Many PHP programmers don't think through projects before they dive into the coding. This is a tutorial I wrote 3-4 months ago. I have learned a lot since then, especially concerning OOP techniques. I am currently working on a new version, however, I considered it complete enough to be posted here. Please comment so that the next revision of it will improve!..." http://www.phpfreaks.com/tutorials/135/0.php Make Your Web Applications More Feature Rich With PHP By Mark Kaelin. "In an interview, Steven Holzner discusses PHP and some of the ways it can make your Web applications more feature rich without increasing overall development difficulty." http://builder.com.com/5100-6374_14-5720440.html +10: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. BrowseHappy Now Part of WordPress as WaSP Refocuses Mission By webstandards.org. "In an effort to refocus energy on advocating for standards from a perspective of universal access and vendor neutrality, WaSP is handing over the reigns of the BrowseHappy campaign to the good folks at WordPress..." http://webstandards.org/press/releases/archive/2005/06/01/ +11: TOOLS. View Formatted Source (format source extension) 0.9.3.3 By Felix Ritter. "Displays formatted and color-coded source and optional CSS information for each element. You can see exactly which CSS rules match for an element. The rules are displayed including file name and line number. The topmost element is that with the highest priority. You can fold/unfold/hilite block elements (table, tr, td, div, span,...). Really cool feature: select a block level element of interest directly in the page and view it's source! To help you to quickly analyze the source code you can view images directly from the source and add comments to folded block elements. The code view is based on the rendered document, so you will also see dynamically (by Javascript) created and modified html elements! Works also with frames and selected text." http://tinyurl.com/dwzoh Safari WebDevAdditions By Les Nie. "WebDevAdditions adds a menu to the Safari browser with few useful functions for web developers. It allows to disable (hide) images, shows table structure, block level elements (divs, paragraphs, forms), various information about images (size, path) and links." http://www.laszlo.com.pl/webdev/index.php colr.org By Lloyd Dalton. "A site for playing with colors." http://colr.org/ +12: USABILITY. Usability: Empiricism or Ideology? By Jakob Nielsen. "Usability's job is to research user behavior and find out what works. Usability should also defend users' rights and fight for simplicity. Both aspects have their place, and it's important to recognize the difference." http://useit.com/alertbox/20050627.html Things That Need To STOP By Mark Hurst. "...Everywhere I go online these days, when I read text that in the good old days was displayed in that eminently readable color, BLACK, more often than not it's displayed in *gray*. Why? Because, apparently, there's an unwritten rule among Web designers that gray text is cooler. (Or 'kewler', depending on your age.) Let this crusty veteran tell you: light gray text on a white background is NOT cool, it's UNREADABLE. You wouldn't believe the places I've seen this...More proof that most Web designers have bright, 20-something eyes. If the text on these "designed" sites isn't light gray, it's often tiny. Personally, I have 20/20 vision and I *still* have to squint to see what these 'designers' have posted for their own enjoyment. Pixels ain't good under the microscope, kiddies. Make the text big enough for mortals to read...In our listening labs, increasingly, we observe customers hunting for links that are right there in front of them on the Web page. These are not "newbie" respondents - they're regular Web users, like you and me, and they simply can't find the key link on the page. Why not? Because the links are hidden - they're not underlined. As always (see the Page Paradigm*), when users can't find the link they seek, they either hit the Back button or leave the site altogether. All because a designer thought it would be so beneath him, so declasse, to actually show underlined links (!) on a Web page. I even see this problem on the company websites of practitioners who purport to be experts in user experience. Just sit a few minutes in a listening lab with a customer using one of these sites, and there's no question about the "worst practice" nature here. Designers: Underline your freaking links..." http://www.goodexperience.com/blog/archives/2005_05.php What Is Content Strategy and Why Should You Care? (Series Intro) By Amy Gahran. "If you or your organization has any sort of media presence (especially online), itÕs useful to consider your overall content strategy: what you intend to say, and when and how to say it, in order to connect and interact constructively and efficiently with the people you need to help you achieve your goals. Almost everyone overlooks or misunderstands content strategy - and it shows. A sound, simple content strategy can keep on track and stop you from missing valuable opportunities or wasting time and resources Š or worse, sabotaging your own goals through inept communication. This is the introduction to a new series of articles examining