+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 17, Issue 01, July 02, 2018. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 01 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: JAVASCRIPT. 08: MISCELLANEOUS. 09: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. 10: TOOLS. 11: TYPOGRAPHY. 12: USABILITY. SECTION TWO: 13: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Make Sure Accessibility is Afloat By Susanna Laurin. "…Susanna Laurin's simple recipe for success with wooden boats and accessibility…" Includes: "Good planning… Start on time… Correct tools… Patience… Check while working… Ask for help when needed…" https://www.funka.com/en/about-funka/ceos-corner/make-sure-accessibility-is-afloat/ Deep Dive: How Audio Description Benefits Everyone By Elisa Edelberg. "Many products and features that we come across daily evolved from products and ideas meant to increase accessibility…" https://www.3playmedia.com/2018/06/21/deep-dive-how-audio-description-benefits-everyone/ WCAG 2.1: Exploring the New Success Criteria By Jonathan Avila. "…This is the second of a three-part series about WCAG 2.1…" https://www.levelaccess.com/wcag-2-1-exploring-new-success-criteria/ Does WCAG 2.1 Replace 2.0? When Should You Adopt WCAG 2.1? By Jonathan Avila. "This is the final post in a three-part series about WCAG 2.1…" https://www.levelaccess.com/wcag-2-1-replace-2-0-organizations-adopt-2-1/ WCAG 2.1 - Exploring Pointer Gestures By Becky Gibson. "…This article is part of a series that explains the new SC in more detail. We will start with the first of five SC associated with the only new Guideline. It is Guideline 2.5 Input Modalities and is aimed at improving mobile accessibility…" https://knowbility.org/blog/2018/WCAG21-251PointerGestures/ WCAG 2.1 - 2.5.2 Pointer Cancellation By Becky Gibson and Eric Eggert. "…This third post in our ongoing series of new WCAG 2.1 Success Criteria covers the next success criterion within the new 2.5 Input Modalities guideline aimed at mobile: 2.5.2 Pointer Cancellation (Level A)." https://knowbility.org/blog/2018/WCAG21-252PointerCancellation/ 1.3.4: Orientation - New SC in the WCAG 2.1 By Suman Damera. "There are some users, especially people with cerebral palsy who uses wheel chair, keep their phone/tab in the fixed orientation(either portrait or landscape)…" http://www.sumandamera.com/1-3-4-orientation-new-sc-in-the-wcag-2-1/ What WCAG 2.1 Means for Email Marketers By Jason Rodriguez. "…Here's what email marketers and developers should know about WCAG 2.1, with a few thoughts on how to take the new criteria into account in your own email campaigns…" https://www.rodriguezcommaj.com/blog/what-wcag-21-means-for-email-marketers Members of Congress Urge DOJ to Declare That Private Website Accessibility Lawsuits Violate Due Process By Minh N. Vu and Samuel Sverdlov. "Responding to the surge of website accessibility lawsuits filed under Title III of the ADA, 103 members of Congress from both parties sent a letter to Attorney General Sessions urging action to stem the tide of website accessibility lawsuits." https://www.adatitleiii.com/2018/06/member-of-congress-urge-doj-to-declare-that-private-website-accessibility-lawsuits-violate-due-process/ Eleventh Circuit Doesn't Give a Hoot About Prior Settlement Agreements By Jennifer S. Rusie. "On June 19, 2018, in Haynes v. Hooters of America, LLC, 2018 WL 3030840 (11th Cir. 2018), the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals eliminated a useful defense strategy in the website accessibility arena when it held that a business's agreement to remediate its website in a prior, private settlement did not render moot subsequent actions seeking the same relief." https://www.natlawreview.com/article/eleventh-circuit-doesn-t-give-hoot-about-prior-settlement-agreements Why You Don't Want to be a Test Case and How to Stop Serial Website Plaintiffs By William Goren. "…website accessibility is back in the news. In particular, just how successful can a company be in fending off website accessibility litigation. Also, we will discuss why website accessibility litigation is here to stay, and we will try to read some tea leaves as to how the Supreme Court will deal with the issue…" http://www.williamgoren.com/blog/2018/06/25/why-you-dont-want-to-be-a-test-case-and-how-to-stop-serial-website-plaintiffs/ +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. What is the CSS 'ch' Unit? By Eric A Meyer. "I keep seeing authors and speakers refer to the ch unit as meaning 'character width'…" https://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2018/06/28/what-is-the-css-ch-unit/ Optimizing CSS: ID Selectors And Other Myths By Ivan Čurić. "…you shouldn't worry about selector performance…always do your own tests. Don't just believe what someone wrote on the internet a few years ago…" https://www.sitepoint.com/optimizing-css-id-selectors-and-other-myths/ The Craft of CSS By Jens Oliver Meiert. "How well does the craft of writing style sheets fare these days?