+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 26, Issue 22, November 25, 2025. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 22 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: USABILITY. 08: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY. SECTION TWO: 09: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. WCAG 3 Update with Rachael Bradley-Montgomery (Video) By Knowbility. "Rachael Bradley-Montgomery, Ph.D, accessibility expert and Co-chair of the W3C Accessibility Guidelines Working Group, provides details regarding the most up-to-date and accurate information about the progress and future of WCAG 3.0…" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9DiBF3oylA Cognitive Accessibility Research Modules and Issue Papers Lisa Seeman, Editor. "This set of modules looks at different Web technologies and provides: * a detailed analysis of accessibility issues for people with disabilities that may require cognitive accessibility supports, * user needs, * areas for further research, and directions for solutions…" https://raw.githack.com/w3c/coga/main/issue-papers/index.html#modules Grackle for Google Slides: Designing Inclusive Presentations By Carolyn Quintero. Learn how to get started with Grackle for Google Slides and tips begin reviewing your Slides content today. https://www.boisestate.edu/accessibility/2025/11/14/grackle-for-google-slides-carolyn-quintero/ The Value of Selecting Selects by Value By Adrian Roselli. "This is meant to use voice control to test select menus (and other fields, but the title would be less weird) by their value because their accessible names are hidden. I'm sharing results of that testing…" https://adrianroselli.com/2025/11/the-value-of-selecting-selects-by-value.html Testing Methods: Bypass Blocks By Dennis Deacon. "WCAG 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks is a Level A conformance level Success Criterion. It ensures that users can skip repetitive content, like navigation menus, banners, or sidebars, to reach the main page content quickly…" https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/testing-methods-bypass-blocks/ Testing Methods: Page Titled By Dennis Deacon. "WCAG 2.4.2 Page Titled is a Level A conformance level Success Criterion. It may seem simple on the surface, but it's one of the most foundational aspects of accessible design…" https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/testing-methods-page-titled/ Testing Methods: Focus Order By Dennis Deacon. "WCAG 2.4.3 Focus Order ensures keyboard users can navigate web content in a logical, predictable sequence. Combining automated, AI-based, and manual testing delivers both compliance and a smooth, intuitive experience that supports accessibility for all users…" https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/testing-methods-focus-order/ Testing Methods: Link Purpose (In Context) By Dennis Deacon. "WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) ensures every link clearly communicates its destination. A hybrid testing approach, combining automation, AI, and human insight, creates clarity, improves usability, and builds a more inclusive, user-centered digital experience…" https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/testing-methods-link-purpose-in-context/ Testing Methods: Multiple Ways By Dennis Deacon. "WCAG 2.4.5 Multiple Ways ensures users can access content through multiple navigation paths. A hybrid testing approach, combining automated, AI, and manual methods, provides a thorough, user-centered evaluation, enhancing accessibility, usability, and inclusivity across websites…" https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/testing-methods-multiple-ways/ Testing Methods: Headings and Labels By Dennis Deacon. "WCAG 2.4.6 Headings and Labels is a Level AA conformance level Success Criterion. It ensures that every heading and label clearly communicates the topic or purpose of the content it introduces. When these elements are well-crafted, users can instantly understand what follows, move efficiently through complex pages, and decide where to focus their attention…" https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/testing-methods-headings-and-labels/ Testing Methods: Focus Visible By Dennis Deacon. "WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible is a Level AA conformance level Success Criterion. It ensures that every interactive element, buttons, links, form fields, shows a clear, visible indicator when it receives keyboard focus…" https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/testing-methods-focus-visible/ Everything to Know About the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Video Compliance By 3Play Media. "The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is the most far-reaching piece of accessibility legislation in the United States. However, because the ADA was first introduced in 1990, it did not specifically address digital or web accessibility…until now…" https://www.3playmedia.com/blog/ada-video-requirements/ The Architecture of Anxiety and Shame, Part Two By Todd Libby. "A roach motel is a deceptive pattern to which it is easy to sign up for a service or subscription, but extremely difficult to cancel…" https://toddl.dev/posts/the-architecture-of-anxiety-and-shame-part-two/ Speaking at A11y Camp 2025 By Ricky Onsman. "This was a watershed moment for me, because while I've frequently attended the premier digital accessibility conference in Australia, I'd never had a talk proposal accepted before…" https://onsman.com/speaking-at-a11y-camp-2025/ Last Week in WAI #2 By Steve Faulkner. "Each week I get a ton of mailing list emails and a load of github emails related to issues and discussions going in the W3C Web Standards Cauldron of words (AKA Web Accessibility Initiative). A few bubble up and pique my interest…" https://html5accessibility.com/stuff/2025/11/18/last-week-in-wai-2/ AI Will Soon Deliver Code That Will Pass Automatic Testing by Default By Bogdan Cerovac. "…people with disabilities don't care if website is passing automatic tests, or even if it is technically conforming to the WCAG. They came to do or learn something, and we, that want more people to do or learn something, we need to bear the responsibility. With AI or without it." https://cerovac.com/a11y/2025/11/ai-will-soon-deliver-code-that-will-pass-automatic-testing-by-default/ When Accessibility Progress Plateaus: How to Regain Momentum By Sheri Byrne-Haber. "Most of the time, accessibility programs usually don't fail suddenly; they quietly stall…" https://buttondown.com/access-ability/archive/when-accessibility-progress-plateaus-how-to/ +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Responsive Letter Spacing By Tyler Sticka. "Earlier this year, a longtime customer shared a new iteration of their brand guidelines. Of particular interest were changes to typography, including heavier weights for headings, and a request to tighten all letter-spacing by a certain percentage…" https://cloudfour.com/thinks/responsive-letter-spacing/ +03: EVALUATION & TESTING. Usability Tests vs. Focus Groups By Paivi Salminen. "It's easy to confuse usability tests with focus groups. After all, both involve real users and valuable feedback. But in UX research, they answer very different questions. Focus groups reveal what people think and feel about an idea, while usability tests uncover how they actually use it. This article breaks down when and why to use each method so you can avoid common pitfalls, gather meaningful insights, and design products that not only meet user needs but work beautifully in practice…" https://uxmag.com/articles/usability-tests-vs-focus-groups Rake Weighting: How to Weight Survey Data with Multiple Variables By Jim Lewis and Jeff Sauro. "…Rake weighting (or just raking) is a statistical technique that adjusts the sample using multiple weights to match known population characteristics…" https://measuringu.com/rake-weighting-how-to-weight-survey-data-with-multiple-variables/ +04: EVENTS. Common Mistakes: Easily Missed or Misunderstood Accessible Design Requirements December 4, 2025. Online https://www.accessibilityonline.org/ao/session?id=111196 Tackling Accessibility in the Google Workspace with Grackle December 11, 2025. Online https://umn.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_SP_FOmSOSeiCChTEnuTQYg#/registration 2025 U.S. Digital Accessibility Legal Update with Lainey Feingold December 11, 2025. Online https://go.3playmedia.com/wbnr-12-11-2025-legal-update GAAD 2026 January 9, 2026: Call for Proposals Deadline. (May 21, 2026: Event) Online https://accessibility.umn.edu/gaad/gaad-2026-call-proposals ConFoo 2026 February 25-27, 2026. Montreal, Canada https://confoo.ca/en/2026/ State of the Browser February 28, 2026. London, England, United Kingdom https://2026.stateofthebrowser.com/ +05: MISCELLANEOUS. The Only Frontend Stack We Should Talk About By Jan Deppisch. "…The only frontend stack we should talk about is: * HTML for semantics and accessibility * CSS for layout and visual aesthetics, and * JavaScript, progressively enhanced, for interactivity when it cannot be achieved natively…" https://netzartist.de/notes/the-only-frontend-stack/ +06: TOOLS. Colour Vision Deficiency Image Tester By Matthew Deeprose. "With this tool you can upload an image and view how it appears under a simulation of different types of colour vision deficiency, or colour blindness.…" https://matthewdeeprose.github.io/imageCVD Selfish Post on ARC Toolkit By Dennis Deacon. "Easily access my 3-part LinkedIn series on ARC Toolkit. This post brings all articles together for quick reference and easier discovery…" https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/selfish-post-on-arc-toolkit/ +07: USABILITY. Tesler's Law: Shift Complexity to Simplify UX (Video) By Lola Famulegun. "Understand how Tesler's Law impacts user experience, and how UX teams can design simpler, smarter digital products…" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOaAFBlfTdg "Easy" Default Browser Settings Aren't Always Easy By Gemma Petrie. 'What usability research reveals about default browser settings on iOS and Windows…" https://research.mozilla.org/easy-default-browser-settings-arent-always-easy/ +08: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY. Why Does AI Devour So Much Water? By Gerry McGovern. "Computing generates heat…" https://gerrymcgovern.com/why-does-ai-devour-so-much-water/ [Section one ends.] ++ SECTION TWO: +09: 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.]