+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 18, Issue 25, December 18, 2019. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 25 CONTENTS. SECTION ONE: New references. What's new at the Web Design Reference site? https://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: HTML. 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. Making the Web for Real People By Ian Pouncey. "…The web is terrible when we, as designers, developers, and product owners, make the wrong decisions. Or make the right decisions for us, as individuals, but not for the people using our websites and applications. With a little thought and a little understanding about how our decisions affect other parts of the process it is my belief that we can make better decisions for everyone." https://www.24a11y.com/2019/making-the-web-for-real-people/ The Future is Now, so What About Tomorrow? By Melanie Sumner. "…Perhaps if we spend a few moments considering what we do have, and identifying the gaps, we can make it easier to imagine what we want to have in the world of tomorrow…" https://www.24a11y.com/2019/the-future-is-now-so-what-about-tomorrow/ Understanding the PDF Tags Tree By Dax Castro. "…Tags are the containers that store all the meta data for the objects inside our PDF. They help us organize the information so that screen readers and other assistive technology can interpret the document content and understand the relationship between objects on the page…" http://section5oh8.com/pdf-remediation/understanding-the-pdf-tags-tree/ Automating Inclusive Documentation By Paul Grenier. "Do you practice Inclusive Design? Do you check the accessibility of your digital products? How accessible is your project documentation? Not sure where to start? Don't worry, I'll give you some ideas you can use to help make your projects more inclusive…" https://www.24a11y.com/2019/automating-inclusive-documentation/ What is Digital Accessibility in Multimedia? By Carie Fisher. "Producing videos and hosting live streaming events with digital accessibility best practices in mind is difficult! This article will answer any questions you might have about digital accessibility in multimedia…" https://webdesign.tutsplus.com/articles/considerations-for-digital-accessibility-in-multimedia--cms-34317 How To Make Your Live-Stream Content Accessible By Jaclyn Leduc. "…To ensure your live-stream content is accessible, you'll need three things: live captions, live descriptions, and a good audio environment…" https://www.3playmedia.com/2019/12/11/live-stream-content-accessible/ Test for Text Label Issues using the Firefox Accessibility Inspector (Video) By Youri Wims. "The Firefox Accessibility Inspector can help you easily identify and fix text label accessibility issues on your site, such as missing 'alt' attributes, form labels, and more. " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhlAVlfH0rQ Test Keyboard Accessibility using the Firefox Accessibility Inspector (Video) By Youri Wims. "So you know a bit about accessibility and want to start keyboard testing, but not sure where to start? The Firefox Accessibility Inspector can help you easily identify keyboard accessibility issues on your site and provide information on how to fix accessibility flags raised…" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FiQZnkKglk 2020 Disability / Accessibility Predictions By Sheri Byrne-Haber. Eight important trends that will help you get ahead and be more inclusive with respect to disabilities in 2020…" https://medium.com/@sheribyrnehaber/2020-disability-accessibility-predictions-259557b5b7e Accessible Instructional Materials Bill Reintroduced, Again By Lindsay McKenzie. "Legislation promoting equal access to instructional materials for students with disabilities was reintroduced to the U.S. House of Representatives last week by Congressmen Phil Roe, a Tennessee Republican, and Joe Courtney, a Connecticut Democrat…" https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/12/10/accessible-instructional-materials-bill-reintroduced-again Uhl and Bose: Domino's Effect: SCOTUS Skips Clarifying ADA Web Access By Nate Uhl and Sid Bose. "Businesses are increasingly facing lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regarding whether their websites are accessible to persons with disabilities…" https://www.theindianalawyer.com/articles/uhl-and-bose-dominos-effect-scotus-skips-clarifying-ada-web-access +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Where Do Browser Styles Come From? (Video) By Miriam Suzanne. Not sure where that default 8px of margin on the body comes from? Here's how to find out!"…" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spK_S0HfzFw Understanding and Using rem Units in CSS By Adrian Sandu. "…In this article, we increase the count by having an in-depth look at rem units, which have excellent browser support and a polyfill if you need support for old IE…" https://www.sitepoint.com/understanding-and-using-rem-units-in-css/ The Order of CSS Classes in HTML Doesn't Matter By Robin Rendle. "That's right! And I can prove it, too…" https://css-tricks.com/the-order-of-css-classes-in-html-doesnt-matter/ Now You See It: Understanding Display By Rachel Andrew. "A presentation at An Event Apart San Francisco 2019 in December 2019…" https://noti.st/rachelandrew/TB025V/now-you-see-it-understanding-display The Origin Story of Container Queries By Zach Leatherman. "Container Queries are an often requested feature of the web platform…" https://www.zachleat.com/web/origin-container-queries/ A History of CSS Through Fifteen Years of 24 Ways By Rachel Andrew. "Rachel Andrew guides us through a tour of the last fifteen years in CSS layout, as manifested in articles here on 24 ways. From the days when Internet Explorer 6 was de rigueur, right up to the modern age of evergreen browsers, the only thing you can be sure of is that the web never stands still for long…" https://24ways.org/2019/a-history-of-css-through-15-years-of-24-ways/ CSS Editors - What You Need to Know (Plus 10 Great Options to Choose From) By Tony Ho Tran. "Though writing or working with code might not be your primary job as a UX designer (or in your job description at all) it's a skill that will take your work far…" https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/css-editors/ +03: EVALUATION & TESTING. Very vs. Extremely Satisfied By Jeff Sauro. "Question wording in a survey can impact responses…Subtle differences can have big impacts; alternatively, large differences can have little impact. It's hard to predict the type and size of impact on responses without testing…" https://measuringu.com/very-vs-extremely/ Why are Personas So Important in UX Design? By Lauren Ellis. "Whether it's morality-encoded fables, myths that represent the sacred and blasphemous to a culture, or simply a television show you can spend seven hours binge watching on a Saturday, humans have - and this is no revelation - always had a soft spot for storytelling…" https://www.nomensa.com/blog/2019/why-are-personas-so-important-ux-design Tracking Research Questions, Assumptions, and Facts in Agile By Rachel Krause. "User-related questions and assumptions are not tracked throughout a product's lifecycle, causing misalignment and overconfidence. Documenting these questions and assumptions in a knowledge board differentiates them from real facts." