+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 26, Issue 06, August 5, 2025. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 06 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: MISCELLANEOUS. 06: TOOLS. 07: TYPOGRAPHY. 08: USABILITY. 09: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY. 10: XML. SECTION TWO: 11: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Countdowns and Timers - Forgotten Detail That Can Make Your Users Really Hate Your Product By Bogdan Cerovac. "Please make sure you consider all users when developing countdowns, timers and similar dynamic information or risk making some experiences horrible…" https://cerovac.com/a11y/2025/07/countdowns-and-timers-forgotten-detail-that-can-make-your-users-really-hate-your-product/ A11y 101: 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks By Nat Tarnoff. "…Let's look at the different reasons and methods…" http://tarnoff.info/2025/08/04/a11y-101-2-4-1-bypass-blocks/ Testing Methods: Contrast (Minimum) By Dennis Deacon. "WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) is a Level AA conformance level Success Criterion. It ensures text and images of text have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against their background. There are a few exceptions to this rule…" https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/testing-methods-contrast-minimum/ Horizontal Scrolling Containers Are Not a Content Strategy By Adrian Roselli. "…If you consider horizontal scrolling containers as a way to get more content on the page or to de-clutter a page or even to keep content above 'the fold' then you might want to reconsider. Rework your information architecture, your page design, your objective, and so on. Otherwise you risk creating barriers, usability hassle, and functionally lost content…" https://adrianroselli.com/2025/08/horizontal-scrolling-containers-are-not-a-content-strategy.html 1.2.5: Adversarial Conformance By Adrian Roselli. "…WCAG is renowned for being open to interpretation. Sometimes, as this case, the interpretation is trying to balance original intent versus current approaches. However, too often it's trying to twist the language to satisfy a particular outcome…" https://adrianroselli.com/2025/08/1-2-5-adversarial-conformance.html Found an Accessibility Issue? Now What? (Video) By Sergei Kriger. "In this talk, I will share my experience in reporting accessibility issues to development teams and guide you on how to make these reports not only heard, but also understood and (possibly) implemented. We will go step-by-step through the process of creating readable reports supported by well-recorded demos." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBLrREfflyc ADA Video Compliance Checklist By Team A11Y Collective. "Follow our ADA video compliance checklist to ensure accessibility and avoid legal risks. Get practical steps that work." https://www.a11y-collective.com/blog/ada-video-compliance/ Captions and Subtitles: What's the Difference? By University of Colorado Boulder. "…These terms are often used interchangeably, but they serve distinct purposes. While they may look similar on screen, captions and subtitles provide access in different ways. Whether you're creating or watching video content, understanding this distinction helps ensure that everyone can engage fully and inclusively with the material…" https://www.colorado.edu/digital-accessibility/newsletter/accessibility-minute-july-2025 More Than Just Text: The Real Power of Labels By Akash Shukla. "Have you ever thought about why defining a clear and descriptive label matters so much in accessibility?…" https://www.tpgi.com/more-than-just-text-the-real-power-of-labels/ Document Structure in Word: The Essentials By Josh Crawford. "Some content creators focus on making documents look professional and visually appealing, not realising that certain structural choices can make their content inaccessible to screen reader users and difficult to navigate for everyone. This guide explains the invisible framework that makes documents truly accessible, identifies common structural problems that create barriers, and provides practical solutions using Word's built-in features to create documents that work effectively for all readers without requiring complex technical knowledge…" https://www.digitalaccesstraining.com/pages/articles?p=document-structure-in-word-the-essentials Do-It-Yourself Accessibility Basics By National Center on Accessible Digital Educational Materials & Instruction (NCADEMI). "…By practicing basic techniques available in most content development tools, you'll ensure that students with sensory, physical, and cognitive disabilities can effectively use the materials you create. This resource offers examples of how to apply these techniques in two common document editors: Word and Google Docs…" https://ncademi.org/resources/diy-accessibility-basics/ Accessibility Basics By National Center on Accessible Digital Educational Materials & Instruction (NCADEMI). "Making digital instructional content accessible means ensuring that learners with disabilities can access and engage with the materials provided for learning. The nine core skills below will help you create more accessible digital documents, videos, and images." https://ncademi.org/resources/basics/ Getting Started With Manual Testing Webinar (Video) By Pope Tech. "Learn how to include manual testing accessibility testing in your workflow…" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mouix6bDER0 Using AI For Accessibility Work (Video) By Lucy Greco. "This talk explores the way to think about using AI for accessibility tasks. I show how different agents describe complex images…" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5PIbuYw5ks European Accessibility Act is Here - What Next? (Video) By Ian Sinclair. An interview-with-susanna-laurin https://knowbility.org/blog/2025/be-a-digital-ally-european-accessibility-act-is-here-what-next-an-interview-with-susanna-laurin WCAG vs EAA: Understanding Where WCAG Stops and Where the EAA Starts By Team Stark. "Many teams believe that meeting WCAG standards means their digital products are compliant with the European Accessibility Act (EAA). Using a clear comparison grounded in EN 301 549 and EN 17161, we extensively detail what's in and out of scope-and why organizations need to operationalize accessibility like they do privacy and security…" https://www.getstark.co/blog/wcag-vs-eaa/ Legal Update: July 2025 By Ken Nakata. "For at least half of July, there were hardly any legal developments. This changed around the middle of the month as a few interesting web accessibility cases started popping up in my Lexis feed…" https://convergeaccessibility.com/2025/08/04/legal-update-july-2025/ +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. It's Time for Modern CSS to Kill the SPA By Jono Alderson. "Native CSS transitions have quietly killed the strongest argument for client-side routing. Yet people keep building terrible apps instead of performant websites…" https://www.jonoalderson.com/conjecture/its-time-for-modern-css-to-kill-the-spa/ CSS Hyphens, Words, Syllables, and Languages By Frank M Taylor. There's a newish CSS feature called hyphens that specifies how you want words to be hyphenated when the text wraps. But if you use it (and really you should), you're going to need to make sure you're also correctly identifying the language. And to understand why that matters, we need to talk about words and syllables. https://blog.frankmtaylor.com/2025/07/17/css-hyphens-words-syllables-and-languages/ +03: EVALUATION & TESTING. Inclusive Personas and Inclusive User Research By Eric W. Bailey. "I am not a big fan of personas. They're oft-abused tools whose utility is far too frequently not interrogated, and consequently create more harm than good…" https://ericwbailey.website/published/on-inclusive-personas-and-inclusive-user-research/ Is It OK to Edit the Wording of Standardized UX Questions? By Jim Lewis and Jeff Sauro. "…In this article, we provide four examples from three standardized UX questionnaires (UX-Lite, SEQ, and SUS) of how we've manipulated the wording, subtly and dramatically, to show how some wording modifications can be tolerated while others can't…" https://measuringu.com/is-it-ok-to-edit-the-wording-of-standardized-ux-questions/ The Hidden Bias Killing Your UX Insights: Common-Knowledge Effect (Video) By Evan Sunwall. "The common knowledge effect is when teams favor shared info over unique insights, risking UX input. Use 7 tactics to ensure better decisions and boost your impact on projects." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--HASBsD5Ow +04: EVENTS. Part 1: PDF Accessibility Basics - Understanding the Tags Tree in Adobe Acrobat August 6, 2025. Online https://accessingenuity.com/pages/webinar/part-1-pdf-accessibility-basics-understanding-the-tags-tree-in-adobe-acrobat Beyond Title II Compliance - Proactive Accessibility Strategies from K-12, Higher Ed and Beyond August 6, 2025. Online https://benetech.zoom.us/webinar/register/9217537326719/WN_HahGfYOBQouudMvAC3WEiw#/registration How to Get Started With Project-Based Accessibility Research and Testing August 11, 2025. Online https://makeitfable.com/webinar/getting-started-with-a11y-research-and-testing/ Tackling Tricky Accessibility Challenges with Janell Sims August 15, 2025. Online https://evolvingweb.com/tackling-tricky-accessibility-challenges-webinar Part 2: PDF Accessibility Basics - How to Test for Accessibility with JAWS August 20, 2025. Online https://accessingenuity.com/pages/webinar/part-2-pdf-accessibility-basics-how-to-test-for-accessibility-with-jaws-digital-accessibility-webinar