+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 17, Issue 41, April 2, 2019. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 41 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: JAVASCRIPT. 07: TOOLS. 08: TYPOGRAPHY. SECTION TWO: 09: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Buttons vs. Links By Kim Wee. "Learn the difference and when to use them…" https://mn.gov/mnit/media/blog/?id=38-376674 Do Plain Language By Anne Sittner-Anderson. "When fancy talk and shop talk are big don'ts…" https://mn.gov/mnit/media/blog/?id=38-376673 Caption10: Part 3, Synchronized (Video) By Meryl K. Evans. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6516713127088836608/ Caption10: Part 4, Size (Video) By Meryl K. Evans. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6517078434668179457/ Caption10: Part 5, Position (Video) By Meryl K. Evans. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6517359192297267200/ Caption10: Part 6, Indicating Sound (Video) By Meryl K. Evans. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6518549881106292737 Checklist for Creating Accessible Videos By Bureau of Internet Accessibility. "An accessible video usually includes captions; a transcript; and careful use of color, text, and flashes or animation. A video should also be delivered in an accessible format with an accessible media player, and may include additional audio description when the default audio track isn't sufficient…" https://www.boia.org/blog/checklist-for-creating-accessible-videos Using WCAG 2.1 (PDF) By Alastair Campbell. Alastair's @A11y_Leed presentation slides. https://alastairc.uk/presentations/wcag21/A11y-Leeds-WCAG21_2019-04-01.pdf Article version: https://www.nomensa.com/blog/2017/web-accessibility-guidelines-and-how-use-them Best Chart Accessibility Practices By Denis Kryukov. "In this article, I will share with you the best chart accessibility practices, and how you can practically create an effective accessibility friendly charts." https://www.highcharts.com/blog/post/best-chart-accessibility-practices/ The 'Perilous Pitfalls' of Accessibility Maturity By Sheri Byrne-Haber. "…This article is my take on the UX pitfalls identified in the HFI article as applied to accessibility…" https://medium.com/@sheribyrnehaber/the-perilous-pitfalls-of-accessibility-maturity-a5cdba1bfec7 Apple's New Feature a Step Towards Digital Apartheid By Hampus Sethfors. "…I think it's safe to say that Apple has some serious explanation to do here. Both around the feature and the non-existent documentation around it. Hopefully it's just a mistake, wasn't supposed to be rolled out or something similar. Until that is confirmed though, I think it's time for the accessibility community to protest rather loudly." https://axesslab.com/digital-apartheid/ Alexa 100 Accessibility Update #2 By Jared Smith. "This analysis of the top 100 sites in 2011, 2017, and today suggest that accessibility may be improving." https://webaim.org/blog/alexa-100-update-2/ +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. How To Align Things In CSS By Rachel Andrew. "There are a few ways to align elements in CSS. In this article, Rachel Andrew explains what they are with some tips to help you remember which to use and why…" https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2019/03/css-alignment/ Breaking CSS Custom Properties Out of :root Might Be a Good Idea By Kevin Powell. "…In this article, we'll be exploring: 1.) Why we put custom properties on the :root to begin with. 2.) Why global scoping isn't right for everything. 3.) How to overcome class clashing with locally scoped custom properties…" https://css-tricks.com/breaking-css-custom-properties-out-of-root-might-be-a-good-idea/ +03: DRUPAL. Drupal's Angela Byron On Building A Diverse Community By Caleb Kaiser. "She has helped build one of the most welcoming communities in open source that exists today…" https://angel.co/blog/drupals-angela-byron-on-building-a-diverse-community +04: EVALUATION & TESTING. A Warning About Automated Accessibility 'Warnings' By Scott O'Hara. "…just because a warning pops up, or your 'accessibility score' doesn't reach a perfect 100%, you should still verify that these warnings are actually issues to solve for…" https://www.scottohara.me/blog/2019/03/26/a-warning-about-warnings.html Think Like an Accessible UX Researcher Part 2: How Many Participants? By David Sloan. "This is the second in a series of posts looking at the advice provided in the excellent book Think like a UX Researcher, by David Travis and Philip Hodgson, from the perspective of involving people with disabilities in UX research…" https://developer.paciellogroup.com/blog/2019/03/think-like-an-accessible-ux-researcher-part-2/ Personas: Why is it Important to Understand Your Users? By Keep It Usable. "Personas are amazing! If you don't have them or if you have them but don't use them (what a waste!) then you're missing out on a whole host of business benefits. Let's have a quick look at these before we dive more into what personas are and how they fit into the design process…" https://www.keepitusable.com/blog/personas-why-is-it-important-to-understand-your-users/ +05: EVENTS. What to Expect from an Accessibility Audit April, 9, 2019. Online https://accessibility.deque.com/what-to-expect-from-an-accessibility-audit A Complaint has been filed. Now What? Strategies for accessibility remediation and prioritization for future compliance (American Library Association) April 24, 2019. Online https://ala-events.zoom.us/webinar/register/e88cdf3b18379889cde7dc3c8da9331e A11y- Basic Web Accessibility May 8, 2019. Online https://www.eastersealstech.com/a11y/ Markup UK June 7-9, 2019. London, England, United Kingdom https://markupuk.org/index.xhtml integrATe 2019 June 17-21, 2019. Online https://sites.google.com/view/integrate2019 UX Australia August 27-30, 2019. Sydney, Australia http://www.uxaustralia.com.au/conferences/ux-australia-2019 Smashing Magazine Conference September 9-10, 2019. Freiburg, Germany https://smashingconf.com/freiburg-2019/ +06: JAVASCRIPT. Responsible JavaScript: Part I By Jeremy Wagner. "The web is drowning in a sea of JavaScript, awash with unnecessary bloat, inaccessible cruft, and unsustainable patterns. Jeremy Wagner plots a course to navigate the JavaScript Sea responsibly by building the right things the right way and using the web platform the way it was meant to be used." https://alistapart.com/article/responsible-javascript-part-1 Yet Another JavaScript Framework By Jason Hoffman. "…when a situation arises that is in full view and, ultimately, preventable, is the proper course of action to try and pull the web forward or to ensure that the web in its current form continues to function even as technology advances? This only leads to more questions. Who should be responsible for making these decisions? Should every library be actively maintained in some way, ad infinitum, even when best practices shift to anti-patterns? What is our obligation, as developers, for sites we know have been abandoned? And, most importantly, how can we best serve the many different users of the web while still giving developers new programmatic tools? These are the same questions that we continue to return to, and they have been at the core of discussions like progressive enhancement, responsive design and accessibility…" https://css-tricks.com/yet-another-javascript-framework/ +07: TOOLS. All As "Are your URLs too short? Lengthen your URLs conveniently and share your links without ambiguity…" http://aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.com/ +08: TYPOGRAPHY. Intro to Font Metrics By Weston Thayer. "Font files contain a wealth of information about a typeface. Whether you're a designer or a developer, learning more about how fonts work can open new doors in how you work and what you create.…" http://westonthayer.com/writing/intro-to-font-metrics/ [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.]