+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 16, Issue 33, February 8, 2018. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 33 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: DRUPAL. 04: EVALUATION & TESTING. 05: EVENTS. 06: HTML. 07: JAVASCRIPT. 08: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. 09: USABILITY. SECTION TWO: 10: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Simplifying the New WCAG 2.1 Guidelines By Michael Gower. "Recommendations for new accessibility guidelines were released on January 30, 2018 by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). In this new draft version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), none of the current 2.0 Success Criteria have been altered. Instead, 17 additional criteria have been recommended for 2.1…" https://www.ibm.com/blogs/age-and-ability/2018/02/08/simplifying-new-wcag-2-1-guidelines/ The Fate of 'Target Size' By Detlev Fischer. "The last draft of the WCAG 2.1 contained a new Success Criterion 'Target Size' (size of buttons, form controls or links), which is now missing in the Candidate Recommendation of WCAG 2.1…" http://www.incobs.de/articles/items/target-size-fate.html My Accessibility Journey: What I have Learned so Far By Manuel Matuzović. "It's not about writing the most sophisticated code or finding the most clever solution to a problem; it's about users and whether they're able to use our products. Manuel Matuzovic shares 11 lessons as a developer learning about and incorporating accessibility into his work." https://alistapart.com/article/my-accessibility-journey-what-ive-learned-so-far Accessibility: A Shared Campus Responsibility Best Accomplished with Executive Support By Susan Cullen. "Those of us who are members of the EDUCAUSE IT Accessibility Constituent Group have spent considerable time discussing the importance of the strong executive leadership and planning needed to support the accessibility policies and campus accessibility planning required for compliance with disability legislation. Without planning and leadership, a college or university could find itself among the approximately 400 institutions being targeted - by the activist Marcie Lipsitt - to fix their websites…" https://er.educause.edu/articles/2018/1/accessibility-a-shared-campus-responsibility-best-accomplished-with-executive-support WCAG 2.0 - Understandable & Robust (Video) By Dennis Deacon. "For this meetup event, we're wrapping up our Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) series." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fscSeaRglB0 Toast! Is it Accessible? By Rakesh Paladugula. "A toast is a non modal that appears on the screen for few seconds and auto expires…" http://www.maxability.co.in/2018/02/toast-is-it-accessible/ Multiple Choice with Radio Buttons: A Comparison of Online Survey Tools By Terrill Thompson. "…This blog post documents my quest for an online tool for conducting the survey…" http://terrillthompson.com/blog/854 Accessibility and the Web of Things (WoT), Part 2 By Graeme Coleman. "Just over a year ago, I wrote about TPG joining the W3C Web of Things (WoT) Interest and Working Groups, so I thought it was about time I provided an update on some of the activities the group is involved in, particularly now that I am now more actively involved after spending my first several months keeping a watching brief…" https://developer.paciellogroup.com/blog/2018/02/accessibility-and-the-web-of-things-wot-part-2/ BarBri Settles Lawsuit Over Blind Access to Online Bar Review Components By Tyler Roberts. "Blind law students enrolled in a bar exam class offered by BarBri, Inc. settled their claims which alleged the bar prep company denied them fair and equal access to critical components of BarBri's online test prep offerings…" http://www.nationaljurist.com/national-jurist-magazine/barbri-settles-lawsuit-over-blind-access-online-bar-review-components +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Using Media Queries For Responsive Design In 2018 By Rachel Andrew. "…This article will take a look at the use of media queries for responsive design today, and also have a look at what is coming in the future…" https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/02/media-queries-responsive-design-2018/ +03: COLOR. Accessibility for Mobile Web: Improving Color Contrast By CB Averitt. "Color contrast is a hot topic in the area of accessibility testing. And often overlooked, are accessibility color contrast best practices specific to mobile web…" https://www.deque.com/blog/accessibility-mobile-web-improving-color-contrast/ +04: EVALUATION & TESTING. What is Design Ethnography? By David Travis and Philip Hodgson. "A common mistake made by novice researchers is to ask users what they want from a new