[webdev] Web Design Update: March 13, 2014

Laura Carlson lcarlson at d.umn.edu
Thu Mar 13 06:15:33 CDT 2014 

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 12, Issue 38, March 13, 2014.

An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web
design and development.

++ISSUE 38 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: EVALUATION & TESTING.
04: EVENTS.
05: HTML5.
06: JAVASCRIPT.
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.

Techniques for WCAG and Understanding WCAG Documents Updated,
Including Additional WAI-ARIA Techniques
By Andrew Kirkpatrick.
"The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Working Group is
pleased to announce the publication of updates to two W3C Working
Group Notes = Techniques for WCAG 2.0 and Understanding WCAG 2.0..."
http://www.w3.org/blog/2014/03/wcag-techniques-updated/

WCAG Techniques for Image Text Alternatives
By Joshue O Connor.
"...The alt attribute has some advantages: alt is used not only by
screen reader users but also search engines for indexing purposes; alt
is very well supported by browsers and assistive technologies; and alt
is shorter to type than aria-labelledby. But even with these
advantages, authors have expressed an interest in using ARIA..."
http://www.w3.org/blog/2014/03/wcag-techniques-for-image-text-alternatives/

How Accessibility Impacts Responsive Design
By Sailesh Panchang.
"Sure the focus of responsive design is on the ability of the layout
to adapt to the user's screen. Such optimization makes it easier to
read and navigate the content on different screen sizes by making the
content 'bend and move'..."
http://www.deque.com/blog/accessibility-impacts-responsive-design/

Accessible Responsive Images
By Ted Drake.
"...This article will touch on responsive design's impact on image
accessibility..."
http://www.last-child.com/accessible-responsive-images/

Creating Accessible Content
By Dey Alexander.
"Accessibility isn't just the domain of designers and developers. Web
writers have an important role to play, ensuring content does not
create barriers for people with disabilities. 10 tips for web
writers..."
http://www.4syllables.com.au/resources/web-writing-tips/accessible-content/

Everything You Know About Accessibility is Wrong (Part 3)
By Karl Groves.
"...QA staff should never have functional acceptance tests that fail
due to an automatically-detectable accessibility issue. Usability test
participants should never have a failed task due to an
automatically-detectable accessibility issue. It is entirely
appropriate that the developer take on such testing of the own
work..."
http://www.karlgroves.com/2014/03/07/everything-you-know-about-accessibility-is-wrong-part-3/

CAPTCHA - How to Do It Right (ie. Don't Use CAPTCHA)
By Gian Wild.
"Not convinced that CAPTCHAs are inaccessible?..."
http://www.gianwild.com/2014/03/captcha-how-to-do-it-right/

DOJ Enters Into Landmark Web and Mobile App Consent Decree
By Ken Nakata.
"...the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ or Justice) entered into a
consent decree with H&R Block over Web and mobile app accessibility.
The case (National Federation of the Blind v. HRB Digital LLC)
represents the first time that Justice intervened in and required a
consent decree in a lawsuit based only on Web and mobile app
accessibility.  Under the consent decree (cite to
http://www.ada.gov/hrb-cd.htm), H&R Block must undertake a number of
stringent requirements..."
http://blog.hisoftware.com/2014/compliance/doj-enters-into-landmark-web-and-mobile-app-consent-decree

US Accessibility Court Case Against H&R Block Settled
By Tim Lohman.
"Tax preparer H&R Block has settled a case brought against it alleging
that its subsidiaries, HRB Digital LLC and HRB Tax Group Inc.,
violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)."
http://www.accessiq.org/news/news/2014/03/us-accessibility-court-case-against-hr-block-settled


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

Alphabetical List of CSS Properties
By David Storey.
http://ref.openweb.io/CSS/

Filling the Space in the Last Row with Flexbox
By Chris Coyier.
"...The solution is essentially making the children able to wrap with
flex-wrap, and then filling the space with flex-grow..."
http://css-tricks.com/filling-space-last-row-flexbox/

Popping Out of Hidden Overflow
By Agop Shirinian.
"The following is a guest post by Agop Shirinian. Agop ran into an
interesting scenario where he needed an element to be scrollable in
one direction, while allowing the overflow in the other direction.
You'd think that's what overflow-x and overflow-y are for, but it's
not that simple. I'll let Agop explain."
http://css-tricks.com/popping-hidden-overflow/


+03: EVALUATION & TESTING.

