+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 20, Issue 26, December 20, 2021. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 26 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: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. 07: JAVASCRIPT. 08: MISCELLANEOUS. 09: TOOLS. 10: USABILITY. 11: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY. SECTION TWO: 12: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Thoughts on Skin Tone and Text Descriptions By Léonie Watson. "…normalising diversity is important, but so is enjoying it. The world would be an incredibly boring place if we all looked the same, but of course to a blind person everyone does look the same, unless things like text descriptions and AD enable us to both normalise and enjoy all the wonderful ways a human being can look." https://tink.uk/thoughts-on-skin-tone-and-text-descriptions/ Why Motion on Websites and Digital Content Is a Problem By Meryl Evans. "…It's always a better user experience to let viewers have control over any motion. This doesn't mean you have to stop using animated GIFs. It means we need to give people control over it. Or post trigger warnings before showing something…" https://equalentry.com/why-motion-on-websites-and-digital-content-is-a-problem/ For Review: Updated Inaccessibility of CAPTCHA By Michael Cooper. "…The document examines a number of approaches that allow systems to test for human users, and the extent to which these approaches adequately accommodate people with disabilities. The document looks at cryptographic authentication to verify the user is human, via W3C technologies that remove the need for interactive CAPTCHAs…" https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-wai-announce/2021OctDec/0004.html Dyslexic Myths Presented as Truths By Gareth Ford Williams. "…You can't extrapolate an audience need from one person's feedback. Presenting this as evidence is great if you are designing for an audience of one person. But remember you only have one person's lived experience of the condition to go on…" https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dyslexic-myths-presented-truths-gareth-ford-williams/ Shifting the Mindset About Accessible Content By Samantha Fischer. "As the majority of information moves to digital formats across multiple platforms, it's more important than ever to create and maintain accessible content…" https://mn.gov/mnit/about-mnit/accessibility/news/?id=38-512643 What's The Difference Between WCAG Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA? By Bureau of Internet Accessibility. "In order to embrace web accessibility as a priority, you need to set goals and track your progress. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide the best available framework; published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), WCAG is the consensus standard for digital accessibility…" https://www.boia.org/blog/whats-the-difference-between-wcag-level-a-level-aa-and-level-aaa Department of Justice Reaches Settlement Agreement with Hy-Vee, Inc. By Kevin McDaniel. "…the Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a settlement agreement with Hy-Vee, Inc., an employee-owned chain of almost 250 supermarkets located in the mid-west United States. We review the actions items and timelines…" https://www.accessibility.com/blog/department-of-justice-reaches-settlement-agreement-with-hy-vee-inc SiriusXM Sued For Failing to Provide Podcast Transcripts for Deaf Users By Kim Lyons. "The National Association for the Deaf says its podcasting companies are in violation of the ADA…" https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/14/22834002/siriusxm-lawsuit-transcripts-deaf-users-ada-pandora-stitcher-podcast Justice Department Secures Agreement to Improve Web Accessibility for Public Transportation Users with Disabilities in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois By U.S. Department of Justice. "…The agreement requires the MTD to conform its website - www.mtd.org - and mobile applications to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), Version 2.1, Level AA…" https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-secures-agreement-improve-web-accessibility-public-transportation-users +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Learn to Use Preference Queries By Stephanie Eckles. "Some CSS media queries can detect user preferences. We'll review the two best-supported types for motion and color settings…" https://12daysofweb.dev/2021/preference-queries/ CSS Custom Properties By Stephanie Eckles. "Also known as 'CSS variables,' this nifty modern CSS feature enables incredible flexibility throughout your stylesheets…" https://12daysofweb.dev/2021/css-custom-properties/ The Surprising Behavior of !important in CSS Custom Property Values By Chris Coyier. "I did not realize that CSS custom properties had their own resolution behavior for how !important works in their values…" https://css-tricks.com/the-surprising-behavior-of-important-in-css-custom-property-values/ Consistent, Fluidly Scaling Type and Spacing By Andy Bell. "…There is a pretty easy fix for all of this using a sizing scale and fluid type, and I promise it'll make your websites look and feel heaps better. Let's get into it…" https://css-tricks.com/consistent-fluidly-scaling-type-and-spacing/ The State of CSS Survey 2021 By Sacha Greif, et al. "…let's see what CSS has been up to this year…" https://2021.stateofcss.com/en-US/ +03: EVALUATION & TESTING. How to Recruit People with Disabilities for Accessibility UX Research By Katryna Balboni. "How to thoughtfully recruit people with disabilities for better accessibility UX research and usability testing…" https://www.userinterviews.com/blog/recruit-people-with-disabilities-accessible-uxr Journey-Mapping Impact: Research Findings By Alita Joyce. "Our research suggests that customer-journey maps 1) tend to be created collaboratively with a team, 2) produced with digital tools, and 3) are moderately successful at making organizational impact." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/journey-mapping-impact/ Discovery Mapping Methods (Video) By Maria Rosala. "Mapping can help UX practitioners synthesize insight into one place and visualize the problem space. This video covers 3 maps that are often utilized during the discovery phase of a UX design project: ecosystem maps, experience maps, and process maps. https://www.nngroup.com/videos/discovery-mapping-methods/ Sliders Versus Eleven-Point Numeric Scales on Desktop and Mobile Devices By Jim Lewis and Jeff Sauro. "…The main takeaway is that there does not appear to be large differences in rating behaviors for radio button numeric scales versus sliders for both five- and eleven-point scales, nor does the desktop versus mobile variable have a large impact…" https://measuringu.com/ltr-numeric-slider-desktop-mobile/ +04: EVENTS. Trends in Digital Accessibility Lawsuits January 25, 2022. Online https://www.accessibility.com/event/2022/trends-in-digital-accessibility-lawsuits Before You Spend Another Penny: Bake Accessibility into Your Procurement Process April 26, 2022. Online https://www.accessibility.com/event/2022/before-you-spend-another-penny-bake-accessibility-into-your-procurement-process Web Accessibility Techniques and Testing May 2-25, 2022. Online https://events.humanitix.com/web-accessibility-techniques-and-testing-virtual-may-vision-australia-2022 John Slatin AccessU 2022 May 9-12, 2022. Online https://knowbility.org/programs/accessu-2022 +05: HTML. Details / Summary By Stephanie Eckles. "The details and summary pair of HTML elements provide a native disclosure pattern, no extra JavaScript required…" https://12daysofweb.dev/2021/details-summary/ HTML Concepts: Form Owners By Jens Oliver Meiert. "…What are form owners? In essence, form elements that so-called form-associated elements are tied to…" https://meiert.com/en/blog/html-form-owners/ +06: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. Paper Prototyping: A Cutout Kit (Video) By Kelley Gordon. "Easily (and cheaply) test early designs with this paper-prototyping kit." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/paper-prototyping-cutout-kit/ +07: JAVASCRIPT. Better Proxy Performance in Vanilla JS By Chris Ferdinandi. "I found a way to make nested Proxies more performant, and today, I want to show you how it works…" https://gomakethings.com/better-proxy-performance-in-vanilla-js/ +08: MISCELLANEOUS. On the CMA's iNterim Report on Mobile Ecosystems By Bruce Lawson. "You might remember that I was part of a small group of 3 UK web developers invited to brief the UK Competition and Markets Authority (i.e., our monopoly regulator) about Apple's iOS browser monopoly and Progressive Web Apps. Yesterday, the very large interim report was published…" https://brucelawson.co.uk/2021/on-the-cmas-interim-report-on-mobile-ecosystems/ Why It's Too Early to Get Excited About Web3 By Tim O'Reilly. "There's been a lot of talk about Web3 lately, and as the person who defined 'Web 2.0' 17 years ago, I'm often asked to comment…" https://www.oreilly.com/radar/why-its-too-early-to-get-excited-about-web3/ Practical Ethics for the Modern Web Designer (Video) By Morten Rand-Hendriksen. "As a special holiday treat, we're excited to announce that Morten Rand-Hendriksen's Fall Summit session, Practical Ethics for the Modern Web Designer, is now available…" https://aneventapart.com/news/post/practical-ethics-for-the-modern-web-designer +09: TOOLS. Gifa11y By Adam Chaboryk. A customizable vanilla javascript plugin to add accessible play/pause buttons to animated GIFs. https://github.com/adamchaboryk/gifa11y +10: USABILITY. Read Your Website By Geoff Graham. "…When crafted with care, content becomes much more than strings of text. That's because content is more than what we see on the front end. It is in the alt attributes we write. It's also the structured data in the document …" https://css-tricks.com/read-your-website/ +11: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY. From User Experience to Earth Experience (Video) By Gerry McGovern. "'Cheap' and 'limitless' computing and design philosophies gave us global warming. Frugal computing, frugal design, frugal content creation, will help us address the climate crisis. Learn about earth friendly design, planet-centered thinking…" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvQSiJpd-xA Gerry's "From User Experience to Earth Experience" Presentation Slides (PDF): https://www.dropbox.com/s/q2e93acrrgqjopl/User%20experience%20to%20earth%20experience.pdf Sustainable Digital Design Principles By Gerry McGovern. "Someone wise said that there is no system developed by humans that can't be changed by humans. How do we change this global system whose extractivist, growth, dominance and profit obsession is speeding us to the point of extinction…" https://gerrymcgovern.com/sustainable-digital-design-principles/ [Section one ends.] ++ SECTION TWO: +12: 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.]