+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 18, Issue 27, December 31, 2020. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 27 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: USABILITY. SECTION TWO: 10: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. What a Year of Learning and Teaching Accessibility Taught Me By Sara Soueidan. "Semantic HTML is the foundation of a truly accessible Web… ARIA is a polyfill for HTML semantics… JavaScript is imperative for creating truly accessible custom interactive components… Progressive enhancement is an inclusive strategy for building for the Web… Design does not always dictate implementation… Just because it is technically accessible, doesn't mean it is inclusive… At the end of the day, it is always about the user… When in doubt, ask for help…" https://www.24a11y.com/2019/what-a-year-of-learning-and-teaching-accessibility-taught-me/ 4.1.3: Status Messages - WCAG 2.1 Level AA By Rakesh Paladugula. "In content implemented using markup languages, status messages can be programmatically determined through role or properties such that they can be presented to the user by assistive technologies without receiving focus…" https://www.maxability.co.in/2019/12/29/4-1-3-status-messages-wcag-2-1-level-aa/ Four Ways Design Systems Can Promote Accessibility - and What They Can't Do By Amy Hupe. "…good design means accessible design…" https://24ways.org/2019/four-ways-design-systems-can-promote-accessibility/ Making Data Tables More Accessible By Benjy Stanton. "For data tables to be accessible, I like to take care of the graphic design, content design and mark-up. These three things work together to improve the way users able to find, use and understand the data…" https://www.benjystanton.co.uk/blog/making-data-tables-more-accessible/ Pro Tip: Making Images Accessible to Screen Readers Doesn't Need to be Hard By Carie Fisher. "Using clear, easy to understand alt text helps your SEO and makes a big difference to a visually impaired person…" https://searchengineland.com/pro-tip-making-images-accessible-to-screen-readers-doesnt-need-to-be-hard-326820 +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. The Double Faces of CSS (Video) By Aurélien Levy. "Aurélien shows how CSS can be wonderful or dreadful for accessibility depending on how you use it and how small details can open doors to everyone or destroy all your efforts to do it." https://www.dotconferences.com/2019/12/aurelien-levy-the-double-faces-of-CSS Enhancing The Clickable Area Size By Ahmad Shadeed "Have you ever tried to click or tap on an element (e.g.: button, link) and you realize that it doesn't respond until you click on a specific area of it?…" https://ishadeed.com/article/clickable-area/ Helping Browsers Optimize With The CSS Contain Property By Rachel Andrew. "The CSS contain property gives you a way to explain your layout to the browser, so performance optimizations can be made. However, it does come with some side effects in terms of your layout…" https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2019/12/browsers-containment-css-contain-property/ +03: COLOR. A Whole Bunch of Places to Consider Contrast in a Single Paragraph By Chris Coyier. "When we're thinking about choosing colors in design, we're always thinking about accessibility…" https://css-tricks.com/a-whole-bunch-of-places-to-consider-contrast-in-a-single-paragraph/ So Many Color Links By Chris Coyier. "There's been a run of tools, articles, and resources about color lately. Please allow me to close a few tabs by rounding them up here for your enjoyment…" https://css-tricks.com/so-many-color-links/ +04: EVALUATION & TESTING. 3rd Pillar of Usability Testing: Skilled Facilitator (Video 3 of 3) By Katie Sherwin. "To get useful and valid results from a usability study requires a skilled facilitator who avoids biasing the test while ensuring that the users are comfortable. And who can interpret the participants' actions and statements correctly." https://www.nngroup.com/videos/usability-testing-skilled-facilitator/ Ethical Maturity in User Research By Maria Rosala. "How ethically mature are your user-research practices? Assess your current state of ethical maturity by answering these simple questions." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/user-research-ethics/ +05: EVENTS. Quick Start To Captioning February 6, 2020. Online https://go.3playmedia.com/wbn-qsc Web Accessibility Training February 11-12, 2020. Logan, Utah, U.S.A. https://webaim.org/training/ Acrobat Pro Section 508 Bootcamp with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, LiveCycle Designer and Adobe InDesign February 18-21, 2020. Washington D.C., U.S.A. https://www.gpo.gov/how-to-work-with-us/agency/events-and-training/2020/02/18/gpoevents/acrobat-pro-section-508-bootcamp-with-microsoft-word-powerpoint-excel-livecycle-designer-and-adobe-indesign Devopsdays Charlotte 2020 February 27-28, 2020. Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.A. https://devopsdays.org/events/2020-charlotte/ PerfMatters March 31-April 1, 2020. Readwood City, Califorina, U.S.A. https://perfmattersconf.com/ +06: HTML. POURing ARIA into the HTML Element Specs By Carolyn MacLeod. "…Having accessibility considerations where authors are most likely to see them - at point of reference - helps to raise awareness of accessibility and build technical expertise among newer authors, and to provide convenience and serve as a gentle reminder for experienced authors. It can be enlightening to see the direct relationship of ARIA to the element you are planning to use…" https://www.24a11y.com/2019/pouring-aria-into-the-html-element-specs/ +07: JAVASCRIPT. Develop, Debug, Learn? By Chris Heilmann. "We are obsessed with coding and creating automated workflows and optimizations. And yet our final products aren't making it easy for people to use them. Somewhere, we lost empathy for our end-users and other developers. Maybe it is time to change that. Here are some ideas…" https://www.dotconferences.com/2019/12/chris-heilmann-develop-debug-learn +08: MISCELLANEOUS. Move Fast and Don't Break Things By Scott Jehl. "An annotated transcript of my 2019 conference talk…I want to talk about what makes our sites break, and ways to make our websites fast, & keep them fast…" https://www.filamentgroup.com/lab/dontbreakthings/ How Creating a Progressive Web App has Made our Website Better for People and Planet By Chris Butterworth. "Ever since we declared a climate emergency, we've been looking into more techniques to help lower the amount of data transferred from our website to help lower its carbon footprint even further…" https://www.wholegraindigital.com/blog/progressive-web-app-better-for-people-and-planet/ Why Design Thinking Won't Save You By Gemma Whitehouse. "Design Thinking has seen a resurgent trend these last few years…" https://uxdesign.cc/why-design-thinking-wont-save-you-762efbcb36d8 +09: USABILITY. UX Inspiration #7: Miller's By Jeremiah Lam. "…Miller's Law is a key psychological principle that states that the average person can only keep a limited amount of information, 5 to 9, at a period of time. This theory has also led to a lot of misinterpretations, like limiting the number of items within an interface menu to seven items…" https://uxdesign.cc/ux-inspiration-7-millers-law-69a659fb1263 [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.]