+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 13, Issue 18, October 30, 2014. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 18 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: DRUPAL. 04: EVENTS. 05: HTML5. 06: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. 07: MISCELLANEOUS. 08: NAVIGATION. 09: USABILITY. SECTION TWO: 10: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Websites Gone Bad - Where Aesthetics and Accessibility Collide By Scott Hollier. "It's a scene repeated daily for people with disabilities. You're busy working away when an alert pops up in your calendar reminding you that one of your relatives is having a birthday party next week and you need to buy a present. A little panicked that the event has sprung up so quickly, you scramble to the web to search for that gift you know will be perfect. After using a shopping comparison website you find the item you need at an amazing low price, and follow the link. What gets presented on your screen next is a blob of swirling colour, graphics, incomprehensible descriptions, no captions on the video and silence from the screen reader." http://www.accessiq.org/news/w3c-column/2014/10/websites-gone-bad-where-aesthetics-and-accessibility-collide Good Coding Habits for Accessibility By Joel Dolson. "You're right. Web Accessibility is hard in the same way that everything else in development is hard: designing and building any perfect product is always tough - even impossible. But getting 90% of the way there is easy..." https://www.joedolson.com/2014/10/good-coding-habits-accessibility/ Testing for Accessibility on OS X By Apple. "...Application developers should read this chapter to find out how to exercise the accessibility of their applications..." https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Accessibility/Conceptual/AccessibilityMacOSX/OSXAXTesting/OSXAXTestingApps.html Accessibility Testing Tools - Updated By Steve Faulkner. "Here at The Paciello Group (TPG) we have a technical accessibility testing process which does not involve the use of automated tools. The technical audit results we provide to our clients are based solely on manual testing of a web site, web application, mobile or desktop application..." http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/2014/10/accessibility-testing-tools-updated/ Re: Formal Objection to Advancing the HTML Image Description Document Along the REC Track By Tim Berners-Lee, Ralph Swick, Judy Brewer, and Philippe Le Hegaret. "DECISION: On the basis of careful consideration of all points raised, the Director does not find sufficient basis to uphold this formal objection and it is hereby overruled. The Joint HTML Accessibility Task Force, and the two Working Groups under which the Task Force operates, may therefore continue to progress this [longdesc] specification per W3C Process. We encourage all parties to apply their creative energies and design capabilities constructively towards improved solutions for accessible image descriptions in the future." http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html-admin/2014Oct/0099.html +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Cursors By Chris Nager. "A self-describing list of cursors available through CSS." http://chrisnager.github.io/cursors/ +03: COLOR. History of Web Color Names By Christopher Schmitt. "Where do web color names come from? Alex Sexton breaks down how web colors got their names..." http://christopherschmitt.com/2014/10/23/history-web-color-names/ +04: EVENTS. Web Accessibility Training December 10, 2014. Online http://www.eastersealstech.com/2014/10/24/webaccessibilitywebinar/ +05: HTML5. HTML5 is a W3C Recommendation By Ian Jacobs. "The HTML Working Group today published HTML5 as W3C Recommendation. This specification defines the fifth major revision of the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), the format used to build Web pages and applications, and the cornerstone of the Open Web Platform..." http://www.w3.org/blog/news/archives/4167 The Ride to 5 By Steve Faulkner. "In recent weeks I contacted around 40 people, a cross section of those who have banged away at, or banged on about, HTML5. I asked them for their perspectives on HTML5 becoming a W3C Recommendation. Below are the words of the 28 people who responded, pretty much in the order they hit my inbox..." http://html5doctor.com/the-ride-to-5/ HTML5 Is Now a W3C Recommendation By Adrian Roselli. " was already pretty excited when I read on the W3C Accessibility Task Force mailing list that the formal objection against longdesc was overruled. But then this - HTML5 is a wrap." http://blog.adrianroselli.com/2014/10/html5-is-now-w3c-recommendation.html On HTML5 vs Living Standard, W3C vs WHATWG By Bruce Lawson. "As I'm occasionally asked questions about how I see the two different organisations working together (or not), here are the full questions that Steve asked me, and my responses (as approved unchanged by my bosses at Opera). I'm grateful to Steve for giving me his permission to reproduce them..." http://www.brucelawson.co.uk/2014/on-html5-vs-living-standard-w3c-vs-whatwg/ HTML5 a W3C Recommendation - Accessibility FTW! By Mike Paciello. "HTML5 is a great leap forward for an accessible web. In HTML5, accessibility is a core design principle. For the first time the semantics of HTML have been mapped, and implementation requirements defined in terms of the way HTML semantics are conveyed to people using assistive technologies..." http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/2014/10/html5-a-w3c-recommendation-accessibility-ftw/ +06: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. How to use Tree Testing to Test the Information Architecture of Your Website or App By Jacob. "One of the biggest challenges faced while building a website or an app is organization of content. If your content is not findable or accessible, no matter how pretty or full of bells and whistles your website or app is, your users are going to run away, and conversion rates are going to come down. Testing the organization of content (or information architecture as we call it), thus, becomes very necessary at the early stages of product development lifecycle..." http://www.loop11.com/how-to-use-tree-testing-to-test-the-information-architecture-of-your-website-or-app/ +07: JAVASCRIPT. ECMAScript 6 Returns JavaScript to Original Intent By Paul Krill. "The committee behind ECMAScript wants a quicker release schedule to keep up with the pace of Web innovation..." http://www.infoworld.com/article/2837425/javascript/ecmascript-6-returns-javascript-to-original-intent.html +08: NAVIGATION. Floating Action Buttons Pattern Considerations By Brad Frost. "I think this pattern has several disadvantages. Successful navigation finds the balance between unobtrusiveness and accessibility. To Luke's point, the floating action button pattern is certainly accessible, but I'd say the pattern is quite obtrusive. It stands out in an interface like a piece of dirt sticks out in the corner of your eye. This fixed element shouting for your attention may be effective, but may do so to the detriment of the rest of the interface." http://bradfrost.com/blog/post/floating-action-buttons-pattern-considerations/ +09: USABILITY. Progress Indicators Make a Slow System Less Insufferable By Katie Sherwin. "Wait animations, such as percent-done bars and spinners, inform users of the current working state and make the process more tolerable to the user by reducing uncertainty. Users experience higher satisfaction with a site and are willing to wait longer when the site uses a dynamic progress indicator..." http://www.nngroup.com/articles/progress-indicators/ Usability Checklist By Userium. "Catch common usability problems before user testing..." https://userium.com/index.html [Section one ends.] ++ SECTION TWO: +10: 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 Drupal Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/drupal.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 HTML Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/html.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.]