+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 7, Issue 52, June 27, 2009.

An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. 

++ISSUE 52 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: EVALUATION & TESTING.
04: EVENTS.
05: JAVASCRIPT.
06: MISCELLANEOUS.
07: NAVIGATION.
08: PHP.
09: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.
10: TOOLS.
11: TYPOGRAPHY.
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.

Adopting WCAG 2
By Roger Hudson.
"It is six months since the release of WCAG 2.0 and I thought it might be interesting to see how extensively it has been adopted as a bench mark for determining web content accessibility. Over this time, I have felt that the rate of adoption has been relatively slow and the number of countries and other regulatory authorities now using WCAG 2 is lower than I expected. Of course, this could just be the result of me having overly optimistic expectations..."
http://www.dingoaccess.com/accessibility/adopting-wcag-2/

Screen Reader Testing is Back in Style
By Jon Whiting.
"In the earlier years of web accessibility (pre-1999 to 2004), screen readers were buggy and temperamental..."
http://webaim.org/blog/screen-reader-testing-is-back-in-style/

National Federation of the Blind and American Council of the Blind File Discrimination Suit Against Arizona State University
"The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and the American Council of the Blind (ACB) filed suit today against Arizona State University (ASU) to prevent the university from deploying Amazon's Kindle DX electronic reading device as a means of distributing electronic textbooks to its students because the device cannot be used by blind students."
http://tinyurl.com/mo8r8d

Interesting Legal Challenge
By Kelly Ford.
"...if an organization who has an obligation to meet a certain level of accessibility is going to deploy technology from another source, how much responsibility does that organization have to ensure accessibility of the technology being deployed?..."
http://blog.kellyford.org/archives/2009/06/interesting_leg.html

LiveDescribe Audio Description Work 
By Katerina.
"My name is Katerina and I'm an Acting student at Ryerson University. This summer, I will be working with the Centre for Learning Technologies at Ryerson on their LiveDescribe Program. This Blog will record and follow my process and experiences as an audio describer for the visually impaired. Using the LiveDescribe program, I will be creating audio descriptions for videos of TV episodes, films, etc. These audio descriptions are and will be available online as they are created at www.livedescribe.com. Keep checking back here for new video details, discoveries, and so forth..."
http://kat-livedescriber.blogspot.com/


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

Handy Tips for Creating a Print CSS Stylesheet
By Line25.
"Print stylesheets often come as a secondary thought on many websites, after all, who prints a webpage anyway?! Despite their slightly infrequent use, a print stylesheet can really help polish the printed document for when it is used. It doesn't take too long to create, so let's take a look at some handy tips that you can put into practice on your own site..."
http://tinyurl.com/mttmyb


+03: EVALUATION & TESTING.

Small Decreases in Viewing Can Decrease the Probability of Being Clicked by More Than 50 Percent
By eyetools.
"For a long time, proponents of eye-tracking have said that the amount of viewing a link receives directly effects its likelihood of being clicked.  Well, it turns out that this is particularly true in the case of search results..."
http://blog.eyetools.com/eyetools_research/2008/02/small-decreases.html


+04: EVENTS.

IDEA 2009
September 15Ð16, 2009.
Toronto, Canada
http://ideaconference.org/2009/Home

Fourth International Conference on Digital Information Management (ICDIM 2009)
November 1-4, 2009
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, U.S.A.
http://www.icdim.org


+05: JAVASCRIPT.

Are we Losing the Declarative Web?
By Philip Fennell.
"...What is JavaScript's purpose on the web, what is it good for, and what is it not? I don't think its purpose is to create content, but that is what I fear will happen with a JavaScript binding to an OpenGL API..."
http://broadcast.oreilly.com/2009/03/are-we-losing-the-declarative.html


+06: MISCELLANEOUS.

The Wisdom of Community
By Derek Powazek.
"It's one of the most important concepts on the web today-perhaps the most important for social media-but it's one of the least understood. When James Surowiecki wrote The Wisdom of Crowds in 2004, he explored the stock market and other classic social psychology examples, but 'web 2.0' was still nascent. It's time to connect his ideas to the social web, where they can reach their full potential..."
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/the-wisdom-of-community/


+07: NAVIGATION.

Skip Navigation Links 
By Jim Thatcher.
"Web developers can do a lot to facilitate the process of navigating a web page with the keyboard - without a mouse. That is the subject of this article - which is updated from the 2004 version..."
http://www.jimthatcher.com/skipnav.htm

When to Use Sitemaps?
By Stefan Mischook.
"...Sitemaps are really useful when there is a lot of content in a web site - if you have a really simple site, it is probably overkill..."
http://www.killersites.com/blog/2009/when-to-use-sitemaps/

404 Best Practices
By Chris Coyier.
"A 404 error on the web is what a web server responds with when it is tasked with serving up a resource that it can't find..."
http://css-tricks.com/404-best-practices/


+08: PHP.

