+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 7, Issue 44, May 1, 2009.

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

++ISSUE 44 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: FLASH.
06: JAVASCRIPT.
07: MISCELLANEOUS.
08: NAVIGATION.
09: TOOLS.
10: USABILITY.


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

[Contents ends.]


++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

Create Your Own Accessibility Statement
By Leonie Watson.
"Increasingly, people are including declarations on their websites that define the level of web accessibility the website aims to achieve. Known as Accessibility Statements, these declarations take the form of a short information page which is available via a link from every page of the website."
http://tinyurl.com/cxlwzx

Web Accessibility Statements - The Best Of Intentions, Clearly Stated
By headstar.
"...The accessibility statement is seen as central to having a website that is accessible to all users, including people with disabilities, the report says. However, despite the low level of excellent practice found, local authority sites fare well when compared with the private sector, it says. No private sector statements were found to be excellent, and just 16 per cent were satisfactory..."
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=281

New Accessible Web Site Agreement 
By Lainey Feingold.
"Staples announced today that it has agreed to make  
its web site accessible to people with disabilities and to install  
tactile keypads at flat screen pos devices..."
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ig/2009AprJun/0081.html

Pitfalls of Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools
By Peter Krantz.
"Automated web accessibility evaluation tools are hard to trust, understand and only provides feedback on a small amount of factors that influence accessibility. Also, a unified web evaluation methodology should be adopted to provide consistent results across tools."
http://tinyurl.com/dxf4ns

Finest Worksong
By David Sloan.
"...here's a summary of my perspective of what's happened since WCAG 1.0 was published. I plot developments in four stages, with approximate time periods for each..." (props given to @geezer and @johnfoliot)
http://58sound.com/2009/04/27/finest-worksong/

Captioning and Audio Description
By Alternate Media Thread.
"...I am interested in what different campuses are doing concerning Audio descriptions for the blind and captioning in the classroom..."
http://htclistserv.htctu.fhda.edu/read/messages?id=40738


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

Basic Table Styling with CSS (New Screencast)
By Chris Coyier.
"Tables are great. They are perfectly suited for use on the web. That is, for displaying tabular data! In this screencast we'll cover what that actually means, take a look at a table, the markup that creates it, quirks and things-you-should-know. Then we start styling it up with CSS and quickly touch on some jQuery bonus stuff at the end..."
http://css-tricks.com/new-screencast-basic-table-styling-with-css/

How to Improve 37signals.com with 1 Line of CSS
By Sam Brown.
"a:hover {opacity: 0.75;}"
http://tinyurl.com/de9m2v

The Mystery Of CSS Sprites: Techniques, Tools And Tutorials
By Smashing.
"CSS Sprites are not new. In fact, they are a rather well-established technique and have managed to become common practice in Web development. Of course, CSS sprites are not always necessary, but in some situation they can bring significant advantages and improvements - particularly if you want to reduce your server load. And if you haven't heard of CSS sprites before, now is probably a good time to learn what they are, how they work and what tools can help you create and use the technique in your projects..."
http://tinyurl.com/ce8pxw

The Art of Crafting Beautiful Stylesheets
By Saddam Azad.
"Crafting beautiful stylesheets is not a dark art. Yes, it takes discipline, commitment and persistence but with a few tricks up your sleeve, you too can be a CSS ninja. Let me show you a few techniques I use to craft readable, maintainable and easy to debug stylesheets..."
http://tinyurl.com/djeygs

Don't Use @import
By Steve Souders.
"...use LINK instead of @import if you want stylesheets to download in parallel resulting in a faster page..."
http://www.stevesouders.com/blog/2009/04/09/dont-use-import/

Using an XML Declaration Triggers Quirks Mode in IE 6
By Roger Johansson.
"If you use an XHTML doctype in your documents, do not include an XML declaration unless you want Internet Explorer 6 to use its Quirks mode..."
http://tinyurl.com/cg3fuf


+03: COLOR.

Guideline 1.4 Separate Background From Foreground
By Olga Revilla.
"Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background..."
http://tinyurl.com/dc9e29


+04: EVALUATION & TESTING.

User Research for Personas and Other Audience Models
By Steve Baty.
"...this article is about the ingredients we can draw on when creating audience models and some alternative ways of communicating the results of an audience analysis..."
http://tinyurl.com/d8md2y

Analysis, Plus Synthesis: Turning Data into Insights
By Lindsay Ellerby.
"Conducting primary user research such as in-depth interviews or field studies can be fairly straightforward, when compared with what you face upon returning to the office with piles of notes, sketches, user journals, and audio and video recordings. You may ask, What should I do with all this data? and How do I turn it into something meaningful?"
http://tinyurl.com/c2ensc


+05: FLASH.

Firefox Focus and Actual Links
By Andrew Kirkpatrick.
"I mentioned at the TPG Webinar on Flash that there is a way around the issues with focus trapping in Firefox. My friend and accessibility-colleague Michael Jordan has developed a simple example that shows how to get focus in and out of Flash content in Firefox (using the SWFFocus class). Also in this example he shows how to make links that are not buttons, but use the MSAA link role. This has always been possible, but usually people use the button role."
http://tinyurl.com/c55hnt


+06: JAVASCRIPT.

