+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 16, Issue 18, October 26, 2017. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 18 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: COLOR. 04: EVALUATION & TESTING. 05: EVENTS. 06: HTML. 07: MISCELLANEOUS. 08: NAVIGATION. 09: TOOLS. 10: USABILITY. SECTION TWO: 11: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Stop Designing For Only 85% Of Users: Nailing Accessibility In Design By Tom Graham & André Gonçalves. "As designers, we like to think we are solution-based. But whereas we wouldn't hesitate to call out a museum made inaccessible by a lack of wheelchair ramps, many of us still remain somewhat oblivious to flaws in our user interfaces. Poor visual design, in particular, can be a barrier…" https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2017/10/nailing-accessibility-design/ Trends That Exclude By Hampus Sethfors. "…Here is why trends often hurt the user experience and exclude users with disabilities…" https://axesslab.com/trends/ Creating Accessible React Apps By Scott Vinkle. "…Scott takes us through a detailed and timely tutorial on creating accessible React apps…" http://simplyaccessible.com/article/react-a11y/ Making Videos Accessible (Video) By DOIT Center, University of Washington. "This video describes key elements to consider when making a video, so that it is accessible to all viewers. This includes captioning, audio description, and pre-production techniques and considerations…" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxFfn5Reg2g A Quantitative Analysis of WCAG 2.0 Compliance For Some Indian Web Portals By Manas Ranjan Patra, Amar Ranjan Dash, and Prasanna Kumar Mishra. "…In this paper, we have studied the compliance of WCAG 2.0 by three different categories of Indian web sites which are most frequently accessed by a large section of user community. We have provided a quantitative evaluation of different aspects of accessibility which we believe can pave the way for better design of web sites by taking care of the deficiencies inherent in the web portals…" https://arxiv.org/abs/1710.08788 eQuality The Right to the Web (PDF) By Peter Blanck. "This chapter and the book it is based upon, eQuality: The Struggle for Web Accessibility by Persons with Cognitive Disabilities (2014, Cambridge University Press), was spurred several years ago by Dr. David Braddock, Executive Director of the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities…" http://bbi.syr.edu/about/team/Leadership_Team/eQuality-WebAccessibilityAshgateCompanionChapter-updated031017-web.pdf Accessibility Legal Update with Lainey Feingold (Video) By Lainey Feingold. Lainey's October 19, 2017 presentation at the Chicago Digital Accessibility & Inclusive Design Group. Lanny starts speaking approx 7:50. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNHJAJSqYA8 +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. The New CSS Layout, An Excerpt By Rachel Andrew. "As we have seen, flexbox wasn't designed for grid layouts-but this is where our newest specification is most at home…" https://alistapart.com/article/the-new-css-layout-excerpt The Story of CSS Grid, From Its Creators By Aaron Gustafson. "Designers have used grids for centuries. And after more than 20 years of waiting, they are finally here for the browser. This is the story of CSS Grid. It took a lot of people in the right place and at the right time to make it happen…" https://alistapart.com/article/the-story-of-css-grid-from-its-creators Reboot, Resets, and Reasoning By Chris Coyier. "…A CSS reset would apply new padding to that element, so that all browsers are consistent about what they apply…" https://css-tricks.com/reboot-resets-reasoning/ 5 Reasons Against Resets, Normalizers, Reboots By Jens Oliver Meiert. "The problem? Resets and normalizers (and reboots) aren't needed at all…" https://meiert.com/en/blog/reasons-against-resets/ +03: COLOR. Understanding Colourblindness By Matthew Higgins. "Some peoples' eyes can't tell the difference between certain colours; that's not to say they see everything in greyscale. Total colour blindness is very rare in humans…" http://a11yproject.com/posts/understanding-colourblindness/ +04: EVALUATION & TESTING. A/B Testing - You're Doing it Wrong By Justin Baker. "How to effectively A/B test in a way that drives long-lasting results…" https://hackernoon.com/a-b-testing-youre-doing-it-wrong-77d628ac9518 How Quantitative UX Research Differs from Data Analytics By Duyen Mary Nguyen. "Besides several similarities, there are 4 major distinctions between these two roles…" https://medium.com/facebook-research/how-quantitative-ux-research-differs-from-data-analytics-1bbf0903768b The UX-ification of Research By Simon Roberts. "…Research has become less about questioning underlying assumptions and engaging with the complexity of culture and more about testing and validating objects and artifacts…" http://www.stripepartners.com/the-ux-ification-of-research/ 9 Recommendations for Better Online Research By Jeff Sauro. "…Part of our process for delivering effective research is spending enough time up front on issues that affect the quality of results. Here are our nine recommendations for conducting better online research…" https://measuringu.com/better-research/ What We Think Are Facts are Often Wrong By Gerry McGovern. "…So much of what we think we know is true is not. The Web gives us tools to verify and validate, to develop hypotheses and theories and then test them. We should focus less on knowing the answer and more on knowing how to get the answer." http://gerrymcgovern.com/what-we-think-are-facts-are-often-wrong/ +05: EVENTS. Accessible Learning Conference December 1-2, 2017. East Lansing, Michigan, U.S.A. http://accessiblelearning.org/ Script '18 January 19, 2018. Linz, Austria https://scriptconf.org/ World IA Day February 18, 2018. Everywhere. http://worldiaday.org/ Los Angeles UX Conference February 25-March 2, 2018. