+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 10, Issue 29, January 12, 2012. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 29 CONTENTS. SECTION ONE: New references. What's new at the Web Design Reference site? http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/ New links in these categories: 01: ACCESSIBILITY. 02: BOOKS. 03: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. 04: EVALUATION & TESTING. 05: EVENTS. 06: MISCELLANEOUS. 07: NAVIGATION. 08: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. SECTION TWO: 09: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Accessible HTML5 Forms - Required Inputs By John Foliot. "HTML5 has added a number of new element attributes, including 12 attributes used when creating forms. These Common input element attributes include 2 new Boolean attributes, the required attribute and the readonly attribute. Recently a number of current browsers have implemented native support for the 'required' attribute, and so I thought it would be useful to examine this attribute in more detail..." http://john.foliot.ca/required-inputs/ The Hidden Nuggets of WCAG2: The Wonderful World of ALT Attributes, Part By Gian Wild. "Recently I judged the accessibility component of the Australian Web Awards. Time and time again I saw the same errors when it came to ALT attributes. Success Criterion 1.1.1 - the ALT attribute requirement - is a complicated success criterion..." http://www.sitepoint.com/the-hidden-nuggets-of-wcag2-the-wonderful-world-of-alt-attributes-part-i/ How to Structure an Accessibility Review By Joseph Dolson. "...I'm putting together this article to talk a little about how to structure an accessibility review, in all the practical ways - how you address coming up with a quote or estimate, ways to structure your research and site inspection process, and dealing with long-term follow-up..." http://www.joedolson.com/articles/2012/01/how-to-structure-an-accessibility-review/ Manual and User Accessibility Testing By Shilpi Kapoor. "Accessibility is about persons with disabilities. It is not possible for a tool alone to claim that a web page or a web application is accessible. Often, accessibility testing is being conducted by using an automated testing tool. To ensure compliance of websites or even to maintain websites this is an important strategy, but we must not ignore the fine print of most accessibility testing tools. Most of these tools will mention that human intervention or checks are required. For example, a testing tool can tell you whether an image has been given an alternate text but it cannot tell you whether the alternate text is accurate. This check needs to be conducted manually. One of the key areas that we need to invest in is Manual testing along with automated testing tools..." http://www.nasscomfoundation.org/web_accessibility/index.html#manual Web Accessibility - What and Why By Dipendra Manocha. "Websites and web based user interface for applications are becoming very popular as a means of user interaction and information dissemination. Thus, the importance of web accessibility has become extremely important. In this document, use of the word web would mean websites webpages and web based user interfaces of applications..." http://www.nasscomfoundation.org/web_accessibility/index.html#web Institutionalization of Accessibility - A Step Towards Inclusion By Pooja Nahata. "...This article puts forward a framework for Institutionalizing Accessibility in our organizations-hope it helps answer the burning question of How do we integrate accessibility into our organizations?..." http://www.nasscomfoundation.org/web_accessibility/index.html#step The Business Case for Web Accessibility By Nirmita Narasimhan. "The Internet is perhaps one of the most revolutionary things that happened for persons with disabilities. It has transformed their lives from one of ignorance and dependence to one of inclusion and participation. Using assistive technologies, blind persons can now read newspapers and information on websites, deaf persons can understand video content through captioning and persons with different disabilities can access computers in a variety of ways. However, despite these exciting developments in assistive technologies, the relative inaccessi-bility of websites remains a severe impediment to disability access to the internet..." http://www.nasscomfoundation.org/web_accessibility/index.html#businesscase +02: BOOKS. Layon, Kristofer. Mobilizing Web Sites: Strategies for Mobile Web Implementation, Peachpit Press, 2011. +03: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Seven Things Still Missing From CSS By Molly Holzschlag. "CSS has come a long way but it's not perfect (yet). Molly Holzschlag, passionate standardista and open web evangelist, quizzed her peers to find out what they see as the most frustrating aspects of CSS " http://www.netmagazine.com/features/seven-things-still-missing-css Introducing the New Cursor Styles in CSS3 By Craig Buckler. "In this article, we're going to examine the CSS cursor property which, as you'd expect, allows you to change the cursor style as the mouse moves over an element. It's become increasingly important for interactive web applications..." http://www.sitepoint.com/css3-cursor-styles/ CSS Specificity By Estelle Weyl. "Some people are confused by CSS Specificity, especially with all of the (not-so) new CSS3 Selectors. The image below may help make sense of CSS Specificity..." http://www.standardista.com/css3/css-specificity/ (Better) Tabs with Round Out Borders By Chris Coyier. The following is a guest post by Menno van Slooten. You might notice we've been down this road before, but I quite like Menno's approach here. The end result proves you can get a little fancier with the design than I originally did, with borders, gradients, and shadows and while actually using less elements..." http://css-tricks.com/better-tabs-with-round-out-borders/ +04: EVALUATION & TESTING. Test on Real Mobile Devices Without Breaking the Bank By Brad Frost. "Mobile is the future of the web, so it's time to start investing in some mobile devices. Testing on actual devices is now an absolutely essential part of web design. Stephanie Rieger explains that there are crucial aspects of a web experience you simply can't realize by resizing your browser or using emulators: true site performance, device capabilities, form factor, pixel density and the impact of the network..." http://bradfrostweb.com/blog/mobile/test-on-real-mobile-devices-without-breaking-the-bank/ 10 Ways to Measure and Manage the User Experience By Jeff Sauro. "Improving the user experience means starting with the right measure or measures to manage. Here are 10 of the more