[webdev] Web Design Update: June 18, 2010

[Laura Carlson]

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 8, Issue 51, June 18, 2010.

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/goto/webdesign/
New links in these categories:

01: ACCESSIBILITY.
02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.
03: COLOR.
04: DREAMWEAVER.
05: EVALUATION & TESTING.
06: EVENTS.
07: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE.
08: JAVASCRIPT.
09: MISCELLANEOUS.
10: NAVIGATION.
11: PHP.
12: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.
13: TOOLS.
14: USABILITY.

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

[Contents ends.]


++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

Future Web Accessibility: canvas
By Aaron Andersen.
"This is the sixth in a multipost series about the immediate and
likely future of web accessibility. Each week or so I’ll discuss a
different upcoming technology, tag, platform, or system from an
accessibility perspective..."
http://webaim.org/blog/future-web-accessibility-html-canvas/

Blind Students Sue Over Online Law School Applications
By Adrian Roselli.
"...The outcome of this case may be closely watched, since there is a
lack of case law that defines how ADA and Section 508 compliance can
and should be implemented. Given the regular debate between web
developers and accessibility advocates about the nuances of the
meaning and application of assorted web technologies to achieve
maximum accessibility within a web site...Given the prior history that
these cases settle, and given that NFB might be more motivated (based
on the pay-outs from the Target case) to settle than to use this as
case law for the rest of the web, I don't expect to see anything
terribly useful coming from this case. Even if it did, it will still
likely only address accessibility for the blind, leaving other
disabilities out of any potentially useful case law."
http://blog.adrianroselli.com/2010/06/blind-students-sue-over-online-law.html

A Few Problems With the Concept of Accessible PDFs, Part Two
By Gian Wild.
"...My conclusions...PDF is not an accessible technology... yet. I do
commend Adobe for being one of the first companies to address
accessibility issues in their products, however they still have a long
way to go to match the accessibility features of X/HTML. The
difficulty in tagging a PDF also essentially prohibits accessible PDFs
from being developed in the mainstream media."
http://www.gianwild.com/2010/06/11/a-few-problems-with-the-concept-of-accessible-pdfs-part-two/


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

CSS Layouts, Revisited
By Craig Saila.
"The HTML 5 edition of this classic CSS-based, liquid, three-column layout..."
http://saila.com/webdesign/layouts/saila-html5/

Be a CSS Team Player: CSS Best Practices for Team-Based Development
By Emily P. Lewis.
"How many times have you picked up a project that someone else
started, only to discover that the creator's original code is a mess?
Or you work with several team members, each of whom has their own way
writing code? Or you revisit a project you created years ago, and you
don't remember what you were thinking?..."
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptjunkie/ff679957.aspx

Make Rounded Corners with CSS3
By Virginia DeBolt.
There's a new version of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in the
works-CSS3. With this new set of rules for styling your blogs and web
pages, you can do things that previously could only be done with
images.
http://www.webteacher.ws/2010/06/16/make-rounded-corners-with-css3/

Common CSS Mistakes - Putting a Stop to Them
By Niels Matthijs.
In the margins of the html5 and css3 rise one can find a whole lot of
unpleasantness. Take your eyes away from the dazzling new features for
just a couple of seconds and you'll be overwhelmed by a penetrating
stench coming from underneath your browser's canvas. But that's not
even the worst of it, take some time to look around and notice how
badly written css is still very prevalent on the web. Time to get rid
of that ugliness first."
http://www.onderhond.com/blog/work/common-css-mistakes

Adding HTML5 Placeholder Attribute Support Through Progressive Enhancement
By Robert Nyman.
"I continually talk about HTML5 and how progressive enhancement is a
simple approach to make any new behavior possible in web browsers that
haven't implemented it yet. I thought I'd show you a simple example
how to do this with the new placeholder attribute for input
elements."
http://robertnyman.com/2010/06/17/adding-html5-placeholder-attribute-support-through-progressive-enhancement/


+03: COLOR.

