+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 12, Issue 29, January 9, 2014. 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: EVENTS. 05: HTML5. 06: JAVASCRIPT. 07: MISCELLANEOUS. 08: NAVIGATION. 09: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. 10: TYPOGRAPHY. 11: USABILITY. SECTION TWO: 12: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. 2014 Web Accessibility Predictions By Denis Boudreau. "With everyone and their mother pretending to have crystal balls as the new year begins, I thought it could be interesting to play along for a moment and make up my own list of predictions for 2014, but this time, with a focus on web accessibility..." http://www.denisboudreau.org/blog/2014/01/2014-web-accessibility-predictions/ Incredible Accessible Modal Window, Version 2 By Greg Kraus. "...One of the things Rich and I learned in this adventure is if you include a role='document' inside of the role="dialog", then NVDA allows you to use the virtual cursor. This now gives all screen reader users the ability to fully navigate all of the contents...." http://accessibility.oit.ncsu.edu/blog/2014/01/02/incredible-accessible-modal-window-version-2/ Using Aria-Invalid for Error Indication By Sailesh Panchang. "Setting aria-invalid to 'true' is a quick and easy method for indicating that a field has failed validation. Yet, its usefulness from an accessibility standpoint is limited to a situation where..." http://www.deque.com/aria-invalid-error-indication Picking up Mini-Projects By Matthew Tylee Atkinson. "...I've finally added basic support for tabbed browsing to the ARIA landmarks keyboard navigation Firefox extension..." http://matatk.agrip.org.uk/articles/picking-up-mini-projects/ Gartner Says Cos Should Deploy Technologies To Address IT Accessibility By Biztech2 Staff. "Companies that address accessibility needs in their IT product development are better positioned to leverage those same assistive technologies to mass market solutions..." http://biztech2.in.com/news/enterprise-solutions/gartner-says-cos-should-deploy-technologies-to-address-it-accessibility/168772/0 8 Trillion Reasons to Make Your Technology Accessible By Phil Johnson. "A new report from Gartner reveals a large and growing market for accessible technologies, which some companies like IBM are already serving" http://www.itworld.com/mobile-wireless/398692/8-trillion-reasons-make-your-technology-accessible Online Accessibility for Disabled Becomes a Must By Alex Varley. "Some web managers are sleeping very soundly in Canberra right now. They are the ones that have the National Transition Strategy requirements (NTS) well under control, and they are overhauling their web properties and online services..." http://www.governmentnews.com.au/2014/01/06/article/Online-accessibility-for-disabled-becomes-a-must/SUJGLNRSLQ Why Do We Fear the Blind? By Rosemary Mahoney. "...We take our eyesight so much for granted, cling to it so slavishly and are so overwhelmed by its superficial data, that even the most brilliant sighted person can take a stupidly long time to recognize the obvious: There is usually a perfectly healthy, active and normal human mind behind that pair of unseeing eyes..." www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/opinion/sunday/why-do-we-fear-the-blind.html Response to Viewpoint About Deaf Community By Meryl Evans. "Yes, some people misjudge us deaf folks. It's often because they have little experience with us and need a little education; even well-educated people like Vice President Al Gore. After I talked to him, he said thanks in sign language. I thanked him and revealed that I didn't know sign language. It wasn't to embarrass him - it was to teach him and those listening to our conversation that not all deaf people are the same. Helen Keller said it well: 'The highest result of education is tolerance.'..." http://shelaza.com/the-d-life/response-to-viewpoint-about-deaf-community/ +02: BOOKS. Felke-Morris. Basics of Web Design: HTML5 & CSS3, 2nd Edition, Addison-Wesley, 2013. Felke-Morris, Web Development & Design Foundations with HTML5, 7th Edition, Addison-Wesley, 2014. Krug, Steve. Don't Make Me Think Revisited. A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (2nd Edition, New Riders Press, 2014. +03: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Introducing the calc Function By Sara Vieira. "...the introduction of the calc function to CSS3 provides a way of running Math calculations natively which increases performance and even enables mixed units..." http://www.developerdrive.com/2014/01/introducing-the-calc-function/ +04: EVENTS. UXMobile Immersion April 7-9, 2014. Denver, Colorado, U.S.A. http://uxim14.uie.com/ Confab May 7-9, 2014. Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. http://confabevents.com/events/minneapolis-2014 High Ed Web Regional South Carolina June 23-24, 2014. Florence, South Carolina, U.S.A. http://se.highedweb.org/ UXPA London July 21-24, 2014. London, England, United Kingdom http://www.uxpa2014.org/ Beyond the Desktop - Nashville July 28-30, 2014. Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A. https://bdconf.com/events/2014/Nashville/ +05: HTML5. Using the Web Speech API to Control a HTML5 Video By Ian Devlin. "The JavaScript Web Speech API has been around since October 2012 but has not really been implemented in any browser other than in Chrome, and even then only partially. I decided to take a quick look at this API and put together a demo on how it could be used to control a HTML5 video..." http://www.iandevlin.com/blog/2014/01/javascript/using-the-web-speech-api-to-control-a-html5-video The Picture Element Editors: Tab Atkins, Marcos Caceres, Mat Marquis, Yoav Weiss. "The picture element is intended to give authors a way to control which image resource a user agent presents to a user, based on media query and/or support for a particular image format." http://picture.responsiveimages.org/ +06: JAVASCRIPT. Evaluating JavaScript code via eval() and new Function() By Axel Rauschmayer. "This blog post examines how one can dynamically evaluate code in JavaScript..." http://www.2ality.com/2014/01/eval.html ECMAScript 6 - Merging Objects Via Object.assign() By Axel Rauschmayer. "Copying all properties of one object to another one is a common operation in JavaScript. This blog post explains ECMAScript 6's implementation of it, which is called Object.assign()." http://www.2ality.com/2014/01/object-assign.html +07: MISCELLANEOUS. We're About to Lose Net Neutrality - And the Internet as We Know It By Marvin Ammori. "Net neutrality is a dead man walking. The execution date isn't set, but it could be days, or months (at best). And since net neutrality is the principle forbidding huge telecommunications companies from treating users, websites, or apps differently - say, by letting some work better than others over their pipes - the dead man walking isn't some abstract or far-removed principle just for wonks: It affects the internet as we all know it..." http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/11/so-the-internets-about-to-lose-its-net-neutrality Thoughts For The Future Of Responsive Images By Steven Bradley. "...We should only use images that enhance the communication in a design and we should avoid using images that contribute little. Where possible we should use code and when we need an image we should prefer vectors. This will lead to less bitmapped images, which are the ones that really cause the issues we face...." http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/responsive-images-thoughts/ +08: NAVIGATION. Organize Content Using Hierarchically Nested Headings By Denis Boudreau. "Make sure headings are nested hierarchically in order to facilitate navigation.." http://dboudreau.tumblr.com/post/72420214630/organize-content-using-hierarchically-nested-headings 3 Guidelines for Search Engine 'No Results' Pages By Kathryn Whitenton. "When users try a search and get no results, there's a high risk of site abandonment. But paying attention to design details can turn this potential disaster into an opportunity for content discovery." http://www.nngroup.com/articles/search-no-results-serp/ +09: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. Web Standards Killed the HTML Star By Jeff Croft. "When Zeldman wrote our bible, we were there, pounding the table in board rooms for using CSS instead of tables for layout, for image replacement techniques that retained the accessibility of the content, for semantic code, and all the rest..." http://jeffcroft.com/blog/2014/jan/03/web-standards-killed-the-html-star/ The HTML Star Is Ignored (and Shouldn't Be) By Adrian Roselli. "...Jeff's post is addressing standards from the perspective of what skills get you hired. Sadly, it's hiring practices that continue to perpetuate the lack of standards and a need for truly talented HTML/CSS coders. There are plenty of reasons why we still need skilled HTML/CSS coders...the web standards movement has achieved its goals. In that regard, I think Jeff Croft's piece already starts from a false assumption..." http://blog.adrianroselli.com/2014/01/the-html-star-is-ignored-and-shouldnt-be.html It's 2014. Is Web Design Dead? By Jeffery Zeldman. "...while many of us prefer to concentrate on design, content, and experience, it continues to be necessary to remind our work comrades (or inform younguns) about web standards, accessibility, and progressive enhancement..." http://www.zeldman.com/2014/01/06/its-2014-is-web-design-dead/ +10: TYPOGRAPHY. Why We Still Need Web-Safe Fonts By Alexander Dawson. "...The time and effort required to use a simple CSS font stack that includes Web-safe fonts is very small, so there's little reason not to continue doing it." http://sixrevisions.com/web-standards/why-we-still-need-web-safe-fonts/ 11: USABILITY. Old Browsers, Does it Matter? By Karl Dubost. "...anyone should be able to use the browser of his/her choice be on an old computer. There are many circumstances where someone will not be able to use the most recent version of a browser..." http://www.otsukare.info/2014/01/06/old-browsers [Section one ends.] ++ SECTION TWO: +12: 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.]