+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 19, Issue 39, March 24, 2021. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 39 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: TOOLS. 10: USABILITY. 11: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY. 12: XML. SECTION TWO: 13: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Accessible Text Labels For All By Sara Soueidan. "On improving eCommerce experiences for screen reader users without breaking them for speech-input users…" https://www.sarasoueidan.com/blog/accessible-text-labels/ Designing for the (WCAG) Future By Ted Drake. "The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the international standard for accessible product development and inclusive design. Their goal is to provide equal access to information and services to everyone, regardless of their physical, cognitive, sensory, or socio-economic needs. They are living documents that are updated regularly to support all forms of digital experiences. This article will help you understand where we are today and what to expect in the next few years…" https://medium.com/intuit-design/designing-for-the-wcag-future-15e3435459a7 Show/Hide Password Accessibility and Password Hints Tutorial By Nicolas Steenhout. Show 'password' and 'password hints' are vital aspects of usable password form fields. We encounter them often. They often are not accessible. Here are a few suggestions to improve 'show/hide password accessibility' as well as 'password hint accessibility'. https://incl.ca/show-hide-password-accessibility-and-password-hints-tutorial/ A Complete Guide To Accessible Front-End Components By Vitaly Friedman. "In a new short series of posts, we highlight some of the useful tools and techniques for developers and designers. Recently we've covered CSS Auditing Tools and CSS Generators, and this time we look into reliable accessible components: from tabs and tables to toggles and tooltips…" https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2021/03/complete-guide-accessible-front-end-components/ A slick new issue editor is being pushed by @Jira on 31st of March By Steve Faulkner. "With no method to add alt text to images…" https://twitter.com/stevefaulkner/status/1374380714095865859 Video Accessibility for Compliance By Samantha Sauld. "In order for a company to be in compliance with major accessibility laws and standards, it must ensure its video content is made accessible. https://www.3playmedia.com/blog/video-accessibility-for-compliance/ 2021 Web Accessibility Legal Update By Ken Nakata. "Every year, I give a quick update on the interesting issues that come up in web accessibility litigation. This is my latest update…" https://convergeaccessibility.com/2021/03/22/2021-web-accessibility-legal-update/ The Fast Food Approach to Web Accessibility By Mike Calvo and Matt Campbell. "…What we oppose is the idea that you can slap one line of code on a site and call the remediation complete. These companies are leveraging artificial intelligence to propetuate artificial ignorance…" https://pneumasolutions.com/the-fast-food-approach-to-web-accessibility/ People With Disabilities Say this AI Tool is Making the Web Worse for Them By Todd Feathers. "AccessiBe aims to make the internet fully accessible to the visually impaired by 2025-but activists say the company's AI is making things worse…" https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7az74/people-with-disabilities-say-this-ai-tool-is-making-the-web-worse-for-them Screen Access Technology Has Existed for Decades: Visually Impaired Man Sues Dell Over Inaccessible Website By Jude Karabus. "Suit says he couldn't tell 'old' price from 'new', nor perceive pop-up window" https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/05/giannaros_v_dell/ +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Grid, Content Re-ordering, and Accessibility By Rachel Andrew. Rachel's Axe-Con slides. https://noti.st/rachelandrew/Mny9Vg/grid-content-re-ordering-and-accessibility Did You Know About the :has CSS Selector? By Robin Rendle. "File this under stuff you don't need to know just yet, but I think the :has CSS selector is going to have a big impact on how we write CSS in the future. In fact, if it ever ships in browsers, I think it breaks my mental model for how CSS fundamentally works because it would be the first example of a parent selector in CSS…" https://css-tricks.com/did-you-know-about-the-has-css-selector/ +03: EVALUATION & TESTING. Cognitive Interviewing: A Method to Evaluate Surveys By Jean Fox and Jennifer Edgar. "…In order to make sure that the surveys we use are collecting the data we want, cognitive interviewing is a great addition to any UX toolbox." https://uxpamagazine.org/cognitive-interviewing-a-method-to-evaluate-surveys/ Capabilities or Functions: Exploring an Alternate Form of the UMUX-Lite Usefulness Item By Jim Lewis and Jeff Sauro. "When thinking about user experiences with websites or software, what is the difference between capabilities and functions? Is there any difference at all?…" https://measuringu.com/UMUX-Lite-function-meet-needs/ Every Metric Is A Vanity Metric By Peter J. Meyers. "Marketers can get caught up in specific metrics, focusing on those data points that make you look good in reporting, but don't help you understand your performance…" https://moz.com/blog/vanity-metrics +04: EVENTS. Mobile Accessibility with Gian Wild March 31, 2021. Online https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/2816155811977/WN_RU_mMNDgRjqhZwjmUWO8wA Microsoft Ability Summit May 5-6, 2021. Online https://sway.office.com/Dbr2Uz14PIn31Dq8 UX Conference May May 15-21, 2021. Online https://www.nngroup.com/training/may/ WAS Series: Form Labels, Instructions, and Validation May 20, 2021. Online https://www.meetup.com/A11YPrinceton/events/275686152/ International PHP Conference June 8-9, 2021. Berlin, Germany or Online. https://phpconference.com/berlin-en/ WAS Series: Dynamic Updates, AJAX, and Single-Page Apps June 10, 2021. Online https://www.meetup.com/A11YPrinceton/events/275686177/ Women Who Code CONNECT 2021 June 10-11, 2021. Online https://www.womenwhocode.com/connect-cfp Accessibility Summer Camp June 18, 2021. Online https://www.accessibilityict.org +05: HTML. A Decade + a Year of Heading Backwards By Steve Faulkner. "…Why is it OK to have a substantial set of authoritative semantic HTML definitions misdirect developers for so long? And then there is the question What do we do with <hgroup>?