CSS Color Values and Shades
By page24x7.
"CSS colors are defined using a hexadecimal (hex) notation for the
combination of Red, Green, and Blue color values (RGB). The lowest
value that can be given to one of the light sources is 0 (hex 00). The
highest value is 255 (hex FF). Hex values are written as 3 double
digit numbers, starting with a # sign..."
http://page24x7.com/reference/css-color-values-and-shades/


+04: DREAMWEAVER.

Creating a Site in Dreamweaver CS5
By Paul Davis.
"...step-by-step guide on how to create a site in Dreamweaver CS5."
http://www.communitymx.com/content/article.cfm?cid=80980


+05: EVALUATION & TESTING.

What Five Users Can Tell You That 5000 Cannot Web-Analytics and User-Testing
by Jeff Sauro.
"...To solve the mysteries of why users are doing what they're doing,
we still need to observe users and ask them about their intentions and
expectations. This can help solve the mystery of why. A small lab
based study of a small number of users can tells us things analytic
data from 5000 cannot..."
http://www.measuringusability.com/analytic-testing.php

Stat 101
By zuschlogin.
What every user experience professional needs to know about statistics
and usability tests.
http://www.zuschlogin.com/?p=78


+06: EVENTS.

2010 Second World Congress on Software Engineering
December 19-20, 2010.
Wuhan, China.
http://world-research-institutes.org/conferences/WCSE/2010


+07: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE.

Design Better And Faster With Rapid Prototyping
By Lyndon Cerejo.
"Prototypes range from rough paper sketches to interactive simulations
that look and function like the final product. The keys to successful
rapid prototyping are revising quickly based on feedback and using the
appropriate prototyping approach. Rapid prototyping helps teams
experiment with multiple approaches and ideas, it facilitates
discussion through visuals instead of words, it ensures that everyone
shares a common understanding, and it reduces risk and avoids missed
requirements, leading to a better design faster."
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/06/16/design-better-faster-with-rapid-prototyping/


+08: JAVASCRIPT.

Making JavaScript Accessible
By Dennis Lembree.
Dennis' BayJax presentation materials.
http://webaxe.blogspot.com/2010/06/bayjax-presentation-making-javascript.html

Web Accessibility and WAI-ARIA Primer
By Emily P. Lewis.
"There isn't a lot of data currently available that quantifies how
many websites today are truly accessible. There have been some
reports, however, that suggest the percentage of inaccessible web
sites is alarmingly high. I've even seen figures as high as 81
percent. And these aren't global figures..."
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptjunkie/ff743762.aspx


+09: MISCELLANEOUS.

Molly on How HTML5 is Going to Completely Change your Web App
By Keir Whitaker.
"At Future of Web Apps Miami 2010 Molly Holzschlag looked beyond the
new HTML5 elements and into the technologies that will be powering
your web apps in the future. A full transcript is available below."
http://carsonified.com/blog/dev/molly-on-how-html5-is-going-to-completely-change-your-web-app/


+10: NAVIGATION.

Hagan Rivers' Escaping Navigation Hell, Live
By Brian Christiansen.
"Web applications can get wild. You know the kind; something that's on
your corporate intranet with an obscure purpose, hundreds of screens
and some kind of navigation kudzu growing in every direction. Hagan
Rivers is one of our favorite wranglers of such apps. When these types
of applications have reached the critical point, companies turn to her
to help regain the upper hand..."
http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2010/06/11/spoolcast-hagan-rivers-escaping-navigation-hell-live/


+11: PHP.

Three Advanced Object-Oriented PHP Features You Need to Know
By W. Jason Gilmore.
"...In this article I'll introduce you to three of PHP's advanced
object-oriented features which seem to not have garnered the attention
they deserve. The topics discussed here should be useful whether
you're a relative newcomer to object-oriented development and are
looking to expand your knowledge, or have a background using languages
such as Java or C# and are trying to learn more about what PHP has to
offer..."
http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/Jason_Gilmore061510.php3


+12: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.