Call for a Doc Push
Rasmus Lerdorf.
"Guys and gals, in the old days we had a very close tie between the code and the documentation. As the project has grown the two have drifted apart. I think this is mostly because the phpdoc team has done an amazing job keeping up with the code changes and writing awesome documentation. This has made us a bit lazy and complacent. I would like to encourage everyone on this list to spend a little bit of time looking at the parts of the documentation that cover things you are familiar with.  Or even just going through some of the doc bugs and helping out in general..."
http://news.php.net/php.internals/44376

A Set of Objects in PHP - Arrays vs. SplObjectStorage
By Matt Butcher.
"One of my projects, QueryPath, performs many tasks that require maintaining a set of unique objects. In my quest to optimize QueryPath, I have been looking into various ways of efficiently storing sets of objects in a way that provides expedient containment checks. [...] Recently I narrowed the list of candidates down to two methods: Use good old fashioned arrays to emulate a hash set or use the SPLObjectStorage system present in PHP 5.2 and up..."
http://tinyurl.com/n9cdqy


+09: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.

Why Saying 'HTML5 is Not a Standard' Matters
By Larry Masinter.
"Let's focus on the goal: insuring that everyone "on the web" can reliably communicate..."
http://tinyurl.com/n46lkg

An Open Letter to Mozilla Regarding Their Use and Promotion of HTML5 Video 
By Kroc Camen.
"HTML5 video is coming, and a million web developers up and down the web will be soon looking for advice and sample code to make use of HTML5 video..."
http://camendesign.com/blog/letter_to_mozilla_re_video

Request to Strengthen the HTML5 Accessibility Design Principle 
By Laura Carlson, Debi Orton, Jason White, John Foliot, Joshue O Connor, Patrick Lauke, Shelley Powers, Steve Faulkner, Catherine Roy, Gez Lemon, Leif Halvard Silli, Philip TAYLOR, Robert J Burns, and Roger Johansson.
"...We request that the accessibility design principle be disambiguated and strengthened by replacing it with the following definition text and two examples..."
http://esw.w3.org/topic/HTML/AccessibilityDesignPrinciple

Comic Update: Who Really Is the Wizard of HTML5?
By Kyle Weems.
"Perhaps we shouldn't craft HTML5 solely on Google's say-so. If the data-harvesting Ian performs can't be independently verified, then perhaps we shouldn't accept it as fact. It's just not prudent. We definitely shouldn't use it as a substitute for actual experts in discussions like accessibility (which I spoke about last week). If Ian can't accept that limitation or provide access to the raw data, then we need to consider whether a conflict of interests exists and whether he should remain as the editor. With him doing such a poor job of playing well with others (whether they be individuals, experts, or other WC3 working groups) while relying on private information from his employer, how can he be expected to create a HTML5 that meets not just his needs, or Google's needs, but everyone's needs?"
http://tinyurl.com/n4xxkn


+10: TOOLS.

CheckMyColours
"a tool for checking foreground and background color combinations of all DOM elements and determining if they provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having color deficits. All the tests are based on the algorithms suggested by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)."
http://www.checkmycolours.com


+11: TYPOGRAPHY.

Whatever Happened to font-stretch?
By Richard Rutter.
"The font-stretch property was introduced in CSS 2.0 over ten years ago, but was culled in the transition to CSS 2.1. It now languishes in the CSS 3 Fonts module. The property instructed browsers to select a 'normal, condensed, or extended face from a font family'. Its removal from CSS 2.1 was due to a complete lack of implementation by browsers. Unfortunately this leaves us with a gaping hole regarding font support..."
http://www.clagnut.com/blog/2265/

Why Browser Zoom Shouldn't Kill Flexible Layouts
By Zoe Mickley Gillenwater.
"All the major browsers now have zoom functions built in, which may make it seem like there's no longer any need for liquid or elastic layouts. Not so..."
http://zomigi.com/blog/why-browser-zoom-shouldnt-kill-flexible-layouts/


+12: USABILITY.

Reusing the User Experience
By Peter Hornsby.
"Developers often report a sense of deja vu when creating software-a sense they've already designed or coded a function. Of course, the feeling that he or she is doing unnecessary work is particularly frustrating when a developer is under pressure! The reuse of software components can help to address this problem. Components are proven, reusable units of design and code that meet a specific need. As such, they enable a developer to think about solving problems at a higher level of abstraction, making the development process more efficient. For example, rather than writing a function to print a file, a developer can find and reuse a pre-existing component that meets the requirement."
http://tinyurl.com/nmfu4s

Glossy Monitors Look Good But Can Hurt
By Rupert Goodwins.
"Reflections and glare on high gloss monitor screens and their relation to the angle of the monitor screen, could cause the operator to adopt awkward postures when viewing the monitor screen and using related equipment. These reflections on the screen can be from internal and external sources such as the overhead lighting and/or position of windows..."
http://www.usabilitynews.com/news/article5737.asp

Visual Decision Making
By Patrick Lynch.
"If it takes only 50 milliseconds for users to form an aesthetic opinion of your site's credibility and trustworthiness, are designers who create visually compelling sites simply wasting time and treasure on graphic indulgences? Patrick Lynch doesn't think so."
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/visual-decision-making/

Stop Password Masking
By Jakob Nielsen.
"Usability suffers when users type in passwords and the only feedback they get is a row of bullets. Typically, masking passwords doesn't even
increase security, but it does cost you business due to login failures."
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/passwords.html


+13: XML.

Introduction to RDFa
By Mark Birbeck.
"In part one of a two-part primer on RDFa, learn how semantic features normally confined to the head of an HTML document can be used to add semantic richness to the elements of the body. Mark Birbeck shows us how."
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/introduction-to-rdfa/


[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.

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http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/webdevlist
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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:
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+ 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.]