+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 10, Issue 30, January 16, 2013.

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

++ISSUE 30 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: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.
03: EVENTS.
04: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE.
05: JAVASCRIPT.
06: MISCELLANEOUS.
07: PHP.
08: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.
09: TYPOGRAPHY.
10: USABILITY.


SECTION TWO: 
11: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site?

[Contents ends.]


++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

Web Accessibility in Higher Education
By Ken Nakata.
"Universities face liability if their Web content is inaccessible. This is further complicated by new laws and regulations that change some of these obligations, but also the standards for what constitutes 'accessible' Web content. Colleges and universities also face the increasing chance of liability due to disability rights organizations filing more complaints and lawsuits based on these laws. The lawsuits filed are also extending liability beyond the Web to include other new technologies used in education..."
http://blog.hisoftware.com/2013/accessibility/web-accessibility-in-higher-education

Why Inaccessibility is the Norm in Higher Ed
By Laura Turgeon.
"...It is very rare to see a public or private school that has accessibility at the forefront of their Web policies. And if they do have accessibility as a priority, it is often unfunded..."
http://blog.hisoftware.com/2013/accessibility/why-inaccessibility-is-the-norm-in-higher-ed

5 Things You Should Know Before Buying Accessibility Audit and Accreditation Services
By Jonathan Hassell.
"From WCAG 2.0 AA and Section 508 VPATs to RNIB/AbilityNet Surf Right, DAC and Shaw Trust accreditation, there are a lot of accessibility conformance badges out there. So how do you know which badge to pick? What is the actual value of these badges to the organisations that buy them, and to the disabled people who use their sites?..."
http://www.hassellinclusion.com/2013/01/accessibility-accreditation-value/

The longdesc Attribute
By Ted Drake.
"Wouldn't it be nice if there was a standard method for providing long descriptions of complex images, charts, and infographics? Not surprisingly, there is..."
http://www.last-child.com/accessible-infographics/infographics-longdesc/

HTML5 Image Description Extension
Charles McCathie Nevile, editor.
"This specification defines a longdesc attribute to link extended descriptions with images in HTML5-based content. "
http://dvcs.w3.org/hg/html-proposals/raw-file/default/longdesc1/longdesc.html

I Thought Title Text Improved Accessibility. I Was Wrong.
By David Ball.
"Do you add a descriptive title attribute to your links? If so did you know that you might be making your site even less accessible?...the best way to make a link accessible is to make the anchor text relevant and descriptive..."
http://blog.silktide.com/2013/01/i-thought-title-text-improved-accessibility-i-was-wrong/

Using the HTML title Attribute - Updated
By Steve Faulkner.
"The HTML title attribute is problematic..."
http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/2013/01/using-the-html-title-attribute-updated/	

Accessible Keyboard Shortcuts
By Jon Gibbins.
"I have added a new page outlining some best practices and providing code examples for developers wishing to add JavaScript-powered keyboard shortcuts to their web applications in an accessible way..."
http://lab.dotjay.co.uk/notes/web-apps/keyboard-shortcuts/


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

An Advanced Guide  to HTML & CSS 
By Shay Howe.
"An Advanced Guide to HTML & CSS takes a deeper look at front-end design and development, expanding on what is covered in the beginner's guide. Studying modern front-end development, this guide teaches the latest for any designer looking to round out their front-end skills. "
http://learn.shayhowe.com/advanced-html-css/

Using Form Elements and CSS3 to Replace JavaScript 
By Louis Lazaris.
"...In this article, I run through some of these techniques and discuss the concepts involved. This should help you get a good overall understanding of how these tricks work, and may give you insight into creating something with pure CSS for one of your future web projects..."
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/html5/articles/using-form-elements-and-css3-to-replace-javascript.html

CSS Techniques for Retina Displays
By Syed Fazle Rahman.
"As many people use their highly portable devices for work and play, device manufacturers seek to enhance their user experience, making their devices simultaneously more powerful and easier to use..."
http://www.sitepoint.com/css-techniques-for-retina-displays/

