+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 14, Issue 28, January 6, 2016. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 28 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: COLOR. 04: EVALUATION & TESTING. 05: EVENTS. 06: HTML5. 07: JAVASCRIPT. 08: MISCELLANEOUS. 09: NAVIGATION. 10: PHP. 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. Shaping the WCAG 2.0 Extensions By Michael Cooper. "...Your input on these extension requirements is important to the ultimate success of the extensions. Please review and comment on these proposed requirements. The Working Group requests input by 5 February 2016 so it can address any issues raised and turn its focus fully onto the extensions themselves." https://www.w3.org/blog/2016/01/shaping-the-wcag-2-0-extensions/ Quick Reference By WebAIM. "We have updated our evaluation quick reference..." http://webaim.org/resources/evalquickref/ 15 Website Accessibility Tips That Increase Everyone's Engagement By Rashaud Brooks. "...Ultimately, compliance with the DOJ and the American Disabilities Act (ADA) is not just about better serving the individuals with vision or hearing issues-it's about providing a better web user experience for everyone...." https://uxmag.com/articles/15-website-accessibility-tips-that-increase-everyone%E2%80%99s-engagement Woe-ARIA - The Surprisingly but Ridiculously Complicated World of aria-label/ledby By Jamie Teh. "Let's take aria-label and aria-labelledby. They're awesome. Authors can just use them to make screen readers speak the right thing. Simple, right? Not at all. I wish it were that simple, but it is so, so much more complicated than that..." http://blog.jantrid.net/2015/12/woe-aria-surprisingly-but-ridiculously.html?m=1 Woe-ARIA: aria-describedby: To Report or Not to Report? By Jamie Teh. "In my last post, I waxed lyrical about the surprising complexity of the seemingly simple aria-label/ledby. Thanks to those who took the time to read it and provide their valuable thoughts. In particular, Steve Faulkner commented..." http://blog.jantrid.net/2015/12/woe-aria-aria-describedby-to-report-or.html?m=1 What Should an AT Convey to Users? By Steve Faulkner. "A Work in progress..." http://thepaciellogroup.github.io/AT-browser-tests/AT.html The High Cost of Digital Discrimination By Jonathon Hensley. "Netflix, Disney and Target have all faced lawsuits alleging their websites offer poor accessibility for the disabled. It makes no sense to wait for US guidelines, now expected in 2018, to end an era of digital discrimination..." http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/dec/31/digital-discrimination-netflix-disney-target-web-accessibility-doj V&L Live - End of Year Special (Video) By Karl Groves & Billy Gregory. "Hangout with Karl Groves & Billy Gregory (aka The Viking and the Lumberjack) for our very first "V&L Live". We'll be introducing this monthly Hangout, talk about future plans and more. We'll recap the state of accessibility in 2015, make some predictions for 2016, and risk our day jobs..." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWTFNibcNxM +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Blending Modes Demystified By Justin McDowell. "In an ideal world, we'd be able to modify a design or graphic for the web while keeping the original intact, all without opening an image editor. We'd save tons of time by not having to manually reprocess graphics whenever we changed stuff. Graphics could be neatly specified, maintained, and manipulated with just a few licks of CSS. Oh. Wait. We can do that! Justin McDowell gives us the lowdown on blending modes." http://alistapart.com/article/blending-modes-demystified +03: COLOR. How to Design for Color Blindness By Usabilla. "Around 8-10% of males and 0.5% of females have some form of color blindness..." https://medium.com/@usabilla/how-to-design-for-color-blindness-62d4d8ae9f6a#.cm41a3yec +04: EVALUATION & TESTING. How to Determine the Right Number of Participants for Usability Studies By Janet M. Six and Ritch Macefield. "UX researchers and other project stakeholders often fervently debate the number of participants that are necessary for usability studies..." http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2016/01/how-to-determine-the-right-number-of-participants-for-usability-studies.php +05: EVENTS. An Event Apart Washington DC July 25-27, 2016. Washington DC, U.S.A. http://aneventapart.com/event/washington-dc-2016 eduWeb Digital Summit August 1-4, 2016. Denver, Colorado, U.S.A. http://www.eduwebdigitalsummit.com/ +06: HTML5. On Accessibility and the Lack of Proper HTML By Ian Devlin. "When Ethan Marcotte first wrote about responsive web design back in May 2010, the development world cheered, embraced what he said, and went forth and built sites responsively. This, of course, was a good thing, as making websites available to more people, regardless of their screen size is fundamental in making the web accessible to all. But wait. There's that word; accessibility..." http://www.iandevlin.com/blog/2016/01/opinion/on-accessibility-and-the-lack-of-proper-html Simple Inline Error Message Pattern By Steve Faulkner. "...Using simple HTML, with a little ARIA polyfil magic if you want to get fancy, you can robustly associate error messages with controls and ensure that users get the message every time." https://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/2016/01/simple-inline-error-message-pattern/ Placeholder By Rakesh Paladugula. "...The placeholder attribute should not be used as an alternative to a label..." http://www.maxability.co.in/2016/01/placeholder-attribute-and-why-it-is-not-accessible/ +07: JAVASCRIPT. Managing the Private Data of ES6 Classes By Axel Rauschmayer. "This blog post explains four approaches for managing private data for ES6 classes..." http://www.2ality.com/2016/01/private-data-classes.html Preparing for ECMAScript 6 - Proxies By Craig Buckler. "In computing terms, a proxy sits between you and the thing you are communicating with..." http://www.sitepoint.com/preparing-ecmascript-6-proxies/ +08: MISCELLANEOUS. 5 Ways Web Apps and Sites Are the Same and Different By Simon St. Laurent. "How similarity can both unite and divide as developers seek greater control over delivery..." https://www.oreilly.com/ideas/5-ways-web-apps-and-sites-are-the-same-and-different +09: NAVIGATION. Is the Hamburger Menu a Problem? By Tri Branch Vo. "...As you might expect, it's a two-edged sword. As a positive (to some users), it helps to hide clutter and unnecessary actions. As a negative (to some users), it hides actions that they may deem necessary...." https://medium.com/readme-mic/is-the-hamburger-menu-a-problem-d606d40a105f#.6nxccboz8 +10: PHP. PHP Arrays - the Basics By Michelangelo van Dam. "In 2015 we celebrated the twentieth birthday of PHP and we even had the release of php-7.0.0..." http://www.dragonbe.com/2016/01/php-arrays-basics.html +11: TYPOGRAPHY. Compare Fonts for Use on Your Website By Karen Mardahl. "Will the fonts that you chose for your website appear as you expect them to when viewed on someone else's computer?..." http://accessible-techcomm.org/compare-fonts-for-use-on-your-website/ +12: USABILITY. Millennials as Digital Natives - Myths and Realities By Kate Meyer. "Millennials have high expectations about user interfaces and are confident in their skills, but they're error prone and their tendency to multitask reduces their task efficiency." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/millennials-digital-natives/ 10 Key Mobile UX Design Principles By Neil Turner. "...Obviously there is a lot more to think about than just these 10 design principles, but they're a pretty good place to start..." http://www.uxforthemasses.com/mobile-ux-design-principles/ The Pointer is a Tool for Tracking Gaze and Fixations As Well as Activating Interactive Controls By Sarah Horton. "...In this context, elements that display on hover are obstacles..." https://medium.com/@gradualclearing/the-pointer-is-a-tool-for-tracking-gaze-and-fixations-as-well-as-activating-interactive-controls-693de2d98dcc#.6wnkeg3wp [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.]