+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 20, Issue 29, January 12, 2022. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 29 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: COLOR. 04: EVALUATION & TESTING. 05: EVENTS. 06: HTML. 07: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. 08: JAVASCRIPT. 09: MISCELLANEOUS. 10: TYPOGRAPHY. 11: USABILITY. 12: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY. SECTION TWO: 13: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Labeling the Point: Scenarios of Label Misuse in WCAG By David Swallow. "Whether they're for jars, clothes, or vinyl records, labels are essential for identifying and describing things. And form controls are no exception…" https://www.tpgi.com/labeling-the-point-scenarios-of-label-misuse-in-wcag/ Foundations: Animations and Flashing Content By Patrick H. Lauke. "Animation and movement can add to the visual appeal of content, but poorly designed animations can cause problems for many people unless it is implemented correctly…" https://tetralogical.com/blog/2022/01/10/animations-and-flashing-content/ Alt Tag Emptiness By Steve Faulkner. "With the alt attribute you can provide a text alternative to represent the meaning of the visual content in an in the context of its use or to signify the img can be safely ignored…" https://html5accessibility.com/stuff/2022/01/10/alt-tag-emptiness/ Accessible Heading Structure By Rian Rietveld. "Headings are the backbone of the content of a page. A visitor should be able to scan the webpage using headings to get a good impression of its content…" https://www.a11yproject.com/posts/how-to-accessible-heading-structure/ The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative + Cognitive Accessibility (Video) By Steve Lee. Steve's September 2021 TechExeter presentation: "We're going to talk about accessibility for people with cognitive and learning disabilities. And what you'll hopefully go away with at the end of this presentation is a guide to understanding and implementing cognitive accessibility and also information about the WAI Accessibility Initiative website…" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKUAlLdt0vk 4 Ways Mobile Apps Could be a Lot More Accessible By Chase DiBenedetto. "…There's a long to-do list to make their day-to-day lives easier and wholly accessible, including needed accessibility changes to our beloved mobile apps…" https://mashable.com/article/mobile-apps-accessibility-fixes How to Make Sure Your Accessible PDFs Stay Accessible in WordPress By Deborah Edwards-Onoro. "…But what many users of image optimization plugins may not be aware of is that accessible PDFs will have tags automatically stripped on upload…" https://www.lireo.com/make-sure-your-accessible-pdfs-stay-accessible-in-wordpress/ Web Accessibility Cheat Sheet By Carlo Gino Catapang. "Accessibility is the practice of making your websites usable by as many people as possible…" https://dev.to/codegino/web-accessibility-cheat-sheet-3774 WCAG Level AAA Success Criteria Are Strict, But They're Still Worth Your Attention By Bureau of Internet Accessibility. "Published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the most widely cited international standards for digital accessibility. The WCAG framework defines three levels of conformance: Level A (lowest), Level AA, and Level AAA (highest)…" https://www.boia.org/blog/wcag-level-aaa-success-criteria-are-strict-but-theyre-still-worth-your-attention This is WCAG 2.1 By Ross Mullen. "WCAG success criteria in plain English. Understand how to build and test against WCAG consistently…" https://thisiswcag.com/ More Google and Afterthought Accessibility By Adrian Roselli. "Google has an extensive history of releasing products and tools that fail basic accessibility…" https://adrianroselli.com/2022/01/more-google-and-afterthought-accessibility.html Accessibility Awareness is on the Rise, But is it Turning Into Action? By Joe Devon. "…what kind of impact is the crisis having on accessibility? Are organizations finally getting the message on the importance of accessibility?…" https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/26/accessibility-awareness-is-on-the-rise-but-is-it-turning-into-action/ Business Case For Digital Accessibility By Maxability. "…Digital accessibility is just not important, it is essential. While accessibility makes tasks easy for everyone it makes them possible for persons with disabilities. This business case for digital accessibility may support you in including digital accessibility to the product life cycle. Any feedback, points to add for the next version can be pointed to" https://www.maxability.co.in/2022/01/08/business-case-for-digital-accessibility/ ADA Digital Accessibility Lawsuits 2021: Our Takeaway By Sathish Kumar. "…Looking at the trends in the ADA lawsuits in 2021, one surely feels the digital accessibility has a long winding path ahead…" https://www.digitala11y.com/ada-digital-accessibility-lawsuits-2021-our-takeaway/ Which Type of Accessibility Standards Apply for ADA Compliance Mobile App? By Rajesh Bhimani. "…You need to restructure your mobile app by following the accessibility standards namely ADA and WCAG 2.1 guidelines… https://www.skynettechnologies.com/blog/ada-compliance-mobile-app Crystal Ball 2022: More Aggressive DOJ Enforcement, More Lawsuits, and Maybe a New Rule Making By Minh