+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 26, Issue 04, July 22, 2025. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 04 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: NAVIGATION. 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. 5 Simple Fixes That Make Digital Spaces Calmer-for Neurodivergent and All Users By Lē Silveus. "…These fixes not only reduce barriers for neurodivergent users but also create calmer, more usable experiences for everyone…" https://knowaboutaccessibility.org/2025/07/17/5-simple-fixes-that-make-digital-spaces-calmer-for-neurodivergent-and-all-users/ Eight Skunkworks Projects That Advance Accessibility Without Approval By Sheri Byrne-Haber. "…Here are eight accessibility-focused skunkworks ideas that anyone can initiate, even in environments where accessibility isn't yet a formal priority…" https://buttondown.com/access-ability/archive/eight-skunkworks-projects-that-advance/ Assistive Technology Interview Series: Captions (Closed, Open, and Live) (Video) By Dara Brewington. By Accessible Web. "In this interview, Heather Berg, Digital Equity Specialist, speaks with Laura Siegel about her experiences, following a brief overview of deafness and hearing loss…" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbSTrcbGZBs https://accessibleweb.com/accessiblility-video-library/assistive-technology-interview-series-captions-closed-open-and-live-webinar-video/ Why Use Able Player Instead of 'Video'? By Joe Dolson. "The native video element is, in a word, inconsistent. Browsers have different user experiences and support for different parts of the HTML (HyperText Markup Language) specification. If you want to ensure that your users have consistent access to the accessibility work you've done, you probably don't want to depend on native video…" https://www.joedolson.com/2025/07/why-use-able-player-instead-of-video/ Testing Methods: Identify Purpose By Dennis Deacon. "WCAG 1.3.6 Identify Purpose is a Level AAA conformance level Success Criterion. It aims to make web content more personalizable and adaptable, particularly for users with cognitive or learning disabilities…" https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/testing-methods-identify-purpose/ How Keyboard Traps Impact Web Accessibility Design and UX By Team A11Y Collective. "Discover how keyboard traps affect accessibility and learn practical solutions to create barrier-free web navigation…" https://www.a11y-collective.com/blog/keyboard-trap/ Accessibility Lightning Talks: AI for Accessibility, Engagement, Audio, and Access By Equal Entry. "This article is based on four lightning talks given at A11yNYC. Raquel Ronzone from Perkins School for the Blind discusses broadening engagement in accessibility innovation…" https://equalentry.com/accessibility-lightning-talks/ We Need to Talk About Your Accessibility Statement By Bogdan Cerovac. "Having an accessibility statement in itself is saying a lot, but only if the statement is telling the truth and in the right way…" https://cerovac.com/a11y/2025/07/we-need-to-talk-about-your-accessibility-statement/ European Accessibility Act (EAA) FAQ By Ela Gorla. "The European Accessibility Act (EAA) came into effect on 28 June 2025. Many of our customers have asked what impact that may have on the digital services they offer…" https://tetralogical.com/blog/2025/07/18/eaa-faq/ +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Scope in CSS By Chris Coyier. "…Chris Coyier begins his talk by explaining the concept of scope in CSS, emphasizing that it is not a new feature but an inherent part of CSS. He illustrates how every CSS selector is scoped to certain elements, using examples like styling a carousel or applying styles to specific HTML elements. Chris clarifies that scope is fundamental to CSS and not a fancy new technology…" https://conffab.com/presentation/scope-in-css/?gl=uFWAXqB645Sv :has() Is More Than a Parent Selector (Video) By Kevin Powell. Kevin explores some creative ways to utilize :has() pseudo-class. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxSowU9sDdU How to Place Images Around a Circle By Temani Afif. "Using offset combined with the new sibling-index() and sibling-count() functions, we can easily and precisely place images (or any elements) around a circle using a few lines of code…" https://css-tip.com/images-circle/ CSS Intelligence: Speculating On The Future Of A Smarter Language By Gabriel Shoyombo. "CSS has evolved from a purely presentational language into one with growing logical powers - thanks to features like container queries, relational pseudo-classes, and the if() function. Is it still just for styling, or is it becoming something more? Gabriel Shoyombo explores how smart CSS has become over the years, where it is heading, the challenges it addresses, whether it is becoming too complex, and how developers are reacting to this shift…" https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2025/07/css-intelligence-speculating-future-smarter-language/ +03: DRUPAL. Web Accessibility with Mike Gifford (Podcast) By Oliver Davies. "In this episode, Oliver is joined by Mike Gifford - Senior Strategist at CivicActions, W3C Invited Expert and Drupal Core Accessibility Maintainer - to discuss web accessibility…" https://www.oliverdavies.uk/podcast/32-web-accessibility +04: EVALUATION & TESTING. Streamlining the SUPR-Qm from 16 to 5 Items By Jim Lewis and Jeff Sauro. "…In this article, we describe the process we used to determine how many items we could remove while still ensuring the