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/tracking-questions-assumptions-facts-agile/ 2nd Pillar of Usability Testing: Appropriate Tasks (Video 2 of 3) By Katie Sherwin. "To learn something useful from a usability study, you must have the test participants perform tasks that are representative of typical user goals, while avoiding bias caused by giving too detailed directions or hints." https://www.nngroup.com/videos/usability-testing-appropriate-tasks/ +04: EVENTS. A11y Wizard Hour: Accessibility in Higher Education December 19, 2019. Online https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ENpbfSZ1QOqR1RXpFTwoSw HalfStack Phoenix January 17, 2020. Chandler, Arizona, U.S.A. https://halfstackconf.com/phoenix/ Meet the 2020 User Experience Professionals Association-Minnesota (UXPA-MN) Board January 9, 2020. Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. https://uxpamn.org/event-3668194 JSConf Hawai'i February 5-7, 2020. Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A. https://www.jsconfhi.com/ Sunshine PHP Developer Conference 2020 February 6-8, 2020. Miami, Florida, U.S.A. https://2020.sunshinephp.com/ Flashback Conference 2020 February 10-11, 2020. Orlando, Florida, U.S.A. https://cfe.dev/events/flashback-conference-2020/ DeveloperWeek February 12-16, 2020. San Francisco, California, U.S.A. https://www.developerweek.com/ +05: HTML. Do I Need a Custom Select? By Brad Frost. "No. Custom selects are a pain for everyone involved. They are not accessible, and most of the time make for a way worse UI." No one cares about styled option tags, I promise you." https://bradfrost.com/blog/link/do-i-need-a-custom-select/ Why
is Not an Accordion By Dave Rupert. " is a button and buttons eat semantics…" https://daverupert.com/2019/12/why-details-is-not-an-accordion/ Call To Action: HTML Needs More Native Rich Widgets By Marco Zehe. "Over the weekend, this post by Dave Rupert made the rounds, and I totally agree with what he is saying…" https://marcozehe.de/2019/12/16/call-to-action-html-needs-more-native-rich-widgets/ +06: JAVASCRIPT. If you ARIA Label Something, Give it a Role By Maro Zehe. "if you label something via aria-label or aria-labelledby, make sure it has a proper widget or landmark role…" https://marcozehe.de/2019/12/12/if-you-aria-label-something-give-it-a-role/ Request for aria-description to Set Accessible Description #891 By Diane Ko. Aria-description is being added to the ARIA spec. https://github.com/w3c/aria/issues/891 +07: MISCELLANEOUS. How to Fight Back Against Google AMP as a Web user and a Web Developer By Marko Saric. "I rarely encounter AMP in the wild. It is possible to restrict Google AMP from your life both as a web user and as a web developer. Here's how you can fight back against Google AMP…" https://markosaric.com/google-amp/ +08: NAVIGATION. Showing File Types in Links By Adrian Roselli. "Links to files can be a surprise for users, especially those who cannot use, do not notice, or do not have the status bar to show a link destination…" https://adrianroselli.com/2019/12/showing-file-types-in-links.html Link In Bio is a Slow Knife By Anil Dash. "We don't even notice it anymore - 'link in bio'…Its presence is so subtle, and so pervasive, that we barely even noticed it was an attempt to kill the web. Links on the web are incredibly powerful. There are decades of theory behind the role of hyperlinks in hypertext - did you know in most early versions, links were originally designed to be two-way?…" https://anildash.com/2019/12/10/link-in-bio-is-how-they-tried-to-kill-the-web/ +09: USABILITY. Marking Required Fields in Online Forms (Video) By Raluca Budiu. "Do you need to mark fields as 'required' in forms on your website or in apps? What if all fields are required? And what is the best way to show that a form field is required?" https://www.nngroup.com/videos/required-fields-forms/ Why Jargon is the Silent Killer of Customer Experience By Steven Carr. "…it's important to avoid jargon for three reasons: 1. Jargon can impair clarity… 2. Jargon can be isolating… Jargon can be condescending…" https://www.usertesting.com/blog/jargon-customer-experience/ [Section one ends.] ++ SECTION TWO: +10: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? Accessibility Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/accessibility.html Association Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/associations.html Book Listings. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/books.html Cascading Style Sheets Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/css.html Color Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/color.html Drupal Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/drupal.html Evaluation & Testing Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/testing.html Event Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/events.html HTML Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/html.html Information Architecture Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/architecture.html JavaScript Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/javascript.html Miscellaneous Web Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/misc.html Navigation Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/navigation.html PHP Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/php.html Sites & Blogs Listing. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/sites.html Standards, Guidelines & Pattern Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/standards.html Tool Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/tools.html Typography Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/type.html Usability Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/usability.html XML Information. https://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: https://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.]