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. https://www.nngroup.com/training/los-angeles/ +06: HTML. Heading Headache By Nicolas Steenhout. "…Use existing HTML tags whenever possible. Don't try and make them behave differently than what they are supposed to. Keep it simple, eh?…" http://incl.ca/heading-headache/ HTML5 abbr Attribute By Rakesh Paladugula. "This article on HTML5 abbr attribute is part of the series of articles we want to post on HTML5 attributes and elements that impact accessibility…" http://www.maxability.co.in/2017/10/html5-abbr-attribute/ +07: MISCELLANEOUS. Amuse UX: The Art of Noise (Keep Talking) By Léonie Watson. "Amuse UX conference 2017 was held at the Hungarian Train Museum in Budapest…" https://developer.paciellogroup.com/blog/2017/10/amuse-ux-the-art-of-noise-keep-talking/ A Look Back at the History of CSS By Jason Hoffman. "When you think of HTML and CSS, you probably imagine them as a package deal. But for years after Tim Berners-Lee first created the World Wide Web in 1989, there was no such thing as CSS. The original plan for the web offered no way to style a website at all…" https://css-tricks.com/look-back-history-css/ Regaining Sight? By Léonie Watson. "People often presume I would jump at the chance to be able to see again. The fact of the matter is that I really don't know whether I would or not, because there is more to it than you might think…" https://tink.uk/regaining-sight/ +08: NAVIGATION. Don't Use ARIA Menu Roles for Site Nav By Adrian Roselli. "…A properly-coded web page navigation menu needs no ARIA. Once you add ARIA, however, you have put yourself on the hook to handle some complex interactions…" http://adrianroselli.com/2017/10/dont-use-aria-menu-roles-for-site-nav.html How Links in Headers, Footers, Content, and Navigation Can Impact SEO By Rand Fishkin. "Which link is more valuable: the one in your nav, or the one in the content of your page?…" https://moz.com/blog/links-headers-footers-navigation-impact-seo +09: TOOLS. Funkify By Axess Lab. "Funkify is a brand new plugin for Chrome that helps you experience the web and interfaces through the eyes of extreme users with different abilities and disabilities…" http://www.funkify.org/ Intro to the Accessibility Inspector Tool for iOS Native Apps By Chris McMeeking. "…This tool is great because it comes with your iOS toolchain and will test for VoiceOver, switch controls, braille boards, and other alternative input devices…" https://www.deque.com/blog/intro-accessibility-inspector-tool-ios-native-apps/ +10: USABILITY. Horizontal Attention Leans Left By Raluca Budiu. "Web users spend 80% of their time viewing the left half of the page and 20% viewing the right half. Adhering to design conventions will help maximize users' efficiency and company profits." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/horizontal-attention-leans-left/ Horizontal Scroll in App Design, Why Is It Worthy of Attention? By Trista liu. "…Though Horizontal Scrolling Lists does present more content on one page, problems concerning good user experience also arise, such as poor visibility, priority chaos, and mixed content…" https://blog.prototypr.io/horizontal-scroll-in-app-design-why-is-it-worthy-of-attention-b316c8d6157f The Key to Effective UI Design Is Spoilers By Ben Moss. "…Telling stories is the antithesis of effective design, because stories by their nature, pander to the unknown elements in an experience. Design, by contrast, seeks to eliminate the unknown by clarifying…" https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2017/10/how-spoiling-the-ending-improves-ux/ The Endless Battle: User-Centered Versus Designer-Centered By Alan Cooper. "…Doing real interaction design means subordinating your clever inventiveness to the needs of your user…" https://medium.com/@MrAlanCooper/the-endless-battle-575f4282ffe5 You Are Not the User: The False-Consensus Effect By Therese Fessenden. "Designers, developers, and even UX researchers fall prey to the false-consensus effect, projecting their behaviors and reactions onto users." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/false-consensus/ Usefulness, Utility, Usability: Why They Matter (Video) By Jakob Nielsen. "For products to be useful, they must have both utility and usability." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwgZtqTQzg8 Combining Graphical And Voice Interfaces For A Better User Experience By David Pasztor. "With the appearance of voice user interfaces, AI and chatbots, what is the future of​graphical user interfaces (GUIs)?…" https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2017/10/combining-graphical-voice-interfaces/ [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.]