+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 26, Issue 09, August 26, 2025. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 09 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. 06: JAVASCRIPT. 07: MISCELLANEOUS. 08: NAVIGATION. 09: TOOLS. 10: TYPOGRAPHY. 11: USABILITY. 12: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY. 13: XML. SECTION TWO: 14: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Tackling Tricky Accessibility Challenges (Video) By Evolving Web. "Janell Sims, Manager of Digital Accessibility Services at Harvard University Information Technology, and Suzanne Dergacheva, Co-Founder of Evolving Web, have a practical discussion about accessibility challenges. Drawing from their hands-on experience and real-world case studies, they share how teams can anticipate accessibility issues, and plan to make features inclusive from the start." https://hs-2935247.f.hubspotemail.net/hub/2935247/hubfs/Webinar%20Edited%20Videos/Accessibility%20Webinar%20Recording.mp4 "Best Practice" Is Just Your Opinion By Craig Abbott. "I'm going to be honest, when doing accessibility audits, the term "best practice" bothers me…" https://www.craigabbott.co.uk/blog/best-practice-is-just-your-opinion/ About "Best Practices" By Eric Eggert. "…Defining what is the best technique to recommend in a situation is an essential skill for fixing accessibility, a skill that can only be trained by using different techniques and learning about their advantages and disadvantages." https://yatil.net/blog/about-best-practices Testing Methods: Images of Text By Dennis Deacon. "WCAG 1.4.5 Images of Text is a Level AA conformance level Success Criterion…" https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/testing-methods-images-of-text/ A11y 101: 2.4.3 Focus Order By Nat Tarnoff. "…Only active controls should be in the focus order. Static content should never be, unless it is receiving it via JavaScript for a page jump. Focus order should follow the language's reading order. But it will also follow the code order." https://tarnoff.info/2025/08/25/a11y-101-2-4-3-focus-order/ Focus Not Obscured By Tatiana Fokina. "The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2, or WCAG 2.2 for short, introduced eight new criteria. Two of them are related to the headache of keyboard users (and also the accessibility specialists community): The obscuring of a focused element by other content. These are the level AA criterion 2.4.11: Focus Not Obscured (Minimum) and the level AAA one 2.4.12: Focus Not Obscured (Enhanced)…" https://a11y-blog.dev/en/articles/wcag-focus-not-obscured/ The ARRM Framework: What It Is and How It Can Be Leveraged for Digital Inclusion (Video) By Denis Boudreau. "Join us to learn about the Accessibility Roles and Responsibilities Mapping (ARRM,) a community developed resource to support digital inclusion…" https://knowbility.org/blog/2025/the-arrm-framework-what-it-is-and-how-it-can-be-leveraged-for-digital-inclusion Plenary Session: Don't Expect a Winner in the Game if There Isn't a Scoreboard (Video) By Chris Law. "…The industry standard scale exists in the not-too-distant future. We're a nonprofit member-driven, member-voted group of organizations coming together to make this happen. We're doing this to provide a benefit to people with disabilities as customers, and to provide a benefit to those making large-scale enterprise purchasing decisions…" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj1HRTXb-is Developing an Alt Text Button for Images on My Website By James G. "Mastodon shows an 'Alt' button in the bottom right of images that have associated alt text. This button, when clicked, shows the alt text the author has written for the image…" https://jamesg.blog/2025/08/17/alt-text-button Why Your Word Lists Might Be Excluding Readers (And How to Fix Them) By Josh Crawford. "…This guide reveals how Word's built-in list tools create the semantic structure that makes content truly navigable, identifies common formatting mistakes like custom bullets that create accessibility barriers, and demonstrates practical techniques using Word's ribbon tools to build lists that communicate effectively for all users without requiring advanced technical skills…" https://www.digitalaccesstraining.com/pages/articles?p=why-your-word-lists-might-be-excluding-readers-and-how-to-fix-them Universal Design vs Inclusive Design By Ricky Onsman. "OK, let's be honest: that 'vs' (for 'versus') shouldn't even be in this post's title. It's not like