What Should be the New Mission of W3C?
By Vlad Alexander.
"As a new CEO of W3C takes the reins, the mission of W3C is getting a
look over. W3C is the self-appointed steward of the Web. What happens
at W3C will ultimately affect us all because the Web has become an
integral part of our society. Going forward, W3C has made a commitment
to be mindful of the needs of all Web users. How will they fulfill
this commitment? And do you trust W3C to represent your interests?..."
http://rebuildingtheweb.com/en/new-mission-of-w3c/

Apple's HTML5 Promotion May Backfire
By Neil Mcalllister.
"Apple's latest attempt to show off the HTML5 features of its newest
Safari browser does more harm than good. Given all the hype, it's easy
to forget that HTML5 is not yet a finalized Web standard. That hasn't
stopped Apple from posting a site featuring demonstrations of various
capabilities of HTML5 and its related technologies, including CSS3.
The catch? As long as HTML5 and CSS3 remain draft specifications,
you'll need Apple's Safari browser to view any of the demos..."
http://www.infoworld.com/d/developer-world/apples-html5-promotion-may-backfire-737

HTML5 Defined! It's Not Just a Marketing Term
By Brad Neuberg.
"There's been a fair bit of  discussion  recently about what some
folks mean when they say HTML5. I use HTML5 in the wider sense, so
it's only right that I take a stab at defining what I mean when I say
something is part of HTML5..."
http://blog.codinginparadise.org/2010/06/html5-defined-its-not-just-marketing.html

The Mess and Magic of HTML5 Video
By Tiffany B. Brown.
"HTML is the language used to create web pages. Version 5 is a
complete re-write of the specification. It introduces several new
features, including a geo-location API and a database API. But the
feature that has received the most buzz this year is easily HTML5
video..."
http://armchairmedia.com/2010/06/15/the-mess-and-magic-of-html5-video/

Required Form Fields in HTML5
By Virginia DeBolt.
"...With HTML5, there is a new attribute available for required form
controls. The attribute is required. The browser or user agent will
check on this and notify the user if the requirement is not met..."
http://www.webteacher.ws/2010/06/18/required-form-fields-in-html5


+13: TOOLS.

AViewer Beta
By The Paciello Group.
"Here at TPG we  have been working on a new tool to inspect  elements
on a web page and be able to view the HTML code, ARIA attributes (if
any) and the information being conveyed by the browser to
accessibility APIs, all in one neatish interface. We have given it the
catchy moniker   'AViewer' and a beta version is available for
download."
http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/?p=635


+14: USABILITY.

Website Redesign: Big Bang, Gradual or Evolutionary Approach?
By Christian Watson.
"...three approaches to redesigning a website: 1. Big bang - move
completely from an old to a new design in one go. 2. Gradual -
implement the redesign by sections over time. 3. Evolutionary - avoid
redesigning altogether and focus on improving the existing site. These
approaches have their advantages and disadvantages. Let's consider
them in reference to a large, content-rich website."
http://www.smileycat.com/miaow/archives/001973.php

There's No Right Answer
By Donna Spencer.
"When we are working on a hard design problem (or even on a fairly
easy one), we often realise there are many ways we could go - lots of
options and lots of potential solutions. It can be frustrating to
figure out which is the right direction to take, the right components
to choose, the right way to sequence things. In other words, sometimes
it's really hard to find the right answer..."
http://52weeksofux.com/post/694599232/theres-no-right-answer

The Importance of Copywriting in Web Design
By Joshua Johnson.
"Designers often neglect to focus on both well-written copy and
structuring a design so that it highlights the copy on the page. Today
we'll discuss why copywriting is so important, who needs to learn it,
and how to create content-centric designs." (Joshua Johnson)
http://designshack.co.uk/articles/business-articles/the-importance-of-copywriting-in-web-design

Usability is in the Details
By W Craig Tomlin.
"Although usability practitioners love to show examples of big
usability issues with websites and applications, the vast majority of
usability issues are typically in the details. By forcing your
application users or website visitors to be constantly bothered with
more detailed usability issues, you eventually wear down their
patience and force them to decide whether to continue being annoyed,
or to try a different application or website."
http://www.usefulusability.com/usability-is-in-the-details/


[Section one ends.]


++ SECTION TWO:

+15: 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.


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+ 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.]