Typesetting Responsive CSS3 Columns
By Tommi Kaikkonen.
"Multi-column layouts are awesome, but I haven't seen many great implementations. This is my try. Before you start reading this article, you might want to play with the checkboxes in the top right corner. Resize the window. Zoom in and out..."
http://kaikkonendesign.fi/columns/ 

Build a Basic Responsive Site with CSS
By Jason Michael.
"Responsive design is much misunderstood. Jason Michael lays to rest some myths, and then walks us through building a simple responsive website..."
http://www.netmagazine.com/tutorials/build-basic-responsive-site-css


+03: EVENTS.

Responsive Day Out
March 1, 2013.
Brighton, England, United Kingdom
http://responsiveconf.com/

Building Responsive Websites
March 11, 2013 in Canberra, Australia.
March 14, 2013 in Brisbane, Australia.
March 19, 2013 in Sydney, Australia.
March 20, 2013 in Melbourne, Australia.
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/workshops/#workshop1

Taking Your CSS to the Next Level
March 12, 2013 in Canberra, Australia.
March 13, 2013 in Brisbane, Australia.
March 18, 2013 in Sydney, Australia.
March 19, 2013 in Melbourne, Australia.
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/workshops/#workshop2

7th European e-Accessibility Forum
March 18, 2013.
Paris, France
http://inova.snv.jussieu.fr/evenements/colloques/colloques/78_index_en.html

Accessibility Summit 
April 19-20, 2013. 
Washington, District of Columbia, U.S.A.
http://accessibilitysummit.org/

Future Insights Live
April 29-May 2, 2013.
Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A. 
http://futureinsightslive.com/las-vegas-2013/

Hypertext 2013
May 1-3, 2013.
Paris, France
http://ht.acm.org/ht2013/


+04: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE.

Re-Introducing Page Description Diagrams
By Colin Butler.
"Recently, we discovered the page description diagram, a method for documenting components without specifying layout. At first, it seemed limited, even simplistic, relative to our needs. But with some consideration, we began to understand the value. We started looking at whether or not PDDs could help us improve our process."
http://uxmag.com/articles/re-introducing-page-description-diagrams

Stop Designing for 'Users'
By Mike Long.
"Most products support activities underpinned by collaboration and sharing. Designing for individuals may actually be harmful because these activities reflect ongoing transformations of artifacts, individuals, and social interactions. Focusing on individuals might improve things for one person at the cost of others." 
http://www.thoughtworks-studios.com/blog/stop-designing-%E2%80%9Cusers%E2%80%9D


+05: JAVASCRIPT.

WAI-ARIA Live Regions Updated
By Gez Lemon.
" I wrote about the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative - Accessible Rich Internet Applications  (WAI-ARIA)'s live region properties 6 years ago, but the WAI-ARIA specification has changed significantly...The original out-of-date article now redirects to this entry, which provides more information on live regions and how to use them, along with roles that have implied live regions..."
http://juicystudio.com/article/wai-aria_live-regions_updated.php

How Do You Structure JavaScript? The Module Pattern Edition
By Chris Coyier.
"JavaScript is interesting in that it enforces no particular structure upon you. "Bring Your Own Organization", if you will. As I write more and more JavaScript in web app sites, this becomes more and more interesting..."
http://css-tricks.com/how-do-you-structure-javascript-the-module-pattern-edition/
	
Common JavaScript Gotchas
By James Fuller.
"PHP was my first programming language, and my initial exposure to JavaScript was through libraries like jQuery. There were things about JavaScript that always seemed to trip me up in the beginning due to how they worked differently than PHP. Heck there are still some things today that are confusing. I want to share some of the things that I struggled when I started working with JavaScript..."
http://www.jblotus.com/2013/01/13/common-javascript-gotchas/


+06: MISCELLANEOUS.

