[webdev] Web Design Update: January 11, 2008

[Laura Carlson]

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 6, Issue 29, January 11, 2008.

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/goto/webdesign/
New links in these categories:

01: ACCESSIBILITY.
02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.
03: COLOR.
04: EVALUATION & TESTING.
05: EVENTS.
06: FLASH.
07: JAVASCRIPT.
08: MISCELLANEOUS.
09: PHP.
10: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.
11: USABILITY.
12: XML.

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

[Contents ends.]


++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

Section 504 vs. Section 508
By Wayne Dick.
"If you are at a University or any other agency that receives US 
Federal funding then you are subject to section 504 regarding all 
services at your institution including your technology. Section 504 
does not address accessibility in detail like 508 does, but it is far 
more demanding. Recently four California State Universities have been 
audited by the Office for Civil Rights regarding accessibility of 
instructional materials, paper and electronically based - including the 
Web. The key finding was this: We must provide equally effective 
access. This means that access must be equal regarding timeliness, 
quality and availability. Specifically that means that if a resource is 
available 24/7 for individuals without disabilities then it must be 
available 24/7 for individuals with disabilities. Also the quality of 
the reading experience must be equal. If the user without a disability 
has a usable table of contents then the user with a disability must 
have a usable table of contents..."
http://www.webaim.org/discussion/mail_message.php?id=11164

National Federation of the Blind Lawsuit Addressing Web Accessibility 
Will Proceed
By National Federation of the Blind.
"The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has denied 
Target Corporation's petition for an interlocutory appeal of the 
District Court's order granting class action certification to a lawsuit 
filed against the retailer by the National Federation of the Blind for 
Target's failure and refusal to make its Web site fully accessible to 
blind shoppers.  As a result, the suit will proceed against Target on 
behalf of all blind Americans, as well as for a subclass of all blind 
Californians..."
http://www.nfb.org/nfb/NewsBot.asp?MODE=VIEW&ID=264

Hiding Content for Screen Reader Users
By Mike Cherim.
"...Please bear in mind, I'm not disagreeing with Mel, not one bit, and 
what she offered about the 'experienced JAWS user' is invaluable. I 
have had this draft started for a while and when I read that it really 
inspired me to continue this article but in a more refined way so as to 
emphasize the fact (as I know it) that this can be useful but only if 
done with care. To reiterate..."
http://green-beast.com/blog/?p=237

PDF - ISO Standard
By Stephen Partridge.
"At a recent meeting, the International Organization for 
Standardisation (ISO) voted to approve Adobe's PDF as an international 
document format standard..."
http://blogs.adobe.com/spartacusacrobat/2008/01/pdf_iso_standard.html


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

Coming Soon: Changes to the CSS Working Group?
By Kevin Yank.
"In a previous post I reported on the crisis within the web standards 
community, and in particular the controversy surrounding the W3C CSS 
Working Group. It seems the criticism leveled by Andy Clarke and others 
has not fallen on deaf ears, because a movement for change is now being 
led from within the Working Group..."
http://tinyurl.com/2ywyeh


+03: COLOR.

How to Create Sublime Colours
By Professor Odd Fellow.
"What colour is so awe-inspiring, so out-of-this-world that it elevates 
viewers to new heights of wonderment?..."
http://tinyurl.com/yv7teh


+04: EVALUATION & TESTING.

Always Crashing In The Same Car: Recurring Misuses Of Higher Education 
Web Sites - The User Feedback Myth
By Rose Pruyne.
"...Think about it. If you were overseeing the construction a classroom 
building, would you conduct focus groups and surveys to determine what 
materials should be used, where the doors and stairways should go, how 
strong the load-bearing walls should be? No? You would rely on 
qualified architects? Then why on earth would you open the door for 
individuals who have no understanding of how the Web works to step in 
and have a direct hand in your site design?..."
http://tinyurl.com/yqs4cs


+05: EVENTS.

Future of Web Apps Miami 08
February 28- March 1, 2008.
Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
http://futureofwebapps.com/2008/miami/

Web App Summit 2008
March 26, 2008.
San Diego, California, U.S.A.
http://www.uie.com/events/web_app_summit/2008/


+06: FLASH.

Accessible Flash Banner Ad Guidelines
By Henny Swan.
"Here are a few of our top tips for producing accessible Flash banner 
adverts. I've also included information about testing, compliance with 
WCAG, navigating Flash using Jaws and WindowEyes and some additional 
resources..."
http://tinyurl.com/27you3


+07: JAVASCRIPT.

An Attempt for a More Accessible Edit-In-Place Solution
By Chris Heilmann.
"Today I will try to find a more accessible way to provide an 
edit-in-place script. The solution described here is probably not ready 
for real life yet, please test it in different environments and provide 
fixes. It is licence with creative commons share-alike, so go nuts!..."
http://tinyurl.com/28az2l

JavaScript Errors
By James Payne.
"When last we spoke, we discussed the various Events in JavaScript. In 
this tutorial we will go over some of the errors that can occur and how 
to deal with them. I know, I know: how can any of your programs 
possibly fail when you have been taught by the JavaScript Ninja? Well, 
you can blame that on the good folks that create the various browsers."
http://www.devarticles.com/c/a/JavaScript/JavaScript-Errors/


+08: MISCELLANEOUS.