…" https://meiert.com/en/blog/the-craft-of-css/ Centering: The Newest Coolest Way vs. The Oldest Coolest Way By Chris Coyier. "…This is just a little observation about old and new…" https://css-tricks.com/centering-the-newest-coolest-way-vs-the-oldest-coolest-way/ +03: COLOR. Colour Blind at the World Cup By Michael Gower. "International football may not be the first thing that springs to mind when one thinks about "accessibility" (especially if you try to use the FIFA site with a screenreader), but a fascinating little case of accommodation happened last week in front of an audience of millions of viewers…" https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/colour-blind-world-cup-michael-gower/ +04: EVALUATION & TESTING. Sticky Elements: Functionality and Accessibility Testing By Andy Sellick. "In GOV.UK's Modelling Services team we looked at the possibility of using sticky functionality as part of our work with step by step navigation elements. Here's what we found…" https://gdstechnology.blog.gov.uk/2018/05/21/sticky-elements-functionality-and-accessibility-testing/ Discovery on a Budget: Part III By Meg Dickey-Kurdziolek. "Rounding out her series of articles on how to conduct value-adding user research when resources are limited, Meg Dickey-Kurdziolek takes us on a journey through the results of the fake door A/B test set up in Part II. After shedding light on the darker side of surveys, and offering guidelines to maximize their value for minimum input, she concludes by touching on that that old favorite: how to know when the research is done and it's time to start building." http://alistapart.com/article/discovery-on-a-budget-part-iii The 3 Little Known Factors That Dictate Successful User Tests By Loop11. "…Keep your study under 10 minutes in length…Have fewer tasks than questions…If you're going to pay participants, don't skimp…" https://www.loop11.com/the-3-little-known-factors-that-dictate-successful-user-tests/ What You Need to Conduct a Moderated Usability Test By Jeff Sauro. "Usability tests don't have to be expensive or require a lot of technology…" https://measuringu.com/conduct-moderated-usability-test/ Qualitative Research: The Third Essential Customer Research Input By Gerry McGovern. Qualitative research, involving talking to customers in groups or individually can add depth to an understanding of customer behavior and psychology. However, it needs to be framed by quantitative and observational research because, for a variety of reasons, customers can mislead." http://gerrymcgovern.com/qualitative-research-the-third-essential-customer-research-input/ Observational Customer Research By Gerry McGovern. "…Only when you combine observational and qualitative research with quantitative data do you get a truly comprehensive understanding of your customers…" http://gerrymcgovern.com/observational-customer-research/ +05: EVENTS. #a11yTO Conference 2018 October 15-16, 2018. Toronto, Canada https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/a11yto-conference-2018-tickets-45896991136 MAX October 15-17, 2018. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. https://max.adobe.com/ Connect.JS October 17-19, 2018. Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. http://connect-js.com/ New York City UX Conference October 20-26, 2018. New York, New York, U.S.A. https://www.nngroup.com/training/new-york-city/ +06: HTML. Implementation Report (in progress) By Steve Faulkner. "Rules of ARIA attributes usage by HTML language feature…" http://stevefaulkner.github.io/HTML5accessibility/tests/ARIA-tests/ARIAinHTML/implementation-report.html Don't Use The Placeholder Attribute By Eric Bailey. "…This seemingly straightforward attribute contains a surprising amount of issues that prevent it from delivering on what it promises…" https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/06/placeholder-attribute/ Anatomy of Creating Accessible Forms: Is This Field 'Required?' By Raghavendra Satish Peri. "…There are multiple ways of providing this cue that a particular form field is required & we will explore each of the methods…" https://www.digitala11y.com/anatomy-of-creating-accessible-forms-is-this-field-required/ Anatomy of Creating Accessible Forms: Practice the Best By Raghavendra Satish Peri. "…In today's post we will go through all the ingredients of creating an accessible form that provides the best user experience for all the users…" https://www.digitala11y.com/anatomy-of-creating-accessible-forms-practice-the-best/ HTML5 Download Attribute By Rakesh Paladugula. "HTML5 download attribute is new in HTML5 specifications. This attribute allows content authors to allow users to download the file just by clicking the link. HTML5 download attribute is used in and elements…" http://www.maxability.co.in/2018/06/html5-download-attribute/ +07: JAVASCRIPT. Short Note on Progressive ARIA By Léonie Watson. "When we talk about Progressive Enhancement (PE), we usually focus on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and often forget about ARIA. But when ARIA is hard-coded into HTML it can have unintended consequences if/when the JavaScript fails to deliver the expected functionality…" https://developer.paciellogroup.com/blog/2018/06/short-note-on-progressive-aria/ We Need to Talk About the Accessibility of Date Pickers By Alda Vigdís. "… As my project for this month, I was handed a ticket to fix accessibility issues with the