…" https://html5accessibility.com/stuff/2021/03/21/a-decade-a-year-of-heading-backwards/ Practical Accessibility, Part 1: Markup Semantics & ARIA By Maggie Wachs. "If I've learned anything while coding for accessibility, it's that I don't know what I don't know. There is always something I've yet to encounter, a pattern I've not seen, a version of WCAG that covers criteria not previously on my mental checklist, an assistive technology that challenges my perceptions of using the web (hello, voice control)…" https://www.filamentgroup.com/lab/practical-accessibility-1-semantics/ +06: JAVASCRIPT. 242 Favorite JavaScript Utilities By Nguyen Huu Phuoc. "in single line of code. No more…" https://1loc.dev/ Now That's What I Call Service Worker! By Jeremy Wagner. "The Service Worker API is the Dremel of the web platform…" https://alistapart.com/article/now-thats-what-i-call-service-worker/ Rest Parameters in JavaScript Functions By Chris Ferdinandi. "On Friday, we looked at the arguments object in JavaScript functions. Today, we're going to look at rest parameters. Rest parameters work a lot like the arguments object, but with two notable advantages…" https://gomakethings.com/rest-parameters-in-javascript-functions/ +07: MISCELLANEOUS. Why I Use Plain Text Email By Phil Archer. "Just had an email with 21 - TWENTY ONE - tracking URLs in it. I won't class it as spam as I know the company and the subject is relevant, but it does, again, prove the value of plain text email which defeats the trackers…" https://philarcher.org/diary/2020/plaintextemail/ +08: NAVIGATION. In Praise of the Unambiguous Click Menu By Mark Root-Wiley. "…Instead of relying on the hover interaction or some other 'creative' (and confusing) solution, let's build menus where parent items are buttons that show and hide submenus when clicked. This instantly solves the hover menu problem because click menus work unambiguously…" https://css-tricks.com/in-praise-of-the-unambiguous-click-menu/ +09: TOOLS. PDFcheck Checks By Communicate Health Developer Blog. "Quickly check PDF files for accessibility red flags…" Does batch processing but extremely limited regarding the number and type of tests it runs. https://communicatehealth.github.io/pdfcheck/ veraPDF By veraPDF Consortium. "Designed to meet the needs of digital preservationists, and supported by leading members of the PDF software developer community, veraPDF is a purpose-built, open source, permissively licensed file-format validator covering all PDF/A parts and conformance levels…" https://verapdf.org/home/ axe DevTools Pro By Chris Coyier. "I'm going to try to show you some things I think are useful and important about axe DevTools and use as few words as possible…" https://css-tricks.com/axe-devtools-pro/ +10: USABILITY. Technology Moats: The Dark Pattern of Intentional Friction Barriers By Bill Schmidt. "…While technology buffers are necessary and beneficial to both the consumer and producer, there is a point where companies can use them defensively to hinder or prevent customers from receiving support. It is when this happens that the gap becomes a technology moat…" https://uxpamagazine.org/technology-moats-the-dark-pattern-of-intentional-friction-barriers/ When is It OK to Be Inconsistent in User Interface Design? (Video) By Kathryn Whitenton. "Consistent design enhances learnability and is usually best for usability. But if the problem you're solving is sufficiently different, then inconsistency may be better." https://www.nngroup.com/videos/inconsistent-ui-design/ Can UX Help in Procurement of Enterprise Solutions? (Video) By Jakob Nielsen. "Will enterprise solutions ever get good usability? Jakob Nielsen is skeptical in the short term, but cautiously optimistic in the long term." https://www.nngroup.com/videos/ux-procurement-enterprise/ Modify Your Design for Global Audiences: Crosscultural UX Design By Feifei Liu. "Crosscultural design adaptations range from translation to localization. Researching general and contextual cultural differences helps you decide what type of design changes you should make." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/crosscultural-design/ Applying UX Principles to the Visual Design of Graphical Artifacts: The Case of the Heuristics Posters By Kelley Gordon. "We made the 10 heuristics posters easy to read and understand by iterating through multiple versions and improving each based on user-centered principles and methods." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/visual-design-heuristics-posters/ +11: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY. Reducing Website Weight By Gerry McGovern. "…If you work in digital you already know that between 90% and 99% of digital output is crap. But it's crap that doesn't end up being flushed out of the system. It stays on the intranet or public website, making the search toxic, making the trust and reliability of content toxic…If we want to do something for sustainability and to do our part to help reduce global warming we must delete 90% of the pages we have responsibility for. The pages that remain we should seek to reduce in weight by 90%. It's doable. It's necessary…" https://gerrymcgovern.com/reducing-website-weight/ +12: XML. Accessible SVGs Inclusiveness Beyond Patterns (Video) By Carie Fisher. "Today, we have many robust patterns and techniques to help us optimize inclusiveness. This is true regardless if you are creating icons, simple images, or more complex images. While the specific pattern you decide to use might vary depending on your particular situation and targeted WCAG conformance level - the reality is, most people stop there, focusing on code compliance and not actual end-users and their needs. If true inclusiveness lies beyond patterns - what other factors should we consider when designing and developing accessible SVGs?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd6xEpVApU8 [Section one ends.] ++ SECTION TWO: +13: 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 WebWaste & Sustainability Information. https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/webwaste.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.]