+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 20, Issue 27, December 29, 2021.

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?
https://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: HTML.
07: JAVASCRIPT.
08: MISCELLANEOUS.
09: USABILITY.
10: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.
11: XML.

SECTION TWO: 
12: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site?

[Contents ends.]


++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

5 Common Misconceptions About WAI-ARIA and Accessibility
By Bureau of Internet Accessibility.
"If you're looking for ways to make your web content more accessible for people who use assistive technologies, WAI-ARIA (Web Accessibility Initiative - Accessible Rich Internet Applications) might help. However, correctly implementing WAI-ARIA can be challenging…"
https://www.boia.org/blog/5-common-misconceptions-about-wai-aria-and-accessibility

Accessible Digital Design Tips and Methods (Video)
By Stephy Hogan.
"Welcome to the Accessible Design Lab where Stephy teaches you how to design accessibly and inclusively using WCAG 2.x  AA compliance standards as your baseline. But she's going to make it NOT boring. Whether you create websites, apps, or even presentations, she's going to help you make sure you're designing so that the most people can have an equally awesome experience…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cyQxS74do8

Practical Tips for Building More Accessible Front-Ends (Video)
By Sara Souiedan.  
Sara's Fall Summit session is now available to watch.
https://aneventapart.com/news/post/practical-tips-for-building-more-accessible-front-ends

First Steps to an Accessible Website (Part 6), Programmatically Labeled Forms
By Jeff Singleton.
"…The best and most reliable method to programmatically link a visual label to its input control is to use the <label for> tag. It is basically the same as the HTML label tag but adds the 'for' attribute…"
https://convergeaccessibility.com/2021/12/21/first-steps-to-an-accessible-website-part-6

Introduction to Cognitive Disability and Accessibility Testing
By Ricky Onsman.
"Making websites accessible to people with cognitive disabilities is as important as it is for any other type of disability, and there are techniques you can use to ensure your web content and functionality is accessible to people with cognitive impairments…"
https://www.tpgi.com/introduction-to-cognitive-disability-and-accessibility-testing/

PowerPoint Chart Accessibility (Video)
By Accessible Design Lab.
"Sometimes an accessible chart is mostly just a well-designed chart…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNX58wbyTzk

What We've Found From Monitoring Public Sector Accessibility
By Chris Heathcote.
"Today we're publishing a report on what we have found from the last 2 years of monitoring public sector websites and mobile apps for accessibility…"
https://accessibility.blog.gov.uk/2021/12/20/what-weve-found-from-monitoring-public-sector-accessibility/

Procuring Accessible Software for E-learning: How ATAG can Help (Video)
By Hidde de Vries and Joshue O Connor.
"Web accessibility is easier when you do it earlier, and using tools that support accessibility is critical. This starts with purchasing decisions…"
https://talks.hiddedevries.nl/XWlAnr/procuring-accessible-software-for-e-learning-how-atag-can-help

What's The Difference Between An Accessibility Test and an Accessibility Audit?
By Bureau of Internet Accessibility.
"To build an accessible website or mobile application, you'll need to determine whether your content conforms with the established standards of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). That means testing and auditing to find barriers, remediate issues, and track your results…"
https://www.boia.org/blog/whats-the-difference-between-an-accessibility-test-and-an-accessibility-audit

Accessibility Monitoring of Public Sector Websites and Mobile Apps 2020-2021
By Gov.uk.
"Findings from monitoring public sector website and mobile app accessibility in 2020 and 2021
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/accessibility-monitoring-of-public-sector-websites-and-mobile-apps-2020-2021

AudioEye's Customer Sued By San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind for Web Accessibility Failures
By David Thompson.
"Despite working for a long time with AudioEye for website remediation, ADP, the human resources management software and resources giant, was sued due to consistent failures in AudioEye services and products to be used by blind people…"
https://www.techtimes.com/articles/269800/20211227/audioeyes-customer-sued-by-san-francisco-lighthouse-for-the-blind-for-web-accessibility-failures.htm

Disability Leaders Call on Los Angeles Community College District to Abandon Reckless Petition to Supreme Court in Accessible Education Case
By Disability Rights California.
"…If the Supreme Court decides that federal law prohibits only intentional forms of disability discrimination, as LACCD is asking them to do, more than 40 years of hard-fought-for civil rights of people with disabilities would be unceremoniously undone in one fell swoop, leaving a trail of destruction and harm that extends far beyond the scale and scope of the case against LACCD or their jurisdiction…"
https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/press-release/disability-leaders-call-on-los-angeles-community-college-district-to-abandon-reckless

