+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 13, Issue 40, March 26, 2015. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 40 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: COLOR. 03: EVALUATION & TESTING. 04: EVENTS. 05: FLASH. 06: HTML5. 07: JAVASCRIPT. 09: USABILITY. SECTION TWO: 10: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. A Culture of Inclusion By Nicolas Steenhout. "Organisations need to develop a culture of accessibility, including people with disabilities in the process, before we see a truly accessible web..." http://incl.ca/a-culture-of-inclusion/ aria-labelledby (property) By Rakesh Paladugula. "Before understanding aria-labelledby it is worth reading aria-label (property)..." http://www.maxability.co.in/2015/03/aria-labelledby-property/ Written Testimony to the US Access Board from the California Council of Citizens with Low Vision By Wayne E. Dick. "The California Council of Citizens with Low Vision finds the Access Board's decision to include WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA (henceforth WCAG) by reference is admirable to harmonize standards, but inconsistent with the 1973 Rehabilitation Act. By applying 1194.22(d) from the current 508, removing the author's visual style, readers with low vision could achieve limitless enlargement with no need to scroll horizontally on mainstream browsers..." http://nosetothepage.org/508/Testimony.html Building University-Wide IT Accessibility By David Raths. "While many higher ed institutions focus mostly on Web accessibility or rely on a disability resources center to serve students in need, Temple University has ramped up its accessibility efforts across the board..." http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/03/18/building-university-wide-it-accessibility.aspx Are alt Attributes Required? Always? By Joe Dolson. "TL;DR Yes. Yes, they are..." https://www.joedolson.com/2015/03/are-alt-attributes-required-always/ WP Accessibility Update: alt Enforcement By Joe Dolson. "I released an update to WP Accessibility today, that adds some limited enforcement on alt attributes for images..." https://www.joedolson.com/2015/03/wp-accessibility-update-alt-enforcement/ The Evils of Captcha Explained by a Blind Person By Stefania Leone. "Whoever forgets their online banking password or any other account with sensitive data must pass the dreaded captcha test..." http://www.west-info.eu/the-evils-of-captcha-explained-by-a-blind-person/ Acrobat DC and Reader DC Accessibility Update By Matt May. "Last week, Adobe announced the upcoming release of Adobe Acrobat DC and Adobe Reader DC. We have a few big new accessibility features that we want to let you know about in advance..." http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility/2015/03/acrobat-dc-accessibility-update.html +02: COLOR. Don't Forget About Contrast By Susan Robertson. "Several years ago I wanted to get an external monitor to go along with the laptop my work provided. I was a remote worker and decided to buy one myself that I could hang on to even if I left that job. But I was also a bit cheap. I drooled over the Apple Cinema displays, but I didn't want to spend that kind of money..." http://alistapart.com/blog/post/dont-forget-about-contrast +03: EVALUATION & TESTING. Should Your Entire Product Team Observe Usability Testing? By Janet M. Six. "In this edition of Ask UXmatters, our panel of UX experts provides a wide variety of responses that UX professionals might make to a client who declares that the rest of the product team need not observe usability testing..." http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2015/03/should-your-entire-product-team-observe-usability-testing.php How Hard Are Your Surveys to Take? By Jeff Sauro. "...Before you put your survey in front of customers, use the SRS to determine how easy or difficult your customers will find it to complete and use the feedback from the think-aloud sessions for ideas on what to fix." https://measuringu.com/blog/hard-surveys.php In-Depth Guide to Website Usability Testing Methods By Hunter Liptrap. "Making sure your app or website works the way you intended isn't always easy. If your site is not functioning properly, that could be the reason you aren't seeing the results you are looking for. The solution is to find the right testing methods to verify your site's functionality and usability..." http://www.modgility.com/usability-testing-methods/ +04: EVENTS. The Journey & the Destination - with Derek Featherstone April 8, 2015. The UX Mastery Campfire Chatroom http://uxmastery.com/ask-the-uxperts-accessibility-the-journey-the-destination-with-derek-featherstone/ CSS Naked Day April 9, 2015. Online http://meiert.com/en/blog/20150319/css-naked-day/ Funka Accessibility Days April 14-15, 2015. Stockholm, Sweden http://www.funkanu.com/en/Our-services/Funka-Accessibility-Days/ Madison+ UX 2015 July 9-11, 2015. Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A. http://madisonpl.us/ux/ Open Source Convention (OSCON) July 20-24, 2015. Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. http://www.oscon.com/open-source-2015 2015 Boston Accessibility Conference September 19, 2015. Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A. http://a11y-bos.org/ +05: FLASH. Flash's Slide into Irrelevance By Mike Davies. "Flash is no longer an essential plugin on the desktop/laptop Web. It is non-existent on mobile. It is no longer the default way to consume video on the Web..." http://isolani.co.uk/blog/standards/FlashSlideIntoIrrelevance +06: HTML5. HTML5 Structural Elements - Series Wrap Up By Steven Bradley. "For the last month and a half I've been trying to better understand how to work with the new HTML5 structural elements with some degree of success as well as failure..." http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/html5-structural-elements-series-wrap/ Zen and the Art of Wearable Markup By Jeffery Zeldman. A recent dustup over whether wearables should support HTML, CSS, and JavaScript or run only native apps got me thinking about that question, which is really about the limits (if any) of progressive enhancement, which is the cornerstone of standards-based design. https://the-pastry-box-project.net/jeffrey-zeldman/2015-march-21 +07: JAVASCRIPT. Accessible Drag and Drop with Multiple Items By James Edwards. "In this article, I'd like to show you how to extend the capabilities of HTML5 drag and drop - so it can handle multiple elements, and support keyboard interaction, for sighted and screen reader users." http://www.sitepoint.com/accessible-drag-drop/ Simple Inheritance with JavaScript By David Catuhe. "...A lot of my friends are C# or C++ developers. They are used to using inheritance in their projects and when they want to learn or discover JavaScript, one of the first question they ask is: 'But how can I do inheritance with JavaScript?'..." http://www.sitepoint.com/simple-inheritance-javascript/ +09: USABILITY. The Cost of Complexity is Use By Gerry McGovern. "The best way to measure complexity is to measure use. Given a choice, the harder something is to use the less people will use it..." http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/new-thinking/cost-complexity-use The State of Mobile User Experience By Raluca Budiu. "Mobile usability has improved over the past 7 years due to better prioritization of content over UI elements and better understanding of the users' needs." http://www.nngroup.com/articles/mobile-usability-update/ What on Earth is ISO 9241? By Paul Brooks. "International standards are everywhere, if you just know how to look. This week, author Paul Brooks brings to light one particular standard that can improve the usability of all our products..." http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/what-on-earth-is-iso-9241/ [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 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.]