+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 13, Issue 49, May 28, 2015. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 49 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: JAVASCRIPT. 06: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. 07: USABILITY. 08: XML. SECTION TWO: 09: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. IT Accessibility Checklist By Terrill Thompson. "...The following checklist is based on the WCAG 2.0 standards, and is provided to assist the UW community including web designers, developers, content creators, and purchasing agents, in creating and procuring accessible IT. It can also be used as a reference for vendors and contractors providing products and services to the UW. Many of the items in this checklist apply to web pages and web-based applications as well as electronic documents in Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF, and other formats. It is also a useful metric for products and services that are not specifically web-based..." http://www.washington.edu/accessibility/checklist/ Second Written Comment to the Access Board about the 508 Refresh Three New Rules for 508 that Can Be Added to WCAG 2.0 Techniques to Support Low Vision Without Changing Normative Language By Wayne Dick. "In my document, Written Testimony to the US Access Board from the California Council of Citizens with Low Vision, I identified many issues with the 508 Refresh that exclude people from the activity of reading ICT (Information Communication Technology) documents containing expository text..." http://www.nosetothepage.org/508/Techniques.html US Justice Department Demands Accessible Educational Technology John Kleeman. "...Accessible software is good for everyone, not just those who are temporarily or permanently need accommodations for their disabilities. Many of the technologies required to make software accessible also enhance delivery on mobile devices and improve blended delivery in general. With the US Department of Justice now engaging in lawsuits against institutions that do not take accessibility seriously, accessibility support will become more important to everyone." http://blog.questionmark.com/us-justice-department-demands-accessible-educational-technology Another DOJ Action Over Allegedly Inaccessible Websites and Other Technologies By Seyfarth Shaw. "For today's Global Accessibility Awareness Day, we have yet another Department Justice enforcement action to report relating to the allegedly inaccessible websites and other technologies..." http://www.adatitleiii.com/2015/05/another-doj-action-over-allegedly-inaccessible-websites-and-other-technologies/ Patterns in Higher Education Accessibility Complaints By Greg Kraus. "In recent years there have been several notable legal actions concerning IT accessibility within higher education. When I say 'legal action,' that can range from an action from the Office of Civil Rights or the Department of Justice, or it can be from an actual lawsuit..." http://accessibility.oit.ncsu.edu/blog/2015/05/21/patterns-in-higher-education-accessibility-complaints/ Understanding the Proposed Section 508 Refresh - Areas Requiring Clarification By Jonathan Avila. "In this final post in the series I'll share some areas in the proposed update which I believe will require further clarification from The Board..." http://www.ssbbartgroup.com/blog/understanding-proposed-section-508-refresh-areas-requiring-clarification/ Accessibility By Design By Laura Kalbag. "On Thursday morning I gave a talk online for Inclusive Design 24, a free 24-hour event celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness Day..." http://laurakalbag.com/accessibility-by-design/ Make Technology Work for Everyone: introducing digital accessibility (Video) By Fix the Web, Digital Accessibility Centre, and Dig Inclusion. "This short animated film provides 1) A short introduction to digital accessibility, 2) Some reasons why digital inclusion is important, 3) 15 tips to help you start making your digital technology more accessible, usable, and inclusive." https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=11&v=8Ik_LHmZx8Y +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Video - Scalable Backgrounds in CSS By Russ Weakley. "In this short video, I'll show you how to create a background container that scales seamlessly to fit any browser size." http://www.sitepoint.com/video-scalable-backgrounds-css/ What You Should Know About Collapsing Margins By Geoff Graham. "OK, so some spacing walks into a bar, trips and falls on the floor. The bartender asks if he should be cut off and the spacing replies, "No, I'm just a collapsed margin..." https://css-tricks.com/what-you-should-know-about-collapsing-margins/ +03: EVALUATION & TESTING. Q&A - Testing for Accessibility Before Development Begins By Tim Lohman. "Firstly, how important is it that web accessibility is considered at the wireframes stage of website development?..." http://www.accessiq.org/news/news/2015/05/qa-testing-for-accessibility-before-development-begins +04: EVENTS. HTML5 Training Learn HTML5 and core Web technologies directly from the organization creating them! Learn to code Web pages and Web sites the right way. Starts June 1, 2015. Online. https://www.edx.org/course/learn-html5-w3c-w3cx-html5-1x +05: JAVASCRIPT. The Final Steps to Mastering JavaScript's 'this' Keyword By Ivaylo Gerchev. "In a previous article we learned the fundamentals of using JavaScript's this keyword properly. We saw that the crucial factor in determining what this refers to, is to find out the current execution context. However, this task can be a bit tricky in situations where the context gets changed in a way we don't expect. In this article I will highlight when this might happen and what we can do to remedy it..." http://www.sitepoint.com/mastering-javascripts-this-keyword/ +06: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. Complementing Standards by Demonstrating Commitment and Progress By Sarah Horton, David Sloan, and Henny Swan. "...in many cases, standards compliance is a narrow way to define accessibility, particularly with large, distributed systems and environments. In this position paper we propose a way to consider standards within a larger context of accessibility activity, with a particular focus on making progress and removing barriers to a quality user experience in existing digital environments..." http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/2015/05/complementing-standards-by-demonstrating-commitment-and-progress/ +07: USABILITY. The Challenge for Writers of Web Content By Gerry McGovern. "The challenge for writers of web content is that we think that people want to read our content. They don't." http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/new-thinking/challenge-writers-web-content Overuse of Overlays - How to Avoid Misusing Lightboxes By Kathryn Whitenton. "Poorly implemented overlays and lightboxes are not only frustrating for users, but can also be disastrous for conversion and task completion. Use the five W's - Who, What, When, Where, and Why - to determine whether an overlay is truly the most appropriate design solution, and how you should implement it..." http://www.nngroup.com/articles/overuse-of-overlays/ Designing For Explicit Choice By Colleen Roller. "...defaults are powerful because they provide a way for users to passively decide, thereby easing the difficulty and effort associated with decision-making. But we also know that, for a variety of reasons, providing a default option is not always appropriate. Sometimes, it's better for users to make an explicit choice - especially when they are more likely to follow through with a decision and be more committed to taking action on it...." http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2015/05/25/designing-for-explicit-choice/ 7 Mobile UX Mistakes You're Probably Making Right Now By Lynn Wang. "Making changes on mobile UX can be a tricky process, especially if you come from a web background. In mobile, developers have more constraints, including screen real estate, attention times, and UI control limitations. Improving the mobile experience is always a learning process full of trial and error, so this list will get you on the right track by helping you steer clear of common pitfalls." http://www.sitepoint.com/7-mobile-ux-mistakes/ Infinite Scrolling is Probably not a Good Idea for your Website By Ana Crespo. "... infinite scrolling may work in particular types of pages where content is organised with a flat hierarchy and users are consuming information rather than trying to find something, but it is likely not the best solution for most websites..." http://www.nomensa.com/blog/2015/infinite-scrolling-probably-not-good-idea-your-website +08: XML. How To Apply SVG Linear Gradients To A Fill Or Stroke By Steven Bradley. "SVG provides for both linear and radial gradients. I'll cover linear gradients today and take a look at radial gradients next week..." http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/svg-linear-gradients/ [Section one ends.] ++ SECTION TWO: +09: 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.]