+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 13, Issue 30, January 22, 2015. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 30 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: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. 07: MISCELLANEOUS. 08: NAVIGATION. 09: USABILITY. 10: XML. SECTION TWO: 11: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Accessibility Should Not Be... By Matt Lawson (Tweet). "Accessibility should not be a job description or project milestone. It is a responsibility for everyone involved in shaping the web." https://twitter.com/lawlesscreation/status/557538377126674432 Solving Web Accessibility - Leaving No One Behind (Video) By David Berman. "Topics covered include: Discussion of emerging accessibility standards, W3C WCAG 2.0 guidelines, and legal requirements for web accessibility; Specific technologies and design techniques to satisfy accessibility concerns; Why accessibility is important, and how accessibility can mean usability for everyone; Tips and strategies that don't require programming knowledge that you can implement immediately..." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C13NwQ5e9Rs Cognitive Accessibility User Research By Lisa Seeman and Michael Cooper, Editors. "Cognitive Accessibility User Research describes the challenges of using web technologies for people with learning disabilities or cognitive disabilities..." http://www.w3.org/TR/2015/WD-coga-user-research-20150115/ Designing for Dyslexia (Part 2) By Andrew Zusman. "Universal design strives to improve usability for both users with and without disabilities. In this, part 2 of Designing for Dyslexia, Andrew Zusman identifies how the principles of universal design can be applied to our work on the web..." http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/designing-for-dyslexia-part-2/ Accessible Modal Windows By Russ Weakley. "A detailed slideshow on making modal windows accessible..." http://www.slideshare.net/maxdesign/accessible-modal-windows Draft Mobile WCAG Techniques By W3C Mobile Accessibility Task Force. "This is a page where the mobile accessibility task force is staging potential drafts for techniques and proposing new techniques for WCAG that relate to mobile websites and apps..." https://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/mobile-a11y-tf/wiki/Draft_WCAG_Techniques WordPress Theme Pattern Library for Accessibility By David A. Kennedy. "We want to make creating accessibility-ready themes as easy possible. To do that, we're working on building a library of accessible patterns for themes. That way, theme authors can learn about and implement accessibility in their themes with ease..." https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/2015/01/15/wordpress-theme-pattern-library-for-accessibility/ Making the GUI Talk (1991) by Rich Schwerdtfeger By Steve Faulkner. "Seminal how-to article on development of Graphical User Interface (GUI) Screen Readers for Windows OS/2 and the X Windows System." http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/2015/01/making-the-gui-talk-1991-by-rich-schwerdtfeger/ +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. The 2014 CSS Report By Alex McPherson. "Examining how CSS is being used in the wild..." http://reports.quickleft.com/css +03: EVALUATION & TESTING. Usability Test Questions - Does Wording Matter? By Loop11. "...It's worth taking the time to think through various ways of wording your research questions to appreciate how the wording itself may affect participants' thought process, and consequently how they respond. Truly, research design is both an art and a science - and that's what makes it so fascinating." http://www.loop11.com/does-it-matter-how-you-ask-usability-test-questions/ +04: EVENTS. WebVisions Chicago September 23-25, 2015. Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. http://www.webvisionsevent.com/chicago/ HighEdWeb October 4-7, 2015. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A. http://2015.highedweb.org/ ASSETS 2015 October 26-28, 2015. Lisbon, Portugal http://assets15.sigaccess.org/ EDUCAUSE Annual Conference October 27-30, 2015. Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A. http://www.educause.edu/annual-conference +05: HTML5. Footnotes and endnotes in HTML.next By David MacDonald. "I've taken an action item with John Foliot to propose a new element in HTML5 for footnotes. The and related elements would provide an easy way for authors to create functioning footnotes, such as those in MS Word. Here's a Q&A to start the discussion..." http://davidmacd.com/blog/html51-footnotes.html +06: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. Use Paper Wireframes to Build Native Prototypes By Deborah Edwards-Onoro. "When you develop a product, you don't want to invest time creating something that doesn't fit the needs of the user, or that misses key features. One way to avoid those issues is to use paper wireframes to test designs, get feedback from the client, iterate quickly, and save time." http://www.lireo.com/paper-wireframes-build-native-prototypes/ +07: MISCELLANEOUS. Why We Can't Do Real Responsive Images with CSS or JavaScript By Bruce Lawson. "...why all this complex new markup? Why not just use CSS or JavaScript?...the only way to beat the preloader is to put all the potential image sources in the HTML and give the browser all the information it needs to make the selection there, too. That's what the w and x descriptors in srcset are for, and the sizes attribute..." http://www.brucelawson.co.uk/2015/why-we-cant-do-real-responsive-images-with-css-or-javascript/ +08: NAVIGATION. Scoped Search - Dangerous, but Sometimes Useful By Katie Sherwin. "Restricting search to a specific area of a website can provide better results, faster. But users overlook, misunderstand, and forget about the search scope." http://www.nngroup.com/articles/scoped-search/ +09: USABILITY. Do Prettier, More Professional-looking Web Sites Increase Conversions? By David Mannheim. "...There are lots of examples of...unintended effects of redesigns, where conversions have decreased despite a site's visual impact and the changes' getting a positive qualitative response from visitors...While aesthetic design and usability are inextricably interlinked, usability is most important to good design..." http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2015/01/do-prettier-more-professional-looking-web-sites-increase-conversions.php +10: XML. SVG Basics-Fills And Strokes By Steven Bradley. "...Today I want to talk in more detail about fills and strokes and the properties associated with each..." http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/svg-fill-stroke/ [Section one ends.] ++ SECTION TWO: +11: 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 Drupal Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/drupal.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 HTML Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/html.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. + SUBSCRIPTION INFO. WEB DESIGN UPDATE is available by subscription. For information on how to subscribe and unsubscribe please visit: http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/webdev_listserv.html 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.]