+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 14, Issue 32, February 4, 2016. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 32 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: JAVASCRIPT. 07: MISCELLANEOUS. 08: NAVIGATION. 09: USABILITY. SECTION TWO: 10: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Keyboard Accessibility By WebAIM. "Keyboard accessibility issues are increasing in prevalence and significance. We have updated our keyboard accessibility article with updated information and recommendations." http://webaim.org/techniques/keyboard/ Short Note on Improving Usability of Scrollable Regions By Steve Faulkner. "You can make an element scrollable using CSS overflow property, problem is that typically the content cannot be scrolled using the keyboard..." https://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/2016/02/short-note-on-improving-usability-of-scrollable-regions/ Ensure ATs Ignore Images that are Purely Decorative and Repetitive By Dennis Lembree. "When it comes to image accessibility, we are taught that images need text alternatives so that those who are blind or visually impaired can access the visual information..." https://dequeuniversity.com/tips/decorative-repetitive-images Common Accessibility Element Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them By Chris McMeeking. "Maybe this scenario sounds familiar: You're working on your iOS application, dabbling with Accessibility. You know a little bit about how to use VoiceOver and you're taking a quick look at your app to make sure it's accessible. Suddenly..." http://www.deque.com/blog/ios-nested-accessibility/ US Presidential Candidate Websites and Accessibility: Winners and Losers By Karl Groves. "A few weeks ago, we decided to take a poke around at some presidential candidate's websites. What we found was nothing short of surprising, so we wanted to share some of what we found..." http://blog.tenon.io/us-presidential-candidate-websites-and-accessibility-winners-and-losers/ Where Do the Candidates Stand? By Thomas Logan. "With the 2016 election around the corner, we wanted to investigate the candidates' discussions about accessibility issues. We also wanted to look at the campaign websites themselves for a few important accessibility barriers..." http://www.equalentry.com/articles/accessibility-2016-where-do-the-candidates-stand/ What CMOs Need to Know about Web Accessibility By Josh Amer. "...a funny thing happens between RFP and website launch: Even those who claim web accessibility is important lose sight of it..." http://cmoessentials.com/what-cmos-need-to-know-about-web-accessibility/ Is Your Website Accessible to Blind and Visually Impaired? Plaintiffs' Firms and Department of Justice Are Taking Notice By Emily T. Fess, Cheryl A. Luce, Lucky Meinz, and Joseph K. Mulherin. "For years, we have been documenting the rise in wage/hour class action lawsuits and precautionary steps your organization may take to mitigate the risks and liability inherent in those claims..." http://www.natlawreview.com/article/your-website-accessible-to-blind-and-visually-impaired-plaintiffs-firms-and +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Sass - Directory Structures That Help You Maintain Your Code By Steven Bradley. "As projects grow larger, the need to modularize directory and file structure increases..." http://vanseodesign.com/css/sass-directory-structures/ +03: EVALUATION & TESTING. The 4 Mistakes You'll Make as a Usability Test Moderator By David Travis. "What are the most common mistakes that test moderators make? I've observed usability tests moderated by consultants, in-house researchers, junior user researchers and experienced practitioners and there are some common mistakes I come across time and again. These mistakes are like a rite of passage on the route to becoming a user researcher, but even experienced practitioners aren't immune from making them..." http://www.userfocus.co.uk/articles/4-test-moderation-mistakes.html How Your Design Team Can Utilize A/B Testing By Ecem Keskin. "A/B testing is a way to give users multiple variations of a design to see which one performs better. It can be used to determine which design elements and messaging are most effective on your audience." http://whatpixel.com/how-design-teams-utilize-split-tests/ Any Research is Better Than No Research By Sinead Cochrane. "When thinking about product research, you shouldn't be asking yourself, 'Can we afford this?' It should be, 'Can we afford not to do this?'..." https://blog.intercom.io/any-research-is-better-than-no-research/ Managing False Positives in UX Research By Jeff Sauro. "...The concept of a false positive comes from signal detection theory. Correctly finding what to look for and raising the alarm is called a hit. Not raising the alarm and letting something pass is called a miss or a false negative. False negatives are a topic for a future article..." http://www.measuringu.com/blog/false-positives.php +04: EVENTS. Digital Accessibility in Higher and Further Education Conference 2016 April 7, 2016. London, England, United Kingdom http://www.bcs.org/content/ConWebDoc/54605 WebAIM Web Accessibility Training April 12-13, 2016. Logan, Utah, U.S.A. http://webaim.org/training/ ConvergeSE 2016 April 13-15, 2016. Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.A. http://convergese.com/ JSConf 2016 April 15-16, 2016. San Francisco, California, U.S.A. https://jsconf.uy/ Industry Conf April 20, 2016. Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom http://2016.industryconf.com/ Mobile + Web DevCon April 26-28, 2016. San Francisco, California, U.S.A. http://mobilewebdevconference.com/ +05: HTML5. Aural UI of the Elements of HTML By Steve Faulkner and Leonie Watson. "Typical support patterns of HTML elements by screen readers..." http://thepaciellogroup.github.io/AT-browser-tests/ +06: JAVASCRIPT. The Final Feature set of ECMAScript 2016 (ES7) By Axel Rauschmayer. "We always knew that ECMAScript 2016 (ES2016) would be a small release. It turns out that it will be very small. Read on for a list of its features and an explanation why that is not a problem..." http://www.2ality.com/2016/01/ecmascript-2016.html Feature Watch - ECMAScript 2017 By Axel Rauschmayer. "The feature set of ES2016 was recently finalized. This blog post tracks what features may be included in ES2017. I will continually update it..." http://www.2ality.com/2016/02/ecmascript-2017.html +07: MISCELLANEOUS. The Art of the Commit By David Demaree. "Git and tools like GitHub offer many ways to view what has changed in a commit. But a well-crafted commit message can save you from having to use those tools by neatly (and succinctly) summarizing what has changed..." http://alistapart.com/article/the-art-of-the-commit +08: NAVIGATION. Search and Navigation Interconnections By Gerry McGovern. "When people visit a particular page of your website and then carry out a search from that page, it is often a sign that the page navigation and/or content is not working well..." http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/new-thinking/search-and-navigation-interconnections +09: USABILITY. Voice Interaction UX - Brave New World...Same Old Story By Kathryn Whitenton. "Although voice interaction is markedly different from graphical user interfaces, classic usability principles are still critical to the quality of the user experience." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/voice-interaction-ux/ White Space Isn't Just a UX Fad By Jerry Cao, Kamil Zieba, and Matt Ellis. "...white space isn't just an aesthetic choice-it serves three essential functions..." http://www.aiga.org/importance-of-white-space-in-ux-design/ Why Desktop UX Still Has Something to Teach Mobile By Scott Jenson. "New technologies may usurp old ones nearly every year, but many of us still reach for our old-school laptops. That's no accident..." http://www.fastcodesign.com/3055419/why-desktop-ux-still-has-something-to-teach-mobile [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.]