Universal Design and Inclusive Design are at war with each other. What they are is two sets of principles that each define an approach to making the world accessible to people with disabilities…" https://www.tpgi.com/universal-design-vs-inclusive-design/ Time to Prepare for Apple's Accessibility Nutrition Labels By Access Armada. "With the upcoming release of iOS 26 next month, Apple will be launching a new accessibility feature that will have a significant impact on app developers: Accessibility Nutrition Labels. These labels will be a standardized way for developers to publicly share their compatibility with Apple's OS accessibility features along with basic design accessibility standards…" https://www.accessarmada.com/blog/time-to-prepare-for-apples-accessibility-nutrition-labels/ Web Accessibility in CoFa By Justina Valda-Rajic. "Once upon a future time, there will be a fully accessible banking product at DKB. While we're not there yet, let me show you where we stand today…" https://www.dkbcodefactory.com/blog/web-accessibility W3C Invites Implementations of Accessibility Conformance Testing (ACT) Rules Format 1.1 By W3C. "The Accessibility Guidelines Working Group has published Accessibility Conformance Testing (ACT) Rules Format 1.1 as a W3C Candidate Recommendation Snapshot…" https://www.w3.org/news/2025/w3c-invites-implementations-of-accessibility-conformance-testing-act-rules-format-1-1/ Preparation for the Update to ADA's Title II Series: Implementation By Minnesota IT Services. "Get some tips on strategies and tactics to prepare your organizations…" https://mn.gov/mnit/media/blog/?id=38-702120 Web Accessibility in Government: Common Misses and Practical Fixes By Lindsey Markel. "ADA deadlines are here, but true accessibility is more than compliance. Discover six common government website issues and practical fixes you can start today…" https://www.lullabot.com/articles/web-accessibility-government-common-misses-and-practical-fixes +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. To Infinity… But Not Beyond! By Eric A. Meyer. "Previously on meyerweb, I explored ways to do strange things with the infinity keyword in CSS calculation functions. There were some great comments on that post, by the way; you should definitely go give them a read. Anyway, in this post, I'll be doing the same thing, but with different properties…" https://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2025/08/20/to-infinity-but-not-beyond/ +03: COLOR. Use of Color (Level A) WCAG 1.4.1 - Accessibility Design Tips By Chris Yoong. "Simple, actionable tips…" https://chrisyoong.com/blog/accessibility-design-tips-use-of-color-level-a-wcag-1.4.1. Academic Editors Research on the Accessibility of Different Colour Schemes for Web Resources for People with Colour Blindness By Olena Korotenko, et al. "This study is devoted to the analysis of the perception of colour schemes of web resources by users with different types of colour blindness (colour vision deficiency)…" https://www.researchgate.net/publication/394465184_Academic_Editors_Research_on_the_Accessibility_of_Different_Colour_Schemes_for_Web_Resources_for_People_with_Colour_Blindness +04: EVALUATION & TESTING. Why Organizations Don't Do User Research and How to Change That By Laura Klein. "Organizations avoid user research due to excuses like time, cost, and fear of negative feedback, leading to poor product decisions and wasted resources…" https://www.nngroup.com/articles/why-organizations-dont-do-user-research/ The Methods UX Professionals Use (2024) By Jim Lewis and Jeff Sauro. "User experience research has a wide variety of methods. The variety can be both inspiring and daunting-where do you start, what should you master?…" https://measuringu.com/ux-methods-2024/ +05: EVENTS. Accessibility Club Meetup #12 September 3, 2025. Hamburg, Germany https://accessibility.club/event/accessibility-club-meetup-12-16 UX Measurement Boot Camp 2025 September 9-October 2, 2025. Online https://measuringu.com/events/ux-measurement-bootcamp-2025/ OZeWAI - Accessibility Testing: Mobile and Apps, Ask the Professionals September 11, 2025. Online https://events.humanitix.com/ozewai-mobile-and-app-accessibility-testing-ask-the-professionals-11-september-2025 One Year In: The Impact of the Current Administration on Disability Policy November 6, 2025. Online https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fx8kwxpyQzOlZFISzwehGQ#/registration UX Strategy in Action with Susan Weinschenk November 6-20, 2025. Online