Vu. "We predict 2022 will look a lot like 2021 with roughly the same number of lawsuits and DOJ pushing the boundaries of the ADA…" https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/crystal-ball-2022-more-aggressive-doj-3609952/ +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. The 6 Most Important CSS Concepts for Beginners (Video) By Kevin Powell. "When we first get started with CSS, we hear a lot of new terms and jargon, a lot of which is glossed over pretty quickly. In this video, I look at the most important things to know when getting started, but I also look at why they matter, and how to work with them or take advantage of them to write better CSS…" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnTPd9G6hoY Getting Started with CSS (Video) By Jen Kramer. "Get to know CSS in the right way without the fluff. You'll style text, build navigation bars, headers/footers, add icons, and more. You'll even build a professional portfolio website by the end of the course…" https://frontendmasters.com/courses/getting-started-css/ How Flexbox Works By Tiffany B. Brown. "Unlike many parts of CSS, Flexible box layout or Flexbox can be difficult to understand just by using it. It wasn't until this most recent update of CSS Master that I even sort of grokked it.1 I hope to untangle its mysteries in this post…" https://tiffanybbrown.com/2022/01/how-does-flexbox-work/index.html Centering Vertically and Horizontally with CSS By Alvaro Montoro. "This article will show five different ways of centering vertically and horizontally with HTML+CSS, presented in chronological order: from how it was done in the past (which we should avoid now) to the modern ways of centering content in the present…" https://alvaromontoro.com/blog/67995/centering-vertically-and-horizontally-with-CSS Don't Fight the Cascade, Control It! By Mads Stoumann. "If you're disciplined and make use of the inheritance that the CSS cascade provides, you'll end up writing less CSS…" https://css-tricks.com/dont-fight-the-cascade-control-it/ CSS Underlines Are Too Thin and Too Low in Chrome By Šime Vidas. "I've encountered two bugs in Chrome while testing the new CSS text-decoration-thickness and text-underline-offset properties, and I want to share them with you here in this article…" https://css-tricks.com/css-underlines-are-too-thin-and-too-low-in-chrome/ A Little Known Media Query: Aspect Ratio By Chip Cullen. "As we are eagerly looking forward to container queries, and an overall push towards intrinsic design, I wanted to point out that there is a kind of media query that often gets overlooked: aspect ratio…" https://chipcullen.com/media-query-aspect-ratio/ Don't Use Viewport Units for Font Size on Their Own By Chip Cullen. "A quick pointer on something I just became aware of - that is, using viewport units (vw or vh) for font-size declarations presents an accessibility issue. It will actually prevent users from being to increase the size of text by zooming in or out…" https://chipcullen.com/dont-use-viewport-units-for-font-size-on-their-own/ +03: COLOR. What's Red & Black & Also Not Read? By Andrew Somers. "Color vision is complicated, nuanced, and also different for different people…" https://atangledwebweweave.com/whats-red-black-also-not-read-573b9c0a97ed +04: EVALUATION & TESTING. What Are Contextual Inquiries? (Video) By Mayya Azarova. Contextual inquiry is a user research method that is helpful to define requirements, improve processes, learn what's important to users, and spark ideas for future projects. https://www.nngroup.com/videos/what-are-contextual-inquiries/ Conducting User Interviews, Usability Testing, and Surveys By Nikolay Melnik. "…User research helps us to crystallize users' problems and create solutions that directly address them…" https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2022/01/conducting-user-interviews-usability-testing-and-surveys.php Creating a UX Research Plan (Video) By Sarah Gibbons. "Before starting any user research project, write down a research plan, preferably using a template that ensures that you don't overlook something. This keeps stakeholders informed and structures your own thinking." https://www.nngroup.com/videos/creating-ux-research-plan/ ResearchOps: Study Guide By Kate Kaplan. "Unsure where to start? Use this collection of links to our articles and videos to learn about the components of ResearchOps and get started implementing ResearchOps activities." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/research-ops-study-guide/ Moderating Usability Testing With People With Disabilities By Ela Gorla. "All user research projects should include people with disabilities. Representing at least 15% of the world population, according to The World Bank, and potentially your target market, it doesn't make sense to exclude them. This post provides user researchers with tips on how to best moderate usability testing sessions where participants have a disability…" https://tetralogical.com/blog/2022/01/04/moderating-usability-testing-sessions-with-people-with-disabilities/ Conducting Usability Testing with Blind Users- Research Facilitation Tips By Kayla J Heffernan. "Before facilitating my first research sessions with blind users at Vision Australia, I prepared. In this post I'm going to outline what I did, and dive into some pragmatic tips on running these sessions so you too can be