common ones I've written about in 2011..." http://www.measuringusability.com/blog/measure-manage-ux.php Four Secrets of Getting Great Participants Who Show Up By Dana Chisnell. "What if you had a near-perfect participant show rate for all your studies? The first time it happens, it's surprising. The next few times, it's refreshing -- a relief. Teams that do great user research start with the recruiting process, and they come to expect near perfect attendance..." http://usabilitytestinghowto.blogspot.com/2012/01/four-secrets-of-getting-great.html +05: EVENTS. Web With Molly - Core HTML and CSS for the Open Web February 10-12, 2012. Tucson, Arizona, U.S.A. http://www.molly.com/2012/01/09/web-with-molly-core-html-and-css-for-the-open-web/ In Control 2012 Feb. 20-21, 2012. Orlando, Florida, U.S.A. http://2012.incontrolconference.com/ JSConf US 2012 April 2-3, 2012 Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.A. http://2012.jsconf.us/ Front-Trends Conference April 26-27, 2012. Warsaw, Poland http://2012.front-trends.com/ Interlink Conference June 6-7, 2012. Vancouver, Canada http://interlinkconference.com/ Google I/O June 27-29, 2012. San Francisco, California, U.S.A. http://lanyrd.com/2012/google-io-2/ +06: MISCELLANEOUS. Best Viewed in iOS By Paul Boag. "One of the things I love about the web is its openness. The web is accessible to all, no matter your age, location, disability or technology. Whether you are accessing it via a mobile phone in the heart of Africa or fibre optic connection in Korea, we all have access to the same information. At least that is the theory...Let's not repeat history. Sure, build native apps, but not without putting in place alternatives for those who do not own the latest smartphone. Think twice about whether you need a native app. Often a web app that is accessible across all devices is the better solution." http://boagworld.com/tumblog/best-viewed-in-ios/ Mobile IT in Higher Education, 2011 Report By Educause. "Discussion about mobile IT in higher education is ubiquitous, but attaining benefits of mobility does not come easily. The ECAR mobile IT study gathered quantitative and qualitative data from a representative sample of 209 higher education institutions. Most respondents to ECAR's 2011 study report little progress in making institutional services, applications, and websites accessible on mobile devices. The average respondent institution has enabled only a few services for mobile access. Institutions that have invested more money and those that have larger numbers of staff assigned to mobile-enablement initiatives show greater progress. Mobile enablement of student-facing services has taken highest priority to date, and we see considerably more mobile progress in areas that are given higher priority..." http://www.educause.edu/Resources/MobileITinHigherEducation2011R/238470 The State of the Mobile Web in Higher Education 2012 Survey By Karine Joly. "The goal of this survey is to assess how colleges and universities respond to the needs of the increasing population of mobile device owners..." http://higheredanalytics.com/revolution/index.php?sid=18563 Liz Castro: Outstanding Woman in Technology By Virginia DeBolt. "Elizabeth (Liz) Castro is a tech writer who has been influential in the growth of web design and the Internet since the 1990′s. Her website is elizabethcastro.com. Her blog is Pigs Gourds and Wikis. She’s a mentor of mine, and a source of information for literally millions of readers who want to know something about topics like HTML. I’ve used her books both to learn and to teach others for years..." http://www.webteacher.ws/2012/01/04/liz-castro-outstanding-woman-in-technology/ +07: NAVIGATION. Looking at Breadcrumbs in a New Way By Tom Johnson. "...Breadcrumbs are powerful tools because users can easily modify the breadcrumb path to browse the information they want to see..." http://idratherbewriting.com/2012/01/05/breadcrumbs-as-a-tool-for-findability/ +08: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. Overview of HTML5 Multimedia By Ian Devlin. "This article gives you a brief overview of some of the differences between adding multimedia to a web page before and now with HTML5. It will also briefly introduce some of the more exciting capabilities and functionality that HTML5 multimedia brings..." http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1804860 Cross Browser HTML5 Progress Bars In Depth By Zoltan Hawryluk. "...his article will discuss how this tag is rendered by default in all operating systems and browsers and how to style the progress tag with CSS, even in browsers that don't officially support the it. It will also discuss some interesting limitations of all the browser implementations amd show some interesting examples using advanced CSS3 techniques..." http://www.useragentman.com/blog/2012/01/03/cross-browser-html5-progress-bars-in-depth/ [Section one ends.] ++ SECTION TWO: +09: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? Accessibility Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/accessibility.html Association Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/associations.html Book Listings. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/books.html Cascading Style Sheets Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/css.html Color Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/color.html Dreamweaver Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/dreamweaver.html Evaluation & Testing Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/testing.html Event Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/events.html Flash Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/flash.html Information Architecture Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/architecture.html JavaScript Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/javascript.html Miscellaneous Web Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/misc.html Navigation Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/navigation.html PHP Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/php.html Sites & Blogs Listing. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/sites.html Standards, Guidelines & Pattern Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/standards.html Tool Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/tools.html Typography Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/type.html Usability Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/usability.html XML Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/xml.html [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/itss/training/online/webdesign/webdev_listserv.html 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.]