[webdev] Web Design Update: December 26, 2013

Thu Dec 26 11:24:50 CST 2013

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 12, Issue 27, December 26, 2014.

An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web
design and development.

++ISSUE 27 CONTENTS.

SECTION ONE: New references.
What's new at the Web Design Reference site?
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/
New links in these categories:

01: ACCESSIBILITY.
02: EVALUATION & TESTING.
03: EVENTS.
04: HTML5.
05: MISCELLANEOUS.
06: TYPOGRAPHY.
07: USABILITY.
08: XML.

SECTION TWO:
09: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site?

[Contents ends.]

++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

Ethical Dilemmas in Web Accessibility
By Steven Clark.
"...The cascade of inclusiveness will improve conversion rates, exceed
legal requirements and has marketing potential. That is a compelling
argument in a business meeting."
http://www.sitepoint.com/ethical-dilemmas-web-accessibility/

2.1.1 Keyboard
By Rakesh Paladugula.
"...As per web accessibility standards the web content should be
accessed by keyboard alone. Users should be able to navigate within
the web page using a keyboard, should be able to hit the links and
navigate to the next page, submit the form without any difficulty..."
http://www.maxability.co.in/2013/12/2-1-1-keyboard/

Something to Hide
By Joanna Briggs.
When you're hiding content-whether to provide additional context to
one user group or hide blocks of content from users-you need to make
sure that it's actually hidden. This week's Best Practice of the Week
focuses on different ways you can hide content.
http://simplyaccessible.com/bpow/something-to-hide/

Semantics and Accessibility - Heading Structure
By Matt Long.
"The more you understand the specification, the more you'll realize
there are more right ways to implement proper semantic HTML markup
than wrong. Thinking in terms of web accessibility can provide
direction."
http://accessiblehtmlheadings.com/

Easy Checks - A First Review of Web Accessibility Updated Draft
By W3C.
"The Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG) has published an
updated draft of the WAI resource Easy Checks - A First Review of Web
Accessibility. Easy Checks helps you assess if a Web page addresses
accessibility. It provides simple steps for anyone who can use the
Web; no accessibility knowledge or skill is required. The checks cover
just a few accessibility issues and are designed to be quick and easy,
rather than definitive. Learn about the Web Accessibility Initiative
(WAI)."
http://www.w3.org/blog/news/archives/3547

+02: EVALUATION & TESTING.

Why Usability Testing is Vital to Success
By Kerry Butters.
"Usability is something that's at the forefront of most designers'
minds, whether they're front or back-end developers. It's also
something that should be considered by content creators, SEO
professionals, marketers and anyone that's involved in a design
project..."
http://www.sitepoint.com/usability-testing-vital-success/

How Reliable are Web Analytics?
By Gerry McGovern.
"Often, marketers justify intrusive or annoying marketing tactics
because they claim they improve conversion rates. Is that really
true?"
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/new-thinking/how-reliable-are-web-analytics

+03: EVENTS.

Respond
February 4-5, 2014.
Sydney, Australia
http://webdirections.org/respond2014/

High Ed Web Regional Pittsburg
April 9-10, 2014.
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
http://pitt.highedweb.org/

HighEdWeb New England
April 25, 2014.
Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A.
http://ne.highedweb.org/

University of Illinois Web Conference
April 28-29, 2014.
Champaign, Illinois, U.S.A.
http://publish.illinois.edu/uofiwebcon/

+04: HTML5.

The Truth About 'The Truth About Multiple H1 Tags'
By Adrian Roselli.
"...Don't trust articles that don't present you with evidence (or
links to evidence). Don't buy into SEO claims that are never
justified. Build your heading structure for backward compatibility."
http://blog.adrianroselli.com/2013/12/the-truth-about-truth-about-multiple-h1.html

+05: MISCELLANEOUS.

The Many Faces of 'Adaptive Design'
By Brad Frost.
"Lots of terms evolve beyond their initial definitions and become a
catch-all for a general notion or idea. I've talked about this
regarding responsive web design and mobile first, and there are
certainly other terms that escape their original definition..."
http://bradfrostweb.com/blog/post/the-many-faces-of-adaptive-design/

Responsive Images - Solutions To Our Problems
By Steven Bradley.
"...Until the time when a standard evolves and we can safely use it in
production, we can choose among the variety of solutions that try to
mimic the functionality that standards will eventually bring. None are
perfect though, and you may decide none are worth implementing,
choosing instead to balance the simplicity of serving a single image
with the potential decrease in performance...."
http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/responsive-images-solutions-problems/

+06: TYPOGRAPHY.

Untangling Web Typography
By Nicole Sullivan.
"When I was a carpenter, I noticed how homeowners often had this
deer-in-the-headlights look when the contractor I worked for would ask
them to make tons of decisions, seemingly all at once..."
http://24ways.org/2013/untangling-web-typography/

+07: USABILITY.

Minimize Cognitive Load to Maximize Usability
By Kathryn Whitenton.
The total cognitive load, or amount of mental processing power needed
to use your site, affects how easily users find content and complete
tasks.
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/minimize-cognitive-load/

5 Secrets To Speed Up Your Website
By Virginia DeBolt.
"The average website user expects your website to load in 4 seconds or
less. If your website is slow, not only are you losing so much
business, but your SEO rankings also suffer..."
http://www.webteacher.ws/2013/12/23/5-secrets-speed-website/

User Experience Versus Users
By Paul Bryan.
"The field of user experience has, from its inception, championed the
notion that meeting users' needs is the path to success for digital
products. Recently, however, it seems that user experience is
increasingly playing a role in formulating designs that diametrically
oppose users' wants and needs for the sake of generating greater
profits..."
http://uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2013/12/user-experience-versus-users.php

+08: XML.

Using ARIA to Enhance SVG Accessibility
By Leonie Watson.
"SVG1.1 accessibility support is limited in browsers and screen
readers. Things are set to improve with SVG2, but ARIA can be used now
to improve the accessibility of simple SVG."
http://blog.paciellogroup.com/2013/12/using-aria-enhance-svg-accessibility/

[Section one ends.]

++ SECTION TWO:

+09: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site?

Accessibility Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/accessibility.html

Association Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/associations.html

Book Listings.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/books.html

Cascading Style Sheets Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/css.html

Color Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/color.html

Dreamweaver Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/dreamweaver.html

Evaluation & Testing Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/testing.html

Event Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/events.html

Flash Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/flash.html

Information Architecture Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/architecture.html

JavaScript Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/javascript.html

Miscellaneous Web Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/misc.html

Navigation Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/navigation.html

PHP Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/php.html

Sites & Blogs Listing.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/sites.html

Standards, Guidelines & Pattern Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/standards.html

Tool Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/tools.html

Typography Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/type.html

Usability Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/usability.html

XML Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/xml.html

[Section two ends.]

++END NOTES.

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+ 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 at d.umn.edu

[Issue ends.]