prepared…" https://kaylajheffernan.medium.com/facilitation-tips-for-research-with-blind-users-acf7dad6554b Comparing Select-All-That-Apply with Two Yes/No Item Formats By Jim Lewis and Jeff Sauro. "…Researchers have reasoned that if there is a difference in selection rates as a function of question format, you would expect higher rates with forced choice than with SATA. Empirical analysis of previous research generally supports this hypothesis. In our current UX research, we found no significant difference in selection rates when both formats appeared in grids…" https://measuringu.com/comparing-sata-vs-yes-no-forced-choice/ +05: EVENTS. Remixed 2022 Global January 14, 21, 28, 2022. Online https://webdirections.org/remixed/ Project Management to Empower Accessibility January 27, 2022. Online https://www.accessibilityassociation.org/s/webinar-details?id=a0A3p0000183eHCEAY 10 Best Practices for XR Accessibility April 7, 2022. Online https://www.accessibilityassociation.org/s/webinar-details?id=a0A3p0000183edNEAQ Accessibility at Scale: Maturing Accessibility in a Large Health Care Organization May 4, 2022. Online https://www.accessibilityassociation.org/s/webinar-details?id=a0A3p0000183ee6EAA HOW Design Live May 22-24, 2022. Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. https://howdesignlive.com/ Web Accessibility Techniques and Testing May 31-June 22, 2022. Online https://events.humanitix.com/web-accessibility-techniques-and-testing-virtual-june-vision-australia-2022 CSS Day 2022 June 9-10, 2022. Compagnietheater, Amsterdam https://cssday.nl/2022 +06: HTML. 30 Day Beginner HTML and CSS with Bree Hall By Chris Ferdinandi. "…Today, I wanted to share a cool new project from Bree Hall: 30 Day Beginner HTML & CSS Coding Calendar. Bree explains how it works in this video…" https://gomakethings.com/30-day-beginner-html-and-css-with-bree-hall/ +07: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. Revisiting IA's Past By Jorge Arango. "I recently unearthed an interesting IA fossil: a review of the first edition of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, the venerable polar bear book…" https://jarango.com/2022/01/05/revisiting-ias-past/ +08: JAVASCRIPT. Accessibility Vue By Marcus Herrmann. "Learn about core concepts of web app accessibility, tips & tricks, best practices strategies and and how to implement inclusive components in Vue 2 and 3…" https://accessible-vue.com/ Two Ways To Clear an Array With Vanilla Javascript By Chris Ferdinandi. "Two ways to clear an array with vanilla JavaScript Today, we're going to look at two different ways to empty an array with JavaScript…" https://gomakethings.com/two-ways-to-clear-an-array-with-vanilla-javascript/ What's The Best Way to Loop Over Arrays and Elements in JavaScript? By Chris Ferdinandi. "…Today, we're going to look at the different ways you can loop over things with vanilla JS, and when and why to choose one over the other…" https://gomakethings.com/whats-the-best-way-to-loop-over-arrays-and-elements-in-javascript/ +09: MISCELLANEOUS. Q&A With Lainey Feingold, Disability Rights Lawyer By Equal Entry. "Lainey Feingold is a disability rights lawyer who has worked in the digital accessibility space since 1995…" https://equalentry.com/accessibility-activist-lainey-feingold/ A Not so Gentle Intro to Web3 By Koos Looijesteijn. "Almost everything web3-related is a grift based on getting people to buy crypto. Although the distributed part of blockchain technology is sort of neat, it's not that ground-breaking, as having stuff distributed is the whole basis of internet technology since the very beginnings…" https://www.kooslooijesteijn.net/blog/web3 The Web Doesn't Have Version Numbers By Hidde de Vries. "Like 'Web 2.0', 'web3' is a marketing term. There is no versioning system for the web. There are also lots of exciting uses for the web and problems with it outside the realm of 'web3'…" https://hiddedevries.nl/en/blog/2022-01-03-the-web-doesnt-have-version-numbers +10: TYPOGRAPHY. WordPress Accessibility Meetup: Accessible Typography with Carie Fisher By Deborah Edwards-Onoro. "Typography, the art of selecting and styling text, is crucial in creating a website that is readable, scannable, and accessible…" https://www.lireo.com/wordpress-accessibility-meetup-accessible-typography-with-carie-fisher/ +11: USABILITY. Autonomy, Relatedness, and Competence in UX Design By Tanner Kohler. "Addressing these fundamental psychological needs in our products increases user motivation and well-being and keeps them engaged and likely to use our designs." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/autonomy-relatedness-competence/ +12: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY. Invisible, Immaterial Internet Not What It Seems By Gerry McGovern. "…A doubling in energy efficiency leads to a trebling in energy use…even the energy efficiency of modern devices isn't always greater than older devices. For example, a one-hour phone call between two people using an old-fashioned analog wired fixed-line device results in about 3.6 MB of data. The same audio call using a VOIP system like Skype would result in about 27 MB of data. So, VOIP is still about eight times less efficient at making audio calls than an analog phone." https://gerrymcgovern.com/invisible-immaterial-internet-not-what-it-seems/ [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.]