The Value of Involving People with Disabilities in User Research
By Sarah Horton.
"...Often a project team has one 'Lorax' who speaks for users, trying
to make a case against designs that are unintuitive, difficult, and
frustrating to use. In the end, real-life, first-person accounts or
demonstrations of how an interaction is difficult to use or how
content is difficult to make sense of have much more weight than the
perspective of one lone team member..."
http://www.usertesting.com/blog/2014/03/04/the-value-of-involving-people-with-disabilities-in-user-research/

Mobile Testing Process
By Jonathan Avila.
"The increasing use of screen readers on mobile devices means
organisations must address the accessibility of their mobile content,
Jonathan Avila, Chief Accessibility Officer at SSB BART Group writes."
http://www.accessiq.org/news/features/2014/03/mobile-testing-process

4 Types of Customer Analytics Data to Collect
By Jeff Sauro.
"To get a better understanding of problems and opportunities for your
customers, you'll want to collect data from each of the following four
customer analytics groups: descriptive, behavioral, interaction, and
attitudinal."
http://www.measuringusability.com/blog/customer-analytics.php

Is Observing One User Worse Than Observing None?
By Jeff Sauro.
"It's possible for product stakeholders to be misled from watching a
single session during a usability study. This leads teams to have a 2
or more rule when observing. However, watching just a single user
still provides information on the impact of an interface problem."
http://www.measuringusability.com/blog/observing-none.php


+04: EVENTS.

Refresh Seattle
March 26, 2014.
Seattle Washington, U.S.A.
http://refreshseattle.org/

Funka Accessibility Days
April 8-9, 2014.
Madrid, Spain
http://www.funkanu.com/en/Our-services/Funka-Accessibility-Days/

Drupalcon
June 2-6, 2014.
Austin, Texas, U.S.A.
https://austin2014.drupal.org/

AHEAD 2014
July 14-19, 2014.
Sacramento, California, U.S.A.
http://www.ahead.org/conferences/2014-cfp

edu Web Conference
August 4-6, 2014.
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.
http://www.eduwebconference.com/


+05: HTML5.

HTML5Accessibility.com Updated
By Steve Faulkner.
"Since October 2010 I have been testing and recording information on
HTML5Accessibility.com about the implementation of accessibility
support in browsers for new HTML5 features. I had let the updates to
the site slide, but have made a concerted effort in 2014 to provide
the information on the latest browsers. For now only windows browsers
are covered. Support information for Mac browsers (Safari, Chrome,
Firefox) will be coming soon..."
http://blog.paciellogroup.com/2014/03/html5accessibility-com-updated/	

Closed Captioning, It's Not Just for Accessibility! TextTrack in HTML5 Video
By Jay Munro.
"When I hit the gym, I try to get a Stairmaster in front of a TV
that's showing closed captioning. Since I listen to music, I don't
want to listen to the TV. With closed captioning, I can enjoy my
music, and keep an eye on world events. Closed captioning was
originally conceived for hard of hearing viewers and offering
programming in other languages without re-dubbing. Captioning can be a
word for word transcription or translation of screen content, or it
can be used for additional content like titles, locations, or
commentary. "
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mediastuff/archive/2014/03/05/closed-captioning-it-s-not-just-for-accessibility-texttrack-in-html5-video.aspx


+06: JAVASCRIPT.

Easy ARIA Tip #7 - Use 'listbox' and 'option' Roles When Constructing
AutoComplete Lists
By Marco Zehe.
"One question that comes up quite frequently is the one of which roles
to use for an auto-complete widget, or more precisely, for the
container and the individual auto-complete items. Here's my take on
it..."
http://www.marcozehe.de/2014/03/11/easy-aria-tip-7-use-listbox-and-option-roles-when-constructing-autocomplete-lists/


+07: MISCELLANEOUS.

