+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 13, Issue 51, June 9, 2015. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 51 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: COLOR. 05: EVALUATION & TESTING. 06: EVENTS. 07: HTML5. 08: JAVASCRIPT. 09: MISCELLANEOUS. 10: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. 11: TYPOGRAPHY. 12: USABILITY. SECTION TWO: 13: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. 10 Tips for Creating Accessible Content for Your Website By Deborah Edwards-Onoro. "At last month's 3PlayMedia webinar on Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Janet Sylvia, Web Accessibility Group Leader at the University of Georgia, gave an introduction to web accessibility and offered 10 tips for creating accessible web content. Here are my notes from her presentation..." http://www.lireo.com/10-tips-creating-accessible-website-content/ Why Website Accessibility Should Become Your Priority By Amy Hayes. "...When auditing site accessibility, brands and retailers should pay closest attention to Level A and Level AA conformance, as WCAG considers these to be the minimum level of support a site should maintain..." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-hayes/why-website-accessibility_b_7486964.html Unifying WCAG and PDF/UA for PDF Footers By David Mac Donald. "In a constant effort to seek unified advice to content authors, I've been comparing PDF/UA Section 7.8 on headers and footers, and WCAG techniques PDF14 (headers/footers) and PDF17 (page numbers) to provide a unified advice to authors." http://davidmacd.com/blog/pdf-headers-footers.html A Case for Accessible, Usable and Universal Design for Learning By Romy Ruukel. "Issues of learning technologies and accessibility are more of a hot topic in our field than usual these days. EdX recently reached a settlement with the Justice Department to make its website, course creation platform and mobile applications accessible under ADA..." https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-beta/case-accessible-usable-and-universal-design-learning Bank of America Credit Card Rewards Website Agreement By Law Office of Lainey Feingold. "...Bank of America will use Reasonable Efforts to ensure that the planned launch of the New Bank of America Credit Card Rewards Redemptions Solutions substantially satisfy Level A and AA Success Criteria set forth in WCAG 2.0 no later than June 30, 2015..." http://lflegal.com/2015/06/bofa-travel-agreement/ Californian Government Websites Found to be Inaccessible By Tim Lohman. "The California State Auditor has reported that many government websites in the state continue to be not fully accessible to persons with disabilities, despite state and federal legal requirements and the growing use of government services online..." http://www.accessiq.org/news/news/2015/06/californian-government-websites-found-to-be-inaccessible California State Auditor Report Number: 2014-131 (June 2, 2015) By auditor.ca.gov. "California State government websites-departments must improve Website accessibility so that persons with disabilities have comparable access to state services online..." http://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2014-131/index.html The Millennial Generation Could be Changing How Designers Think about Digital Accessibility By Ryan Diehl. "...This is a generation that fully understands the need to be me and to personalize your device in a digital world. It's also important to note they have also been referred to as the 'Generation of We.' This generation has proven time and time again they are more tolerant and more inclusive than generations before them. In their minds, compliance with the law is an afterthought. They want to design to ensure everyone has the access and the ability to 'be you.'" http://www.ssbbartgroup.com/blog/the-millennial-generation-could-be-changing-how-designers-think-about-digital-accessibility/ +02: Books. Blanck, Peter. eQuality: The Struggle for Web Accessibility by Persons with Cognitive Disabilities, Cambridge Disability Law and Policy Series, 2015. +03: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. 15 CSS Questions to Test Your Knowledge By Alexander Dawson. "How well do you know CSS? Test your knowledge by trying to answer the CSS questions in this post..." http://sixrevisions.com/css/css-questions/ 4 Ways to Use Modern CSS with Old Browsers By Rachel Andrew. "Rachel Andrew on how graceful fallbacks enable you to use modern CSS today - even if many of your visitors are using old browsers. " http://www.creativebloq.com/web-design/4-ways-use-modern-css-old-browsers-61515115 +04: COLOR. Visual Design and Colour Accessibility By Theo Jones. "Visual design plays a large role in communicating the business' proposition and personality. When this works well, the design is appealing and appropriate in tone for the audience. Equally important though is making sure that what you've designed works for the broadest possible audience. For the subject of this post we'll consider people with colour-blindness..." http://www.webcredible.com/blog-reports/blog/colour-accessibility-and-visual-design +04: DRUPAL. Let's Chat About Web Accessibility By Amber Matz. "Join Amber Matz as she chats with web accessibility aficionados Mike Gifford, Chris Albrecht, and Helena Zubkow about what web developers and Drupalistas can do to build more accessible web sites..." https://www.lullabot.com/blog/podcasts/drupalizeme-podcast/65-lets-chat-about-web-accessibility +05: EVALUATION & TESTING. Eye Tracking: Where it's Been and Where it's Going By Phillip Moore. "Where do we look and what do we look at the most on the web? There's a lot of science behind both those questions. One method that has given us a lot of answers is eye tracking..." http://www.usertesting.com/blog/2015/06/04/eye-tracking/ +06: EVENTS. Responsive Style Guides Google Hangout June 16, 2015. Online http://alistapart.com/event/responsive-style-guides Twin Cities Drupal Camp June 23-28, 2015. Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. http://2015.tcdrupal.org/ CascadiaCSS July 8, 2015. Blaine, Washington, U.S.A. http://2015.cascadiajs.com/css/ Forward 3 Web Technology Summit July 27-31, 2015. San Francisco, California, U.S.A. http://forwardjs.com/ +07: HTML5. Semantic Mark-up By Rakesh Paladugula. "Web pages are built using mark-up languages. HTML 4.0, xhtml 1.0, HTML 5 etc are few such mark-up languages. Mark-up languages help in displaying content on the browser, just to display the content on the browser. To align the content properly, style the content and to make other visual effects cascading style-sheets (CSS) are used..." http://www.maxability.co.in/2015/06/semantic-mark-up/ +08: JAVASCRIPT. JavaScript Code Smells By Elijah Manor. "...Fixing broken code is important, but have you ever gotten into the situation where your code works, but it doesn't feel quite right... maybe even smells?.." http://elijahmanor.com/javascript-smells/ 7 Essential JavaScript Functions By David Walsh. "I remember the early days of JavaScript where you needed a simple function for just about everything because the browser vendors implemented features differently, and not just edge features, basic features, like addEventListener and attachEvent. Times have changed but there are still a few functions each developer should have in their arsenal, for performance for functional ease purposes..." http://davidwalsh.name/essential-javascript-functions Progressive Enhancement - the Web's Strength By Steve Lee. "...My current thoughts are that PE is a key part of what makes the web work best and encompasses both mobile-first responsive design and accessibility. Design for small screens and enhance for larger ones. Design for basic inclusive access and enhance for optimal personalised experience..." http://opendirective.net/blog/2015/06/progressive-enhancement/ +09: MISCELLANEOUS. No Good Can Come of Bad Code By Jeffery Zeldman. "...It's particularly troubling when the code schools turning out tomorrow's coders by the tens of thousands neglect to teach their students the vital importance of separating structure from appearance and behavior; the overwhelming urgency of marking up content semantically so that it is accessible to any person, of any ability, using any device; the genius (and long-term viability) of designing with progressive enhancement instead of targeting specific devices as manufacturers spawn ever more of them; and other fundamental tenets of an open web designed and built with standards...Your company's survival is tied to the ability of the products it makes to work in situations you haven't imagined, and on devices that don't yet exist. This has always been the challenge of web design." http://alistapart.com/column/no-good-can-come-of-bad-code +10: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. Web! What is it good for? By Jeremy Keith. "...I just can't get excited about the prospect of building something for any particular operating system, be it desktop or mobile. I think about the potential lifespan of what would be built and end up asking myself 'why bother?' If something isn't on the web-and of the web-I find it hard to get excited about it..." https://adactio.com/journal/9016 +11: TYPOGRAPHY. Low-Contrast Text Is Not the Answer By Katie Sherwin. "Low-contrast text may be trendy, but it is also illegible, undiscoverable, and inaccessible. Instead, consider more usable alternatives." http://www.nngroup.com/articles/low-contrast/ +12: USABILITY. CAPTCHAs - How Bad are They Really for User Experience? By Sabrina Mach. "Our research showed that CAPTCHAs have a significant negative impact on customer experience. They make a task hard, and for some people impossible to complete. The result is people abandoning their goal, and going elsewhere..." http://www.webnographer.com/blog/2015/04/captchas-how-bad-are-they-really-for-user-experience/ Why Users Miss Form Buttons Placed in the Action Bar By UX Movement. "Where you place your mobile form buttons can affect task completion and efficiency. If they're not in a place where users expect to find them, they could abandon their task and your form..." http://uxmovement.com/mobile/why-users-miss-form-buttons-placed-in-the-action-bar/ Take Advantage of Your 15 Seconds By Georgia Gallavin. "The art of persuasion is complex in any arena of life, and even more so within such a narrow time frame that creators of digital products have today. So use those 15 seconds wisely to create a fan of your brand for life, instead of a just a skeptical passerby." http://www.usertesting.com/blog/2015/06/03/credibility/ Budgeting for UX? UX ROI Considerations By Cynthia Zimber. "Whether you are developing a new product or redesigning an existing one, planning and budgeting for UX activities to ensure a good user experience is essential..." http://teced.com/2015/06/02/budgeting-ux-ux-roi-considerations/ 5 User-Centered Design Principles From Top Tech Companies By Spencer Lanoue. "I've curated and collected design principles practiced by some of the most powerful, influential tech companies. Take them, copy them, adapt them. But whatever you do, use them in your business." http://www.usertesting.com/blog/2015/06/04/5-user-centered-design-principles-from-top-tech-companies/ Digital Doors and Windows By Gerry McGovern. "The more digital an organization becomes the more distant it becomes physically from its customers..." http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/new-thinking/digital-doors-and-windows [Section one ends.] ++ SECTION TWO: +13: 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.]