the basic elements of content strategy, with special attention to online content..." http://tinyurl.com/9x3a2 Content Brief By D. Keith Robinson. "I've written about, and we've talked about, the difficulties in dealing with content for the Web. I think many of you agree with me that content is probably the hardest part of getting any kind of Web site up and running and that itÕs made especially so when it comes to working with content outside of your own control...Just about every process I've worked with has had a Creative Brief that helps inform the design and creative process. ...What I've done is taken the creative brief and simply separated the content stuff. This allows not only for more focus on the content, but opens a new opportunity to help discuss the content and hopefully impress its importance to stakeholders..." http://www.7nights.com/asterisk/archives05/2005/05/content-brief Give Up Control Or You'll Lose It Forever: Experience Designers Beware - Web 2.0 Interfaces Change Everything By Joshua Porter. "For the most part, designers can't control experiences because experiences are subject to the user. Just as we can't know the mind of another, we can't truly know what theyÕre experiencing. We can, however, create tools with which users can have experiences, and I think this is what Dirk was getting at. Sure, these tools (otherwise known as interfaces) can help tremendously, but more and more we're seeing that users will use them or bypass them in ways that we cannot control. So donÕt be surprised or dismayed at your lack of control. With Web 2.0 (the web as platform), we're giving permission for all this to happen. And itÕs happening at the speed of the API." http://bokardo.com/archives/give-up-control-or-youll-lose-it-forever/ Why It Matters To Focus On Your Reader By Gerry McGovern. "The ultimate test of web content is what the reader does after reading it. This will be a huge change for many writers who see the end objective as the actual completion of the piece of content itself. However, it is a change that absolutely must happen if web content is to become more effective. Web content must get the reader to act in the way the writer intends. Otherwise, it fails." http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2005/nt_2005_06_06_reader.htm +13: XML. That Little 'XHTML or HTML?' Debate By Jonathan Leighton. "The intention of this post is to have a balanced look at the advantages and disadvantages of each, in order to collect my thoughts and come to some sort of decision..." http://turnipspatch.com/archives/2005/05/31/xhtml-vs-html/ XHTML2: Accessible, Usable, Device Independent and Semantic By Steven Pemberton and Mark Birbeck. "XHTML2 is the next version of the XHTML family, and is going to last call Real Soon Now. This presentation gives an overview of what XHTML2 is trying to achieve." http://www.w3.org/2005/Talks/05-steven-xtech/ Separator Elements By Lachlan Hunt. "...there is an anomaly in all versions HTML and XHTML with some elements designed as separators, rather than container elements. Specifically, I'm referring to HTMLÕs hr and br elements, and XHTML 2Õs proposed separator element....It should be clear that the structure of the separator element is not really appropriate for the tree-like structure of an XML document Ń itÕs an anomaly introduced in early versions of HTML that is still hanging on by a thread. Regardless of what the element is actually called: hr, separator or even sep, the most important issue that needs to be addressed is its semantic definition, and thus whether the structure is really appropriate within a semantic language." http://lachy.id.au/log/2005/05/separator-elements XForms tutorial, part 1 By Integendeel! "Initially it wasn't my intention to write a tutorial on XForms. In fact I was trying to find a solution to a real world problem. The reason I decided to use this as a basis for an XForms tutorial is that many people don't understand the purpose of XForms and similar techniques. With a simplified definition of my technical challenge this tutorial should convey the advantages of XForms over related techniques." http://adriaandej.blogspot.com/2005/05/xforms-tutorial-part-1.html XForms tutorial, part 1.5 By Integendeel! "This keeps me awake: I need to hurry to write part 2. In the mean time, these are a few additions to part 1, still without a single line of XForms code. But stay tuned!" http://adriaandej.blogspot.com/2005/05/xforms-part-15.html XForms tutorial,part 2 By Integendeel! "XForms can be overwhelming. Let's start hello-world-style. First of all, you need an XForms engine. I prefer the Mozilla implementation, but it isn't finished yet. I fail to get some essential features to work. These should be fixed if I would download the latest source code and compile it myself. But in the latest beta, it doesn't work yet. Nevertheless, I'll start with Mozilla, and when I need it, I'll introduce an alternative implementation. I think it's interesting anyway to investigate to which extent XForms are portable and compatible for different viewers." http://adriaandej.blogspot.com/2005/05/xforms-tutorial-part-2.html [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). 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.]