Web at 25 - Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Invention of the Web
By Tim Berners-Lee.
"Twenty-five years ago today, I filed the proposal for what was to
become the World Wide Web. My boss dubbed it 'vague but exciting'.
Luckily, he thought enough of the idea to allow me to quietly work on
it on the side..."
http://www.webat25.org/

Web Turns 25, Seems Popular
By Adrian Roselli.
"The world wide web has officially lasted 25 consecutive years, which
means it's catching up to its parent, the Internet, which itself is
bearing down on 45. That's an important distinction. The Internet is
not the web, it is the foundation on which the web was born..."
http://blog.adrianroselli.com/2014/03/web-turns-25-seems-popular.html

Sarah Horton and Whitney Quesenbery - Introducing A Podcast for Everyone
By Adam Churchill.
"In this premiere episode of A Podcast for Everyone, UIE's Adam
Churchill interviews Sarah Horton and Whitney Quesenbery about the
book that inspired the podcast, A Web for Everyone."
http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2014/03/06/sarah-horton-and-whitney-quesenbery-introducing-a-podcast-for-everyone/

Evolving Responsive Web Design
By Jeffery Zeldman.
"In What We Mean When We Say 'responsive' and Defining Responsiveness,
Lyza Danger Gardner and Jason Grigsby cut to the heart of a
disagreement I had three years ago with Ethan Marcotte, the creator of
Responsive Web Design and author of Responsive Web Design, a book I
published in 2011."
http://www.zeldman.com/2014/03/09/evolving-responsive-web-design/


+08: NAVIGATION.

Writing Hyperlinks - Salient, Descriptive, Start with Keyword
By Marieke McCloskey.
"To help users quickly find what they need, anchor text should stand
out from the body content and accurately describe the page that it
refers to."
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/writing-links/

Information Wayfinding, Part 3: Designing for Wayfinding
By Tyler Tate.
"How can we make ever-growing volumes of information accessible and
useful to people without overwhelming them?"
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2014/03/information-wayfinding-part-3-designing-for-wayfinding-1.php

On Links and Accessibility
By Jens O. Meiert.
"...there's also an accessibility side to links. At least a perceived
one, as, so I intend to show, bare <a> elements pointing to tangible
resources using plain language with adequate information scent are
enough..."
http://meiert.com/en/blog/20140306/on-links-and-accessibility/


+09: USABILITY.

On Naming Buttons
By Martha Aldridge.
"What I'm actually talking about is the language we use in the
software we design, specifically when it comes to buttons. Gone are
the days of 'Click here to <action>' and now, we as designers and
researchers spend much more time getting the wording on action buttons
correct..."
http://www.nomensa.com/blog/2014/on-naming-buttons/

If It Isn't Broken, Don't Fix It
By Pabini Gabriel-Petit.
"Over the last few years, I've been noticing a disturbing trend in UX
design: changes in the design of successful software user interfaces
that actually degrade rather than enhance the user experience."
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2014/03/if-it-isnt-broken-dont-fix-it.php

Page Speed - How Soon Will Visitors See Your Content?
By Louis Lazaris.
"If you've spent any time testing the performance of your websites and
applications, then at some point you may have come across
WebPagetest.org. If you haven't, then it's well-worth checking out..."
http://www.sitepoint.com/page-speed-soon-visitors-see-content/

5 Second Test - An Important Conversion Optimization Tool
By W Craig Tomlin.
"...The 5 second test is a powerful tool to test the communicative
ability of a webpage and provide data for conversion optimization.
Remember that the test purpose is to evaluate how well the page
communicates the following three critical elements..."
http://www.usefulusability.com/5-second-test/

The Complexity-Simplicity Trade Off
By Gerry McGovern.
"...Many of the systems organizations give to their employees are
usability monstrosities. The reason for this is that senior management
just doesn'Äôt care..."
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/new-thinking/complexity-simplicity-trade


[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

Dreamweaver Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/dreamweaver.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

Flash Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/flash.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.


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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.]

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