Quezada v. U.S. Wings, Inc.
By United States District Court, S.D. New York.
"Jose Quezada, on behalf of himself and others similarly situated, brings this suit under the Americans with Disabilities Act ('ADA') and the New York City Human Rights Law ('NYCHRL') alleging denial of full and equal access to a website owned by U.S. Wings, Inc…"
https://casetext.com/case/quezada-v-us-wings-inc

Hy-Vee, Inc. Reaches Accessibility Agreement with Justice Department
By Bureau of Internet Accessibility.
"One of the Midwest's largest pharmacy chains will take immediate steps to improve digital accessibility on its COVID-19 vaccine scheduling website…"
https://www.boia.org/blog/hy-vee-inc.-reaches-accessibility-agreement-with-justice-department

CBD Firms Facing Lawsuits Over Website Accessibility
By Hemp Industry Daily.
"At least two New York CBD retailers are facing lawsuits from a legally blind shopper who says their websites violate federal law because they're not accessible to the visually impaired…"
https://hempindustrydaily.com/cbd-firms-facing-lawsuits-over-website-accessibility/

2021 Year End Report - App & Web Accessibility Lawsuits Break Records
By Jason Taylor.
"Our annual report is out and below are the highlighted trends we are seeing along with some color behind the numbers…"
https://blog.usablenet.com/2021-lawsuit-report-trends-and-findings


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

Container Queries
By Stephanie Eckles.
"Get ready for this incoming CSS feature that will allow developing components that respond to their container's width and other properties…"
https://12daysofweb.dev/2021/container-queries/

Personalize It!
By Una Kravets. 
"…preference-query customization is another great opportunity to give your users a personalized experience…Another preference to consider is a user's preferred color scheme…"  
https://css-tricks.com/personalize-it/

The CSS :has() selector Is Way More Than a 'Parent Selector'
By Bramus Van Damme.
"Safari Technology Preview 137 just dropped, with unflagged support for CSS :has(). Often dubbed 'the parent selector', CSS :has() is way more than that…"
https://www.bram.us/2021/12/21/the-css-has-selector-is-way-more-than-a-parent-selector/

CSS Snapshot 2021
Tab Atkins Jr., Elika J. Etemad, and Florian Rivoal, Editors. 
"This document collects together into one definition all the specs that together form the current state of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) as of 2021. The primary audience is CSS implementers, not CSS authors, as this definition includes modules by specification stability, not Web browser adoption rate…"
https://www.w3.org/TR/2021/NOTE-css-2021-20211221/


+03: DRUPAL.

The Year in Review - Drupal in 2021
By Suzanne Dergacheva.
"…if you slept through 2021 and want to know what you missed, here are the highlights…"
https://evolvingweb.ca/blog/year-review-drupal-2021


+04: EVALUATION & TESTING.

How to Make the Most of User Interviews
By Marta Kuka.
"…User interviews are an essential method of UX research…. User interviews inform product design…"
https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2021/12/how-to-make-the-most-of-user-interviews.php


+05: EVENTS.

Accessible Educational Materials (AEM) Café Monthly Series
January 6, February 3, March 3, April 7, May 5, and 
June 2, 2022.
Online
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYuc-2qrjooHNPMrnpxX8ygErTXx8RYKmuk

Broke with Accessible Taste: Understanding the Economics of Digital Access in US
January 11, 2022.
Online
https://www.meetup.com/A11yNYC/events/282246008/

Fostering Inclusion in Technology with Nikki Flores
January 12, 2022.
Online
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9L6MG70PeI

Accessible Front-End Patterns Masterclass with Carie Fisher
January 20-February 3, 2022.
Online
https://smashingconf.com/online-workshops/workshops/carie-fisher-jan/

UX Conference March
March 14-25, 2022.
Online
https://www.nngroup.com/training/march/

Media Age of Digital Inclusion
March 29, 2022.
Online and Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
https://www.3playmedia.com/access/

Confab
May 9-12, 2022.
Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A.
https://www.confabevents.com/


+06: HTML.

Image Display Elements
By Stephanie Eckles.
"Learn about the different image elements, configuring their attributes, and various considerations for selecting which method to use…"
https://12daysofweb.dev/2021/image-display-elements/


+07: JAVASCRIPT.