Web Teacher's Seldom Asked Questions
By Virginia DeBolt.
"Okay, never asked questions. Seldom is an exaggeration. But always that philosophical question lingers in the air: why are you here? These SAQs (okay NAQs) will explain everything..."
http://www.webteacher.ws/2013/01/15/web-teachers-seldom-asked-questions/


+07: PHP.

What to Expect From PHP 5.5
By Gabriel Manricks.
"The first PHP 5.5 alpha has been publicly released. After having some time to test and experiment with it, we can now bring you our in-depth overview of what to look forward for..."
http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/php/what-to-expect-from-php-5-5/

Beginner to Intermediate PHP Exercises
By John and Nancy Nicoles.
"The Web is full of excellent PHP tutorials. PHP exercises? Not so much. This site begins to fill that gap with 31 exercises. Choose one from the menu on the left and get started..."
http://phpexercises.com/


+08: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.

The Harsh Truth About HTML5's Structural Semantics, Part 2
By Luke Stevens.
"In the first part of this series we covered the failings that lead to HTML5's structural elements, in this second part we'll look in detail at the consequences..."
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2013/01/the-harsh-truth-about-html5s-structural-semantics-part-2/

The Harsh Truth About HTML5's Structural Semantics, Part 3
By Luke Stevens.
"In the first part of this series we looked at the failings that lead to the structural elements new to HTML5; in the second part of the series we looked in we looked in detail at the consequences of those failings; in this final part we'll look for a way forward, and draw some conclusions about the current state of play..."
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2013/01/the-harsh-truth-about-html5s-structural-semantics-part-3/

The main Element
By Ian Devlin.
"Back in November last year I wrote about the proposed HTML5 main element. This new element was recently added to the HTML5 specification..."
http://www.iandevlin.com/blog/2013/01/html5/the-main-element


+09: TYPOGRAPHY.

The New CSS3 Relative Font Sizing Units
By Craig Buckler.
"It's been more than three years since I last wrote about CSS font sizing. For a decade we were lumbered with inconsistent keywords (small, medium, large etc) and flawed fixed units (px, pt, mm). While the problems associated with px in Internet Explorer have dissipated, % and em remained the best choices - especially for responsive designs. Fortunately, CSS3 provides us with several new alternatives..."
http://www.sitepoint.com/new-css3-relative-font-size/

The Responsive Web Will be 99 Percent Typography
By James Young.
"I've had a nagging feeling that the trend towards increasingly large typography and simpler layouts was just that, a trend. I now think it's a possibly a logical necessity..."
http://www.welcomebrand.co.uk/thoughts/the-responsive-web-will-be-99-9-typography/


+10: USABILITY.

Flexible Foundations
By Trent Walton.
"Responsive or not, there's no reason why we shouldn't all be designing and building sites on flexible foundations..."
http://trentwalton.com/2013/01/07/flexible-foundations/

Simplify Responsive Design by Embracing the Flexible Nature of the Web
By Scott Gilbertson.
"If you're using pixels as part of your responsive designs you're probably making your life harder than it needs to be..."
http://www.webmonkey.com/2013/01/simplify-responsive-design-by-embracing-the-flexible-nature-of-the-web/

Letting Mobile Users See Desktop View of RWD Site
By Adrian Roselli.
"Bruce Lawson tweeted out a seemingly random musing today that I have pondered myself - what if, while on a mobile device and surfing a RWD web site, I want the desktop version of a site?..."
http://blog.adrianroselli.com/2013/01/letting-mobile-users-see-desktop-view.html

Turning Off Responsive Web Design 
By Bruce Lawson.
"I've long been a fan of responsive web design...but recently I've been musing on whether mobile browsers should have a mechanism to turn it off - that is, pretend to have a really wide screen so width-based media queries don't kick in, thereby allowing people to see the 'desktop site'."
http://www.brucelawson.co.uk/2013/turning-off-responsive-web-design/


[Section one ends.]


++ SECTION TWO:

+11: 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.]