date picker used in Gutenberg…" https://aldavigdis.wordpress.com/2018/06/24/we-need-to-talk-about-the-accessibility-of-date-pickers/ An Adventure in Sparse Arrays By Remy Sharp. "I offered to coach JavaScript recently, and an exercise I dreamt up was to implement every array (prototype) method, and write tests that they work…" https://remysharp.com/2018/06/26/an-adventure-in-sparse-arrays +08: MISCELLANEOUS. I Don't Believe in Full-Stack Engineering By Robin Rendle. "…there's no such thing as a unicorn and there's no such thing as a full-stack engineer." https://robinrendle.com/notes/i-dont-believe-in-full-stack-engineering/ How Will Voice Control Change the Web Browser? By Christina Bonnington. "Mozilla is reportedly building a voice-based browser. Here's what it could mean…" https://slate.com/technology/2018/06/scout-mozillas-voice-based-browser-could-change-how-you-browse-the-internet.html Surviving as an Old in the Tech World By Karen Wickre. "About 15 years ago, I was inexplicably offered a job at Google-at age 52…" https://www.wired.com/story/surviving-as-an-old-in-the-tech-world/ +09: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. Effective Standards Work, Part 1: The Lay Of The Land By Alex Russell. "The web standards process fails us too often. This series explores the forces at work, how we're improving the situation, and how you can shape new features more effectively…" https://infrequently.org/2018/06/effective-standards-work-part-1-the-lay-of-the-land/ +10: TOOLS. Firefox Developer Tools Accessibility Inspector By Chris David Mills. "The accessibility inspector provides a means to access important information exposed to assistive technologies on the current page via the accessibility tree, allowing you to check what's missing or otherwise needs attention. This article takes you through the main features of the accessibility inspector and how to use it." https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/Accessibility_inspector Introducing the Accessibility Inspector in the Firefox Developer Tools By Marco Zehe. "The built-in Firefox Developer Tools just received a new family member. The Accessibility Inspector allows you to inspect your website's exposure to assistive technologies…" https://www.marcozehe.de/2018/04/11/introducing-the-accessibility-inspector-in-the-firefox-developer-tools/ Accessibility Toolkit for Facebook Live By Minnesota IT Services. "Create your own accessible Facebook Live videos using our new toolkit…" https://mn.gov/mnit/blog/#/detail/appId/1/id/310440 Accessibility Tools for Native Apps By Suman Damera. "…Below are the tools that I have put together that I know but it does not mean that it is end of the list and there might be many automation tools in the market…" http://www.sumandamera.com/accessibility-tools-for-native-apps/ +11: TYPOGRAPHY. Pixels vs. Ems: Users DO Change Font Size By Evan Minto. "Web developers love a good holy war, whether it's over our favorite JavaScript frameworks or principles like separation of concerns…" https://medium.com/@vamptvo/pixels-vs-ems-users-do-change-font-size-5cfb20831773 +15: USABILITY. The User Experience of University Websites By Jeff Sauro. "…To understand the online experience of university websites, we benchmarked the desktop user experience of five university websites…" https://measuringu.com/ux-university/ Using Fitts's Law When Designing By Michelle Brown. "…Using Fitts's law when designing allows you to use regular human behaviour to make interfaces easier to use…" https://www.akendi.com/blog/using-fittss-law-when-designing/ Empathy Mapping: A Guide to Getting Inside a User's Head By Jennifer Leigh Brown. "…While an empathy mapping session won't alter a company culture that doesn't value user research, it can help focus participants on users by putting them 'in their shoes' when interacting with a product or service…" http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/empathy-mapping-a-guide-to-getting-inside-a-users-head/ Stop Password Masking By Jakob Nielsen. "Usability suffers when users type in passwords and the only feedback they get is a row of bullets. Typically, masking passwords doesn't even increase security, but it does cost you business due to login failures." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/stop-password-masking/ Distracted Driving: UX's Responsibility to Do No Harm By Page Laubheimer. "I walked away from two distracted-driving accidents in one week. Can we use known UX principles to reduce harm?" https://www.nngroup.com/articles/distracted-driving-ux/ UX Visualization Techniques Reduce Your Cognitive Load (Video) By Kathryn Whitenton. "UX deliverables such as journey maps and affinity diagrams help designers visualize information, so they can be better understand and act on it." https://www.nngroup.com/videos/ux-visualization-techniques/ Using Content Frames in the Design Process (Video) By Anna Kaley. "Content frames are a tool that can help us make sure we're not waiting until the end of the design process to incorporate real content into the experience." https://www.nngroup.com/videos/content-frames/ [Section one ends.] ++ SECTION TWO: +17: 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.]