+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 2, Issue 51, June 11, 2004. 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: EVALUATION & TESTING. 04: EVENTS. 05: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. 06: JAVASCRIPT. 07: MISCELLANEOUS. 08: NAVIGATION. 09: PHP. 10: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. 11: TOOLS. 12: TYPOGRAPHY. 13: USABILITY. 14: XML. SECTION TWO: 15: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Learning to let go By Chris Heilmann "Accessibility and Usability are discussed a lot more lately than the last few years. Many rumors and half truths about accessibility and the law make non technical colleagues come up to us with questions about accessibility. Most developers make the mistake of considering accessibility a technological problem, which is only partly the case. We do not need new technology, as old browsers are here to stay, we need to rethink the design of the products we make, we need to learn to let go." http://evolt.org/article/rdf/4090/60322/index.html Search Engine Optimization - A Positive Influence on Web By Big Mouth Media "This paper intends to show how search engines, through their algorithms, and search engine optimization, as a popular marketing technique, have led to a growing interest in making web content more accessible. This paper will also raise awareness among the search engine optimization (SEO) community of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines published by the W3C." http://www.bigmouthmedia.com/live/articles/seo-web-accessibility-01.asp A Wasted Opportunity for the Web Accessibility Cause By Trenton Moss "Another failed aspect of the report was the DRC's inability to separate website accessibility issues with usability ones. Many of the problems disabled users came across could also be faced by non-disabled web users - we all struggle to navigate unusable websites on a daily basis." http://tinyurl.com/3x2ug +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Rounded Corners with CSS and JavaScript By Simon Willison "Rounded corners are one of the most frequently requested CSS techniques. As with many things in CSS, there are various ways in which this problem can be approached. In this article, I'll look at the pros and cons of some common techniques and introduce a new technique that utilizes both CSS and JavaScript." http://www.sitepoint.com/article/rounded-corners-css-javascript The Benefits of Naming Conventions By Andy Clarke "If web developers make use of naming conventions...can we make it easier for regular users to create their own visual stylesheets that will work across a wide range of sites...So I decided to look at forty designers' sites to see what conventions were being used in common page elements like headers and banners, navigation, content and footers." http://www.stuffandnonsense.co.uk/archives/whats_in_a_name.html Tables Vs. CSS - A Fight to the Death By Sergio Villarreal "Talk is cheap, especially where tables and CSS are concerned. Sergio puts his money where his mouth is as he creates the same design twice - using tables, then CSS - in this action-packed, hands-on battle to the death." http://www.sitepoint.com/article/tables-vs-css CSS from the Ground Up - 5 By Joe Gillespie "How to style web forms, coping with browser differences and a peek into the future to see how CSS fits in." http://www.wpdfd.com/editorial/wpd0604news.htm#feature +03: EVALUATION & TESTING. Death. Taxes. And 'the how many users?' debate. By Kath Straub "So what's the answer? As always in usability, the answer is "It depends." The key to effective usability testing is recruiting a truly representative sample of the target population. Often the test population will need to represent more than one user group. That aside, Faulkner's work strongly indicates that a single usability test with five participants is not enough." http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/may04.asp#susan User-centred redesign of the FaCS intranet By Donna Maurer "Following a user-centred design process proved invaluable. Conducting extensive user research at the beginning of the project, and then involving staff in design and testing activities throughout the process ensured that by the final stages there were no major surprises. In many ways, this was a 'textbook' application of user-centred techniques to the redevelopment of a large Government intranet, and it serves as a useful model for other organisations looking to tackle the same issues." http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_facscasestudy/index.html +04: EVENTS. Teleconference on Making Visualizations of Complex Information Accessible for People with Disabilities June 28, 2004 "The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Research and Development Interest Group (RDIG) announces that registration is now open for the second in a series of teleconferences focusing on research issues in the area of accessibility and Web-related technologies." http://www.w3.org/WAI/RD/2004/06/cfp-viz.html Usability University By usability.gov "The Usability University, operated jointly by the federal government's General Services Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services, is pleased to announce an exciting series of workshops, training, and professional development courses. Focused primarily on accessibility and usability issues, the workshops and courses are open to all interested parties and many are available free of charge." http://usability.gov/usabilityuniversity/training.html +05: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. Better Practice Checklist Information Architecture for Websites By The Australian Government Information Management Office "This checklist is intended to be a guide to managers responsible for information and services provided on websites, website managers, intranet managers, communications managers and others. This checklist focuses on non-technical issues." http://www.agimo.gov.au/practice/delivery/checklists/ia How Good Does Your Web Site Look on Paper? By Troy Janisch "Even in the digital age, pen and paper play a critical role in creating an effective web site." http://evolt.org/article/rdf/22/60331/index.html +06: JAVASCRIPT. A touch of class - skinable Javascript By Chris Heilmann "By now, almost all web developers have realized that it does make sense to separate structure from presentation and behaviour. Sadly enough, not too many openly available Javascripts do the same. Learn how to enhance markup while keeping the visuals in the CSS rather than in Javascript variables. Create scripts that others can use without messing with your code." http://evolt.org/article/rdf/17/60326/index.html +07: MISCELLANEOUS. Ted Nelson (interview) By Peter Schmideg "After taking a computer course at Harvard in 1960, Ted Nelson began a mystical journey. He started exploring the possibility of liberating text from paper, of developing a means whereby writers could harness text in a manner closer to human cognitive patterns: i.e., the way words flowed through our minds. In 1965 Nelson coined the term hypertext. Ultimately, in his