Improving Your Process: Boosting Productivity
By Jonathan Christopher.
"...In a more general sense of the term, I've got some tips that I try 
to constantly keep in mind, regardless of the small changes in my 
workflow..."
http://tinyurl.com/26pybm

Kimberly Blessing Interview
By Christopher Schmitt.
"If you haven't heard the name Kimberly Blessing, which is indeed a 
failing, you might have heard of some of her work..."
http://tinyurl.com/35e2nk


+09: PHP.			

10 PHP Myths Dispelled
By Jaybill McCarthy.
"...here's my list..."
http://jaybill.com/2008/01/02/10-php-myths-dispelled/

Mastering Regular Expressions in PHP, Part 1
By Martin Streicher.
"Perl may be regex king, but PHP can slice and dice input quickly, 
too.."
http://tinyurl.com/ypu4at

Sorting 2D-arrays in PHP - Anecdotes and Reflections
By prodevtips.
"One of the many problems with PHP that detractors are eager to point 
out is the fact that the language has thousands of global functions. 
Without the awesome CHM version of the PHP manual - finding your way in 
this jungle would be a mess. Simply finding a function like 
array_multisort is not trivial. And even if you find it, understanding 
it completely is not trivial either!..."
http://tinyurl.com/2729sj

The Switch Statement and Arrays
By James Payne.
"n our last exciting adventure (back in early November), we braved 
crocodiles, ravenous editors, most of the PHP statements, and beginning 
loops. In this edition we'll cover the final statement, the Switch, and 
discuss arrays. So sit back, order your R2D2 robot to bring you a cold, 
frosty Jolt Cola, and let's get cracking..."
http://www.devshed.com/c/a/PHP/PHP-The-Switch-Statement-and-Arrays/

Floating Point Comparisons In PHP and Javascript
By Justin Laing.
"Here's the problem. Say you're comparing two floating point numbers a 
(71.00) and b (71.00) to see if they are the same. The problem is if 
you've done any calculations to arrive at these numbers they might 
actually be stored as 71.00000000001. Now if one of them is stored that 
way and the other isn't and you compare the two to see if they are 
equal you'll get a FALSE as the response, even though they should be 
the same."
http://tinyurl.com/26tqqa


+10: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.

Netscape Navigator Goes Quietly Into the Night
By Kevin Yank.
"On New Year's Eve, the news went out from AOL that the long life of 
the Netscape Browser was coming to an end..."
http://tinyurl.com/2ywyeh


+11: USABILITY.

10 Best Intranets of 2008
Jakob Nielsen.
"Consistent design and integrated IA are becoming standard on good 
intranets. This year's winners focused on productivity tools, employee 
self-service, access to knowledgeable people (as opposed to 'knowledge 
management'), and better-presented company news."
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/intranet_design.html	

8 Design Mistakes to Avoid with Account Sign-in
By "Jared M. Spool.
"...Here are 8 common design mistakes we often see as we watch users 
try to create accounts and sign into the site..."
http://www.uie.com/articles/account_design_mistakes/

The First Corporation was Built on Content
By Gerry McGovern.
"...A website that cannot identify real tasks and make those tasks 
easier and faster has no purpose because it delivers no value. Richard 
Sears might start off on a low salary, but within a year he would be 
the highest paid on the team. He would have proven how his words made 
the sale, delivered the service and built the brand."
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2008/nt-2008-01-07-sears.htm

Reflections of an Interface Designer
By Kevin Hale.
"Going into our 3rd year, I am amazed at the number of interface 
challenges Wufoo's created for me..."
http://particletree.com/notebook/reflections-of-an-interface-designer/


+12: XML.

The Design Goals of XML
By Rick Jelliffe.
"One of the really neat things about the XML specification is not just 
that it makes its design goals explicit (I gave a twist to this idea in 
the Schematron standard by mentioning various non-goals too) but that 
the goals were really well chosen."
http://tinyurl.com/2zfarr

XHTML Access Module
"The XHTML2 Working Group has published the First Public Working Draft 
of XHTML Access Module. This document is intended to help make 
XHTML-family markup languages more effective at supporting the needs of 
the accessibility community. It does so by providing a generic 
mechanism for defining the relationship between document components and 
well-known accessibility taxonomies."
http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/2008/WD-xhtml-access-20080107/


[Section one ends.]


++ SECTION TWO:

+13: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site?

Accessibility Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/accessibility

Association Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/associations

Book Listings.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/books

Cascading Style Sheets Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/css

Color Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/color

Dreamweaver Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/dreamweaver

Evaluation & Testing Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/testing

Event Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/events

Flash Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/flash

Information Architecture Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/architecture

JavaScript Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/javascript

Miscellaneous Web Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/misc

Navigation Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/navigation

PHP Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/php

Sites & Blogs Listing.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/sites

Standards, Guidelines & Pattern Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/standards

Tool Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/tools

Typography Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/type

Usability Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/usability

XML Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/xml

[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/goto/webdevlist
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 at d.umn.edu


[Issue ends.]