remaining subset produces scores comparable to the 16-item version…" https://measuringu.com/streamlining-the-suprq-m/ +05: EVENTS. How to Fix A11y Debt Without Burning Out with Melanie Sumner and Eric Bailey July 23, 2025. Online https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/7317520890251/WN_9WrQ1dWNTbOjJfWlw1rEVQ#/registration Accessibility Lightning Talk & Panel: From Audit to Action July 23, 2025. Online https://www.ticketsignup.io/TicketEvent/AccessibilityLightningTalkPanelFromAuditToAction Inaugural Meeting - The Accessibility Meetup - Triangle Style July 23, 2025. Durham, North Carolina U.S.A. https://www.meetup.com/durham-raleigh-a11y/events/309388859/ European Accessibility Act is Here - What Next? July 30, 2025 Online https://knowbility.org/programs/be-a-digital-ally/july-2025#bada-registration San Diego Accessibility & Inclusive Design September Meetup September 4, 2025. San Diego, California U.S.A. https://www.meetup.com/a11ysd/events/308773302/ Got Data, Now What? Storytelling Through Accessible Design September 9, 2025. Online and New York, New York, U.S.A https://www.meetup.com/a11ynyc/events/309119577/ +06: HTML. Super Short Note: Placeholder Perfidy By Steve Faulkner. "It’s a hint not a label…placeholder content is used as an accessible name of last resort when other sources are absent…" https://html5accessibility.com/stuff/2025/07/21/super-short-note-placeholder-perfidy/ Why I'm Writing Pure HTML & CSS in 2025 By Joel Dare. "Imagine a web page that loads instantly, deploys effortlessly, and never needs a security update. I'm using pure HTML and CSS to accomplish all that and to build things in a fraction of the time…" https://joeldare.com/why-im-writing-pure-html-and-css-in-2025 +07: JAVASCRIPT. Please, Can We Have ARIA Notify By Nic Chan. "I'm delighted to see that there has been more chatter about implementing the ARIA Notify API…" https://www.nicchan.me/blog/please-can-we-have-aria-notify/ +08: MISCELLANEOUS. Sassy Outwater-Wright: Accessibility Champion and More, Dies at 42 By Lainey Feingold. "…She brought her expertise in access and her lived experience as a blind woman and cancer patient to everything she did. Sassy believed that relationships and kindness are strategies for advancing disability inclusion…" https://www.lflegal.com/2025/07/sassy-outwater/ Naked and Semantic (Podcast with Fabien Basmaison and Jens Oliver Meiert) "In this episode of Dead Code, Jared speaks with Jens Oliver Meiert and Fabien Basmaison, co-maintainers of CSS Naked Day, a long-standing web tradition that invites developers to strip CSS from their websites for one day to emphasize semantic HTML, accessibility, and the separation of concerns in front-end development…" https://shows.acast.com/dead-code/episodes/naked-and-semantic-with-fabien-basmaison-and-jens-oliver-mei How to Avoid That Your Post About AI Helps the Hype By Hidde de Vries. "If we're not cautious, we may accidentally feed the AI hype by talking about it in specific ways." https://hidde.blog/ai-hype/ Frame of Preference By Marcin Wichary. "A history of Mac settings, 1984-2004…" https://aresluna.org/frame-of-preference/ Newsletters That Regularly Hit My Inbox These Days By Eric W. Bailey. "Here's a sampling of some of the newsletters I look forward to reading as of late…" https://ericwbailey.website/published/newsletters-that-regularly-hit-my-inbox-these-days/ +09: NAVIGATION. Quick Tip: Use Fewer Links By Nat Tarnoff. "…WCAG came up with Skip Links to help users jump around a page. The general consensus on when one is needed, tends to move between 5 and 10. If you have at least 5 tabstops in a card, you should use a skip link. This will allow users to jump over it…" https://tarnoff.info/2025/07/21/quick-tip-use-fewer-links/ +10: USABILITY. Few Guesses, More Success: 4 Principles to Reduce Cognitive Load in Forms By Huei-Hsin Wang. "Four principles of form design - structure, transparency, clarity, and support - minimize users' cognitive load and improve usability." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/4-principles-reduce-cognitive-load/ Checkbox Design: 8 Guidelines (Video) By Maddie Brown. "Design effective checkboxes by using square boxes, clickable labels, and clear, positive wording. List items vertically with instructions, and ensure legal checkboxes are unchecked by default to respect user consent." https://www.nngroup.com/videos/checkbox-design-guidelines/ Overcoming the Challenges of Enterprise UX (Video) By Stéphanie Walter. "…we dive into practical solutions for overcoming the unique challenges of Enterprise UX. Learn how to design systems and software that not only work but also create a positive employee experience across complex, large-scale environments…" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9p4ShC_fMA +11: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY. The new EdWeb2 update has successfully implemented Sustainable Web Design principles across 65,539 webpages By Osh Doherty, University of Edinburgh. "We're estimated to save 25 tonnes of CO2 annually because of better web design choices. And that's just the start…" https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/website-communications/the-new-edweb2-update-has-successfully-implemented-sustainable-web-design-principles-across-65539-webpages/ Actions By Climate Action. "Welcome! We're glad you made it to this page - we need everyone to get involved in order to transform our work and industry…" https://climateaction.tech/actions/ [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.]