product or service. Although this seems like the correct way to do user research, in most cases users don't know, don't care or can't articulate what they need. It is the design team's job to establish the underlying problem, identify the best solution and then validate that their solution works. Design ethnography is the first step on that journey." https://www.userfocus.co.uk/articles/what-is-design-ethnography.html Continuous User Research in 11.6 Seconds By Tomer Sharon. "…Continuous user research is fast-rhythm research that is open-ended in nature. It's not dedicated to any specific topic and it's not research that anyone asks for…" https://medium.com/@tsharon/continuous-user-research-in-11-6-seconds-57c27d1595c5 Getting Partners on Board with Research Findings By Angela Colter. "As a consultant who does user research, I've found that the way consultants present 'findings and recommendations' to clients isn't always effective…" https://18f.gsa.gov/2018/02/06/getting-partners-on-board-with-research-findings/ Use a Research Grid to Focus Study Decisions By Jeff Sauro. "…To create a research grid, follow these steps…" https://measuringu.com/research-grid/ +05: EVENTS. Accessibility Training April 10-11, 2018. Logan, Utah, U.S.A. https://webaim.org/training Washington DC UX Conference April 14-20, 2018. Washington DC, U.S.A. https://www.nngroup.com/training/washington-dc/ MinneWebCon April 23-24. Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. http://minnewebcon.org/ Generate NYC April 25-27, 2018. New York, New York, U.S.A. https://getinvited.to/generate/generate-nyc-2018/ Global Accessibility Awareness Day May 17, 2018. Everywhere http://www.globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org/ Technical Communication Summit May 20-23, 2018. Orlando, Florida, U.S.A. https://summit.stc.org/ Accessibility Conference May 30-31, 2018. Guelph, Ontario, Canada http://accessconf.ca/ +06: HTML. Can a Heading Go Inside a Table Caption For WCAG Conformance By David MacDonald. "I thought it might be a good experiment to see what would happen if a heading element h1 to h6 went inside a table caption like this…" http://davidmacd.com/blog/heading-in-a-table-caption.html Phone Number Links and Accessibility By Matt Smith. "One design challenge that used to stump me was making phone numbers accessible in the browser while still being functional…" http://allthingssmitty.com/2018/01/29/phone-number-links-and-accessibility/ +07: JAVASCRIPT. Debugging JavaScript With A Real Debugger You Did Not Know You Already Have By Dustin Driver. "The new Firefox JavaScript debugger can help you write fast, bug-free code…" https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/02/javascript-firefox-debugger/ +08: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. A Short History of WaSP and Why Web Standards Matter By Jason Hoffman. "…There are still a number of battlegrounds for the open web but, thanks to the efforts of WaSP, the one for web standards has been won." https://css-tricks.com/short-history-wasp-web-standards-matter/ +09: USABILITY. Flat UI Elements Lack Clickability Clues and Cause Confusion (Video) By Kate Meyer. Our eyetracking studies show flat UI design often possess weak signifiers and lack sufficient clues to indicate actionable elements on the screen. (5 min." https://www.nngroup.com/videos/flat-ui-elements-lack-clickability-clues-and-cause-confusion/ The Authority Principle By Therese Fessenden. "A perceived high-authority status of the person making a request can make people more compliant with that request. Applying this principle in UX can ease users' decision-making process." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/authority-principle/ The 5 Steps to Service Blueprinting By Sarah Gibbons. "Five key steps comprise a framework for service blueprinting that can be scaled to any scope or timeline. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/5-steps-service-blueprinting/ The Best UX is No User Interface at All By Burke Holland. "I have been obsessed with User Interfaces (UI) for as long as I can remember…" https://css-tricks.com/best-ux-no-user-interface/ A Primer on the Essential Elements of Successful UX By Stephen Moyers. "Whether you're creating an e-commerce app to run on multiple devices or developing a new cloud-based platform, a well-designed UX can ultimately set your product apart from the competition…" https://www.mockplus.com/blog/post/essential-elements-of-successful-ux/ Dear AVG, I'm just going to have to let you go By Gerry McGovern. "…The Web is the land of comparison and switch. We've got so much power today. Let's not let laziness get in the way…" http://gerrymcgovern.com/dear-avg-im-just-going-to-have-to-let-you-go/ [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.]