brilliant 1974 book, 'Computer Lib/Dream Machines', he laid down the foundation for a communications theory transcending text. Hypertext became hypermedia. Imagery and sound played roles equal to text. Nelson realized that personal computers with multimedia capabilities must burst the boundaries of artistically rendering internal reflection." http://illuminationgallery.net/wr/hypertext/nelson.html +08: NAVIGATION. Navigation By Ben Hunt "Navigation encompasses the range of ways a user may move around a web site, and the tools designers offer to help them. Good navigation needs to complement the information architecture, and be totally clear." http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/?id=navigation Navigation Models By Ben Hunt "After 10 years of web site architecture and design, conventions exist to solve nearly every navigation problem. This page provides a toolkit of common IA and navigation conventions." http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/?id=navigation_models +09: PHP. Writing Clean and Efficient PHP Code By David Fells "This article will discuss the various elements comprising these two broad points regarding clean code, and provide examples in everyones favorite open source language: PHP. The target audience here is the beginner PHP programmer, although other levels of PHP programmers may find some useful information within." http://tinyurl.com/2v756 Accelerating PHP Applications By Ilia Alshanetsky This is a presentation from the International PHP Conference 2004. http://talks.php.net/show/acc_php/0 Lock Down Your Website By Dan Wellman "With all the benefits of e-commerce there are dangers such as identity theft for consumers and cyber attacks on websites. Site owners need take preventative measures. Wellman presents some security procedures and scriptsÊfor PHP driven sites." http://www.devshed.com/c/a/Security/Lock-Down-Your-Website/ Zend's PHP 5 Coding Contest "Zend's PHP 5 Coding Contest is underway and accepting submissions. This is every developer's chance to flaunt their PHP 5 skills and let their application shine! Applications will be rated both by your peers and by a panel of judges assembled from among the most known and well-respected names in the PHP community. Lots of prizes are available!" http://www.zend.com/php5/contest/contest.php +10: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. Canadian election Web sites flunk standards test By Joe Clark "An independent, nonpartisan review of Canadian political Web sites shows that all sites tested: 1. Do not meet Web standards, meaning their underlying code is grammatically incorrect. 2. Probably work correctly in only one browser, Internet Explorer for Windows, even though not all Canadians use that browser. 3. Usually don't bother identifying the language in which they are written (English or French) 4. Are somewhat inaccessible to people with disabilities." http://joeclark.org/election/findings/ 10 Reasons for Web Standards By Simon Jessey http://jessey.net/blog/archive/entries/?id=144 +11: TOOLS. DTD Mapper By Cameron Adams "Using the DTD Mapper all you have to do is paste in the URL of the DTD that your pages are meant to be validating to (that URL in the weird DOCTYPE line at the top of your source code), and you'll get a nice, collapsible list of all valid elements, with their attributes, possible child elements and possible parent elements." http://www.themaninblue.com/experiment/DTDMapper/ Macaw By whitanderson.com Macaw is a free Macintosh application that creates QuickTime text tracks. http://www.whitanderson.com/macaw/ +12: TYPOGRAPHY. Are Keywords the Answer for Font Sizing? By MichaelÊMeadhra "When it comes to specifying font sizes with CSS, you have three choices: absolute measurements (pixels, points, etc.), relative measurements (ems and percents), and keywords (small, large, and so on). Here's why we think keywords are the best compromise solution." http://builder.com.com/5100-6371_14-5215705.html +13: USABILITY. Writing for the web By Ben Hunt "When creating, editing and designing content for the web, get the message across as quickly as possible. To do that, say as little as possible, and put the most useful and relevant content first. Speak plainly and openly and use a tone of voice that's appropriate to the audience." http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/?id=writing_for_the_web The Slippery Slope By Drew McLellan "So here's the bit to print out and pin to your wall: by putting awkward functionality in a pop-up window you're either creating a) and interface inconsistency, or b) a precedent you'll wish you'd never set. Pop-up windows are not a get-out-of-jail-free card, they're a dig-a-tunnel-and-escape-from-jail card that leaves you forever looking over your shoulder and living life on the run. They will catch up with you, and this time, it's personal." http://allinthehead.com/retro/206/ User-Centered Research: A status report By Robert Probst, Jay Doblin, Niels Different and William Stumpf "During the past twenty years, user-centered research (UCR) has become an increasingly common and important part of contemporary product development. The origins of this approach to design and development actually stretch back to the beginning of industrial design in America. Starting in the 1940s and 1950s, Henry Dreyfuss, widely considered the father of industrial design in the United States, practiced a method of design that clearly focused on studying people's behaviors and attitudes as a first step in designing successful products. During the next forty to fifty years, Dreyfuss' example served as motivation for other highly successful and influential designers" http://www.desphilosophy.com/dpp/dpp_journal/paper1/dpp_paper1.html Exercise in Customer Experience By Mark Hurst "In many cases, the focus on the *basics* - customers' basic needs at each moment - is THE differentiating factor between successful and failing companies. In fact, companies who invest more in the "wow factor" almost always take resources *away* from focusing on those more important (if visually less exciting) issues." http://www.goodexperience.com/blog/archives/000015.php +14: XML. A Realist's SMIL Manifesto By Fabio Arciniegas A. "The goal of this two-part series is to illustrate best practices and creative uses of SMIL 2.0; in particular the creation of guided-reading documents which push the boundaries of Web narrative technology by combining classic layout and design practices with television-like effects." http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/05/29/smil.html [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. + 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) STANDARD. As a navigation aid for screen readers we do our best to conform to the accessible Text Email Newsletter (TEN) Standard. Please let me know if there is anything else we can do to make navigation easier. For TEN Standard information please visit: http://www.headstar.com/ten + SIGNATURE. Laura L. Carlson Information Technology Systems and Services University of Minnesota Duluth Duluth, MN 55812-3009 mailto:lcarlson@d.umn.edu [Issue ends.]