Enhanced Keyboard-Accessible Google Maps
By Martin Kliehm.
"Patrick H. Lauke wrote an excellent article about keyboard-accessible Google Maps on the Opera Developer website. Still I was able to improve it slightly when I implemented an accessible map myself. I would like to share these modifications with you..."
http://learningtheworld.eu/2009/keyboard-accessible-google-maps/

Introduction, Test Cases and Web Browser Compatibility Tables for JavaScript 1.6, JavaScript 1.7 & JavaScript 1.8
By Robert Nyman.
"Lately I've been investigating newer versions of JavaScript, and what web browser support they have. And, as usual when I create something I find useful, I want to share it with the world..." 
http://tinyurl.com/d4xeko

A Couple of Quick Tips for JavaScript Optimization
By Jonathan Christopher.
"...I'd like to quickly discuss a couple things I've started doing to ease the load of JavaScript on the browser and therefore the user..."
http://tinyurl.com/dfbgoc

YUI Theater - PPK (Peter-Paul Koch): JavaScript Events
By Eric Miraglia.
"PPK (Peter-Paul Koch) of Quirksmode has been sharing his research into browser quirks for years, and this year he's turned his attention to mobile browsers while doing a consultancy for Vodafone. That work has got him thinking about JavaScript events once again, and, as is his habit, the results of his research are freely available to the rest of us on Quirksmode (big-screen browser compatibility tables; mobile browser compatibility tables)."
http://yuiblog.com/blog/2009/04/27/video-ppk-jsevents/

Objects in JavaScript (part II)
By Dmitry's Tumblr.
"I will not write about prototypical inheritance in JavaScript today. Instead let's take a look at one misunderstanding..."
http://tinyurl.com/dhflru

JavaScript for Hackers
By Gareth Heyes.
"I love to use JavaScript in unexpected ways, to create code that looks like it shouldn't work but does, or produces some unexpected behavior. This may sound trivial, but the results I've found lead to some very useful techniques. Each of the techniques described can be used for XSS filter evasion, which was my original intention when developing them. However, learning such JavaScript can dramatically increase your knowledge of the language, helping you become better at cleaning up input, and increase web application security. So read on and enjoy my weird and wonderful JavaScript hacks..."
http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/opera-javascript-for-hackers-1/

Using JavaScript to Style Active Navigation Elements
By Rob Glazebrook.
"I'm all about efficiency when I'm writing web code. Any time I find myself writing the same functionality more than once or twice, I try to consider whether my repeated code could be wrapped into a function of some sort."
http://tinyurl.com/dneta2


+07: MISCELLANEOUS.

How Much Intelligence Does Good Design Really Require?
By Jens Meiert.
"Of the definitions for art, design, and decoration I published back in the days, I do believe in the statement that design works - or has to work, respectively - the most. However, one thing's still challenging me, and that is how much intelligence good, working design requires..."
http://meiert.com/en/blog/20090428/intelligence-and-good-design/

Reverse Developing Website Strategy
By Ross Johnson. 
"...Focus instead on what you want to get out of it first. What are the 1 - 4 goals that the web site should actively accomplish..."
http://tinyurl.com/dztoo7


+08: NAVIGATION.

Using a taxonomy to create faceted navigation.
By Stephanie Lemieux.
Stephanie Lemieux "shares her tips on what facets are and how teams can implement them effectively."
http://www.uie.com/articles/faceted_search


+09: TOOLS.

Color Oracle
"Color Oracle takes the guesswork out of designing for color blindness by showing you in real time what people with common color vision impairments will see. Color Oracle applies a full screen color filter to art you are designing - independently of the software that you are using..."
http://colororacle.cartography.ch/


+10: USABILITY.

You're Only a First-Time User Once
By Steve Calde.
"Remember: a person is a first-time user exactly once (and in the case of the infusion pump, because of training and observation, nurses were actually never really first-time users), and in many cases a beginner for only a very short while."
http://www.cooper.com/journal/2009/04/first-time.html

World's Best Headlines: BBC News
By Jakob Nielsen.
"Precise communication in a handful of words? The editors at BBC News achieve it every day, offering remarkable headline usability."
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/headlines-bbc.html

Traditional Writing Skills Don't Work on Web
By Gerry McGovern.
"Most web content is overwritten; too much content, too much  context, not nearly enough focus on the action. Unfortunately,  we're taught to write this way."
http://tinyurl.com/ded27q

Men Like It Fast
By Andy King.
"In a recent usability survey, researchers from Southern Illinois University found that after ease of use, men prefer fast download speed to easy navigation. Women prefer ease of use, easy navigation, and accessibility. The researchers hypothesize that these different usability criteria are due to differences in how men and women use the Web."criteria are due to differences in how men and women use
the Web."
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/usability-criteria/

Web Users Prefer Speed Over Customization
By Andy King.
"The most important interface design factor is speed, according to a new HCI study. Good interface design is essential for widespread user adoption and ultimately website success." 
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/design-factors/


[Section one ends.]


++ SECTION TWO:

+11: 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@d.umn.edu 


[Issue ends.]