Accessibility in JavaScript Frameworks Part 1: What's The Big Deal? 
By Mark Steadman.
"…Let's take a look at some of the big issues that JavaScript frameworks present from an accessibility standpoint…"
https://dev.to/steady5063/accessibility-in-javascript-frameworks-part-1-whats-the-big-deal-149e

ESNext: Sort arrays using array.groupBy() and array.groupByToMap()
By Bramus Van Damme.
An ECMAScript Proposal that recently made it to Stage-3 is array grouping. The proposal brings us the array.groupBy() and array.groupByToMap() methods to easily group arrays.
https://www.bram.us/2021/12/21/esnext-sort-arrays-using-array-groupby-and-array-groupbytomap/

How to Add And Remove a CSS Class From Multiple Elements With Vanilla JavaScript
By Chris Ferdinandi.
"For the next few weeks, I want to go back-to-basics and look at JavaScript fundamentals. Today, we're going to look at how to add and remove classes from multiple elements. Let's dig in…"
https://gomakethings.com/how-to-add-and-remove-a-css-class-from-multiple-elements-with-vanilla-javascript/

How to Create Vanilla Javascript Helper Functions to Add and Remove Classes From Multiple Elements
By Chris Ferdinandi.
"…we're going to create some helper functions we can use to work with multiple classes on multiple elements…"
https://gomakethings.com/how-to-create-vanilla-javascript-helper-functions-to-add-and-remove-classes-from-multiple-elements/

Be Prepared for Failure and Handle it Gracefully
By Heather Migliorisi.
"When I was working at my first 'real' job in the field in the mid-2000s, it was hammered in the web dev field to build tiny websites (no more than 100KB per page), only use JavaScript for special effects, and make sure everything-from images to Flash content-has a fallback so that JavaScript features progressively enhance…It's clear a lot of people would benefit from the constraints of the early days of web development…"
https://css-tricks.com/be-prepared-for-failure-and-handle-it-gracefully/


+08: MISCELLANEOUS.

The Web Starts on Page Four
By Christian Heilmann.
"After 25 years of working for, on and with the web, I am looking at the current state of it and I don't like it…"
https://christianheilmann.com/2021/12/20/the-web-starts-on-page-four/

The Ultimate Digital Clean-Up Checklist: Are You Prepared For The New Year?
By Vitaly Friedman.
"With a couple of days left until New Year's Eve, it's just about time to set aside 60 minutes to clean up, sort out and back up your digital footprint, to ensure a good smooth start to the new year…"
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2016/12/digital-clean-up-checklist/

Practical Ethics for the Modern Web Designer (Video)
By Morten Rand-Hendriksen.
Morten's Fall Summit session is now available.
https://aneventapart.com/news/post/practical-ethics-for-the-modern-web-designer


+09: USABILITY.

Remember You Are Not the User
By Emma Bostian.
"One thing people can do to make their websites better is to remember that you are not representative of all your users. Our life experiences and how we interact with the web are not indicative of how everyone interacts with the web…"
https://css-tricks.com/remember-you-are-not-the-user/

Top 10 UX Articles of 2021
By Nielsen Norman Group.
"The following user-experience articles published in 2021 were the ones our audience read the most…"
https://www.nngroup.com/news/item/top-10-ux-articles-2021/

Top 10 UX Videos of 2021
By Nielsen Norman Group.
"These are the videos published in 2021 that received the most views from our audience. Each video runs for 2-4 minutes, unless otherwise indicated…"
https://www.nngroup.com/news/item/top-10-ux-videos-2021/


+10: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.

Intro to Green Graphic and Web Design Webinar (Video)
By Emma Fanning and Amy Greenwald.
"In this hour long webinar, Emma (Founder of Little Fox Design) and Amy (Founder of Blue Raspberry Design) will discuss the fundamentals of sustainable design and what it means to be an ethical designer for both print and online…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-YWZMbbLIY

5 Inspiring Videos About Sustainable Web Design
By Sustainable WWW.
"…The list is a mix of informational videos and videos putting theories into practice. By watching these videos you will get a better in-depth understanding of what sustainable web design is and how to apply it…"
https://sustainablewww.org/principles/5-inspiring-videos-about-sustainable-web-design


+11: XML.

The Many Methods for Using SVG Icons
By Chen Hui Jing.
"Recently at work, I ran into a situation where we had to revisit how SVG icons were being implemented on our pages. And that gave me the opportunity to dig into the myriad of options we have for doing so. I thought this was worth documenting for future me (and maybe some of you who actually read this blog), because there are a LOT of options…"
https://chenhuijing.com/blog/the-many-methods-for-using-svg-icons/

Poll Results: What You Prefer RSS Feeds to Display
By Deborah Edwards-Onoro.
"When I read Farai Gandiya's Working with Web Feeds: It's More Than RSS, this month, I discovered there was a lot I didn't know about RSS (Really Simple Syndication)…"
https://www.lireo.com/poll-results-what-you-prefer-rss-feeds-to-display/



[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.]