+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 13, Issue 47, May 14, 2015. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 47 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: HTML5. 05: MISCELLANEOUS. 06: NAVIGATION. 07: TYPOGRAPHY. 08: USABILITY. 09: XML. SECTION TWO: 10: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Design for Web Accessibility From the Beginning By Abbey Fitzgerald. "As we know, content is king. And we want everyone to be able to access our website content. What happens if a user is not able to access content in the 'traditional' way?..." https://getflywheel.com/layout/design-web-accessibility-beginning/ Web Accessibility Screencast By Dan-Mouyard Dan Mouyard. "I recently created a short screencast about Web Accessibility. This is a topic that I'm passionate about and I am always happy to share what I have learned over the years..." http://forumone.com/insights/web-accessibility-screencast/ Accessibility is...? By Melanie Jones. "Our first poll was a simple fill-in-the-blank: 'Accessibility is _' What does accessibility mean to you? How do you define it for yourself?..." http://simplyaccessible.com/article/accessibility-is/ Web Accessibility - Why it's Great for your Bottom Line. By Carrie Dils. "The goal for this discussion is to take away the intimidation factor of such a big topic and show you practical steps for participating in the web accessibility initiative..." http://www.carriedils.com/web-accessibility-initiative/ MathML Accessibility By Frederic Wang. "In a previous blog post about MathML in Wikipedia, I mentioned that, despite ongoing efforts there was still no accessibility support for MathML in Gecko. The situation changed two months ago..." http://www.maths-informatique-jeux.com/blog/frederic/?post/2015/05/06/MathML-Accessibility Short Note on aria-labelledby and aria-describedby By Steve Faulkner. "The ARIA attributes aria-labelledby and aria-describedby can be used to provide an accessible name or accessible description for a subset of HTML elements. It is important to note that by design, hiding the content (using CSS display:none or visibility:hidden or the HTML hidden attribute) of the element(s) referenced by these attributes does not stop the content from being used to provide the name/description..." http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/2015/05/short-note-on-aria-labelledby-and-aria-describedby/ Justice Department Moves to Intervene in Disability Discrimination Lawsuit Alleging that Miami University Uses Inaccessible Educational Technologies and Course Materials By U.S. Department of Justice. "The Justice Department announced today that it has moved to intervene in Aleeha Dudley v. Miami University, et al., 14-cv-038 (S.D. Ohio), a private lawsuit alleging disability discrimination by Miami University in Oxford, Ohio..." http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-moves-intervene-disability-discrimination-lawsuit-alleging-miami Understanding the Proposed Section 508 Refresh - Overview By Jonathan Avila. "Section 508 is the portion of the Rehabilitation Act that covers the accessibility of information and communication technology used, developed, maintained, or procured by the United States Federal Government..." http://www.ssbbartgroup.com/blog/understanding-proposed-section-508-refresh-overview/ +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Cyclomatic Complexity - Logic in CSS By Harry Roberts. "...I recently hit upon a way of thinking that made me realise that CSS does include logic, and the fact that it’s rarely viewed as such is probably also why we end up with such poor CSS at all. I found myself explaining compound selectors to a client as being made up of the subject—the thing we’re actually interested in—and its conditions..." http://csswizardry.com/2015/04/cyclomatic-complexity-logic-in-css/ The At-Rules of CSS By Geoff Graham. "The at-rule is a statement that provides CSS with instructions to perform or how to behave..." https://css-tricks.com/the-at-rules-of-css/ +03: EVALUATION & TESTING. The Top 7 Questions about Measuring the User Experience By Jeff Sauro. "...Here are the seven I get the asked the most and some guidance on how to answer them..." http://www.measuringu.com/blog/mux-questions.php +04: HTML5. Placeholder Text - Clever, or Too Clever? By Sarah E Bourne. "HTML5 allows you to have "placeholder" text - text in a form field to give hints about what you should put there. There are a number of ways to use it incorrectly and poorly..." http://sarahebourne.posthaven.com/placeholder-text-clever-or-too-clever 15 HTML Questions for Testing Your Knowledge By Alexander Dawson. "Think you know HTML? Most developers probably feel they have a good handle on modern Web standards. It's with this in mind that I offer you a challenge..." http://sixrevisions.com/html/html-questions/ +05: MISCELLANEOUS. Always Choose Prototypes over Mockups By Neal O'Grady. "...Working prototypes offer huge benefits over mockups, and can significantly improve the designer workflow. With designs that work from day one, you can reduce back-and-forth and recapture what it is you love about design..." http://blog.webflow.com/always-choose-prototypes-over-mockups +06: NAVIGATION. Don't 'Click Here' - 5 Ways Bad Link Text Screws Up Your Website By Max Johns. "Using 'click here', or similar words, as link text is a bad habit for a lot of reasons. But if you want to annoy people, here are five great things this lazy link text can do for you:.." http://contentistheweb.com/click-here-wrong/ +07: TYPOGRAPHY. How to Pick the Nicest Font By David Khourshid. There are over 1,000 fonts on Typekit, and another 682 on Google Fonts. Somehow, you have to pick the best for your site-and ensure that they pair well. Where do you even start? http://blog.webflow.com/how-to-pick-the-nicest-font-for-your-site +08: USABILITY. Don't Prioritize Efficiency Over Expectations By Aurora Bedford. "Features meant to increase user efficiency by reducing steps can end up hurting users if they do not conform to existing mental models and expectations based on past experiences..." http://www.nngroup.com/articles/efficiency-vs-expectations/ Design is Only 5% of UX By Sarah Hawk. "Yup, you heard me. Only 5%. At least, that's what Ashlea McKay would have us believe - but then she IS an Australian, so perhaps we shouldn't put too much stock in her opinion. And just like that, I've summarised The Great UX Debate #3..." http://uxmastery.com/design-is-only-5-of-ux/ Cognitive Demand, Not Always By Design By Nicholas Bowman. "...An optimal system - at least from a human factors standpoint - is not necessarily one that delivers the most information, but rather one that delivers the most useful information in the most useful format. And as it happens, the most useful system isn't the most comprehensive one, but the most rational for the given environment" http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/cognitive-demand-not-always-by-design/ +09: XML. How To Work With SVG Patterns By Steven Bradley. "Patterns are useful design elements. They can provide contrast, create a sense of depth, and add interest to a composition. SVG makes it easy to create and use patterns that are limited only by your imagination..." http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/svg-pattern-element/ Making SVG Accessible By Dudley Storey. "...making SVG accessible takes a little work, but it’s a straightforward process if you remember five rules..." http://demosthenes.info/blog/1026/Making-SVG-Accessible [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.]