Creating Accessible Digital Content and Presentations (Part 2) August 20, 2025. Online https://mainecite.org/trainings/creating-accessible-digital-content-and-presentations-part-2-august-20-2025/ +05: MISCELLANEOUS. The Many 'Blindnesses' of Neurodivergence That Have Nothing To Do With Sight By Sheri Byrne-Haber. "…Here are several forms of non-visual 'blindness' that many neurodivergent people experience…" https://buttondown.com/access-ability/archive/the-many-blindnesses-of-neurodivergence-that-have/ The Truth About the R-Word, From the People It Hurts Most By The Arc. "…We need more people to understand why the R-word is offensive, why it’s still harmful, and why it must stop…" https://thearc.org/blog/the-truth-about-the-rword/ +06: TOOLS. Tools for Developers with Kilian Valkhof (Video) By Oddbird. "Kilian Valkhof, Miriam Suzanne, and James Stuckey Weber talk about developer tools including the Polypane browser and other accessibility tools…" https://www.oddbird.net/2025/07/17/winging-it-20/ Introducing Accented By Pavel Pomerantsev. "Accented helps you catch accessibility issues on your page the moment they appear - no need to run audits using browser extensions. It integrates seamlessly into your dev flow with just a few lines of code…" https://accented.dev/blog/2025-07-16-introducing-accented/ Image Description Toolkit V2 Available By Kelly Ford. "I've made another series of updates to what I'm calling the Image Description Toolkit since my last announcement…" https://theideaplace.net/image-description-toolkit-v2-available/ Force Focus Bookmarklet By Moritz Glantz. "Some websites don't show any visual indicator when elements receive focus - making accessibility testing frustrating or impossible without DevTools gymnastics. I often run into this when testing keyboard navigation, and I wanted something quicker. Introducing 'Force Focus': force show keyboard focus for accessibility testing of websites with some oomph…" https://moritzglantz.de/blog/posts/force-show-focus-bookmarklet-for-accessibility-testing/ +07: TYPOGRAPHY. Font Comparison and Review: Atkinson Hyperlegible Mono By anthes.is. "Recently, I modified anthes.is to use my own subsetted versions of Atkinson Hyperlegible Next and Atkinson Hyperlegible Mono. Following the principle of eating your own dog food, I also switched to Atkinson Hyperlegible Mono in my terminal. After a month of daily use, I can now assess this font's practical advantages and compare it to established programming fonts like JetBrains Mono and Fira Code…" https://www.anthes.is/font-comparison-review-atkinson-hyperlegible-mono.html +08: USABILITY. Nobody Waits for Your Fancy Animations Anymore (And They Never Really Did) By Simon Sterne. "Everyone's obsessed with animations and parallax effects in 2025-but guess what? Nobody's watching. Users don't wait. It's time we stop designing for Dribbble clout and start designing for real people…" https://webdesignerdepot.com/nobody-waits-for-your-fancy-animations-anymore-and-they-never-really-did/ The 3 I's of Microcopy: Inform, Influence, and Interact By Taylor Dykes, Kate Moran and Anna Kaley. "Microcopy can have three different purposes: informing users, influencing them, and supporting their interaction…" https://www.nngroup.com/articles/3-is-of-microcopy/ Is the Floppy Disk Dead? By Kate Kaplan. "The floppy disk still signals 'save' to most users. But is it still the best way to show 'save'? Maybe not." https://www.nngroup.com/videos/is-the-floppy-disk-dead/ Phone Number UX: Always Explain Why the 'Phone Field' Is Required (39% Don't) By Edward Scott. "Users are often reluctant to provide their phone number during checkout due to privacy concerns, fearing marketing calls or misuse of their data…" https://baymard.com/blog/explain-phone-number-field Always Explain Industry-Specific Filters (Video) By Christian Holst. "if users don't understand the terms used in filters it can be as damaging as not having the right filters in the first place…" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=230zuzq2GT4 +09: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY. Best Practice Guidelines for Web Eco-Design By Green IT Collective. "…we have compiled a set of best practices for the eco-design of connected digital services (websites, APIs, SaaS business software packages, etc.) from functional design to hosting, in a framework of over 115 best practices…" https://rweb.greenit.fr/en +10: XML. Implementing Accessible SVG Elements By Team A11Y Collective. "Master SVG accessibility: Learn techniques for ARIA roles, testing, and creating inclusive graphics that work for everyone." https://www.a11y-collective.com/blog/svg-accessibility/ [Section one ends.] ++ SECTION TWO: +11: 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.]