https://smashingconf.com/online-workshops/workshops/ux-strategy-susan-guthrie-weinschenk/ Blue Beanie Day November 30, 2025. Online https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Beanie_Day +06: JAVASCRIPT. Learning Web Development: Loops in JavaScript By Axel Rauschmayer. "…In this chapter, we learn how to do things repeatedly in JavaScript…" https://2ality.com/2025/08/javascript-loops.html Learning Web Development: Shells and Node.js By Axel Rauschmayer. "…In this chapter we explore two topics: * A shell is like browser console, but for the operating system instead of for JavaScript. It helps us with programming by running the tools (programs) we need to get things done. * Node.js is a program that lets us run JavaScript code outside browsers - which we can use for a variety of things. https://2ality.com/2025/08/shells-nodejs.html +07: MISCELLANEOUS. Data-Driven Disparities: How AI Applications in Education May Perpetuate or Mitigate Inequality By Giovanni Vindigni. "…Given these findings, it becomes evident that strict adherence to established accessibility and usability standards…constitutes a necessary prerequisite for equitable AI deployment…" https://www.researchgate.net/publication/394511692_Data-Driven_Disparities_How_AI_Applications_in_Education_May_Perpetuate_or_Mitigate_Inequality +08: NAVIGATION. How AI Succeeds (and Fails) to Help People Find Information By Kate Moran. "AI chat and search lets users describe needs without exact keywords, but many don't know AI's full capabilities or how to prompt effectively…" https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ai-information-seeking-keyword-foraging/ +09: TOOLS. New Bookmarklet: WCAG SCs Lookup Tool By Ian Lloyd. "I made a tool to look up WCAG SCs and copy the links…" https://a11y-tools.com/blog/2025/08/new-bookmarklet-wcag-lookup-tool/ NerdeFocus Chrome Developer Tools Extension By Ugi Kutluoglu. "NerdeFocus is a Developer Tools extension that allows you to debug focus problems when testing a page for accessibility issues. When activated, it will display the focus history with CSS selectors, and animate the focus ring…" https://github.com/wizzyfx/nerdeFocusPlugIn +10: TYPOGRAPHY. The Good, the Bad and the Unreadable By Malin Hammarberg. "This morning, I stood in the sun at the bus stop and tried to quickly check something on the City of Gothenburg website. But it didn't go well, not because the sun was glaring on the screen, but because the font was so thin that it practically disappeared…" https://stiftelsenfunka.org/about-us/columns/the-good-the-bad-and-the-unreadable/ +11: USABILITY. Why Disabled Buttons Hurt UX (and How to Fix Them) (Video) By Nielsen Norman Group. "Disabled buttons often confuse users by appearing clickable but providing no response or feedback. Designers should use them sparingly, ensure they're accessible, and clearly explain why the button is disabled…" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEjidraxhAw +12: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY. Green Software Movement By Green Software Movement. "Building a future where software has zero harmful environmental impacts…" https://movement.greensoftware.foundation Fake Renewables and Toxic Batteries By Gerry McGovern. "'Green' and 'clean' energy is built on a vast dump of super-toxic batteries…" https://gerrymcgovern.com/fake-renewables-and-toxic-batteries/ Google Games Numbers to Make AI Look Less Thirsty By Tobias Mann. "Datacenters' drinking habit exaggerated, claims report comparing apples to oranges…" https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/22/googles_gemini_water/ +13: XML. No, Google Did Not Unilaterally Decide to Kill XSLT By Eric A. Meyer. "It's uncommon, but not unheard of, for a GitHub issue to spark an uproar. That happened over the past month or so as the WHATWG (Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group, which I still say should have called themselves a Task Force instead) issue 'Should we remove XSLT from the web platform?' was opened, debated, and eventually locked once the comment thread started spiraling into personal attacks…" https://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2025/08/22/no-google-did-not-unilaterally-decide-to-kill-xslt/ Igalia's Brian Kardell and Eric Meyer chat with Liam Quin about a recent issue in WHATWG regarding the removal of XSLT (Podcast) https://www.igalia.com/chats/xslt-liam [Section one ends.] ++ SECTION TWO: +14: 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.]