+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 23, Issue 04, July 24, 2024. 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: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. 07: MISCELLANEOUS. 08: TOOLS. 09: USABILITY. SECTION TWO: 10: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Alternative Text in Action By Katherine Moonan and Samantha Merrett. "We want to share some top tips on writing and using alternative text to encourage everyone to add it into their content every day…" https://accessibility.blog.gov.uk/2024/07/17/alternative-text-in-action/ Dungeons and Dragons Taught Me How to Write Alt Text By Eric W. Bailey. "…For alt text, we want to also consider the larger context of what you're trying to communicate, why, and if the detail you provide helps that effort to communicate…" https://ericwbailey.website/published/dungeons-and-dragons-taught-me-how-to-write-alt-text/ Getting To The Bottom Of Minimum WCAG-Conformant Interactive Element Size By Eric W. Bailey. "WCAG provides guidance for making interactive elements more accessible by specifying minimum size requirements. In fact, the requirements are documented in two Success Criteria: 2.5.5 and 2.5.8. Despite this, WCAG can be difficult to achieve due to a number of misconceptions about the requirements. In this article, Eric Bailey discusses the nuances of interactive element sizes and clarifies what it looks like to provide accessible interactive experiences using WCAG-compliant target sizes." https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2024/07/getting-bottom-minimum-wcag-conformant-interactive-element-size/ Does WCAG 2.2 Apply to Native Apps By Steve Faulkner. "A big question for many organisations is if WCAG 2.2 applies to native apps. In this post we explore what does and doesn't apply…" https://tetralogical.com/blog/2024/07/18/WCAG2ICT/ New Advice on WCAG for Software and Documents: Part 1 By Mitchell Evan. "…This is all about using WCAG for 'non-web ICT' ' documents and software that aren't running straight from a URL in a browser…" https://www.tpgi.com/new-advice-on-wcag-for-software-and-documents-part-1/ How to Incorporate Accessibility Into Your Agile Sprints By Michael Harshbarger. "…There are four steps you can take to incorporate accessibility into your agile sprints…" https://accessibilityfirstsolutions.com/how-to-incorporate-accessibility-into-your-agile-sprints/ Make Sure You Check All Website Variations When Testing Accessibility By Bogdan Cerovac. "Whenever you test web accessibility you need to consider all the website variants based on all media queries…" https://cerovac.com/a11y/2024/07/make-sure-you-check-all-website-variations-when-testing-accessibility/ Screen Reading Eff Eff Conf By Remy Sharp. "In a recent (personal) audit of accessibility and continued struggle to get my head around Voice Over (for macos), I remembered that the spoken sound of "ffconf" (as I'll usually display it) is "ef-conf" all sounded out in two syllables (it's hard to explain). So I wanted to revisit if it was possible to have a screen reader pronounce it the way I wanted and keep the visual style (as it's a brand as lowercase)…" https://remysharp.com/2024/07/23/screen-reading-eff-eff-conf Further Thoughts About Jakob Nielsen's Statement That Accessibility Has Failed By Nicolas Steenhout. "AI cannot fix accessibility until those who program it understand that accessibility is about disabled people, and as long as systemic ableism continues to exist, AI won't be able to fix accessibility…" https://nicolas-steenhout.com/further-thoughts-on-nielsen-statement-about-accessibility/ For Wide Review: Collaboration Tools Accessibility User Requirements ("CTAUR") By Shawn Lawton Henry. "W3C WAI invites you to comment on a Draft W3C Group Note: Collaboration Tools Accessibility User Requirements…" https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-wai-announce/2024JulSep/0001.html Hotel Accessibility Class Action Lawsuit By Thomas Logan and Ken Nakata. "Flor Jimenez, a person who is legally blind, has filed a class action lawsuit in California against the Hyatt . The plaintiff alleges the hotel's website puts up barriers for people who use screen readers…" https://equalentry.com/accessibility-hotel-class-action-lawsuit/ Navigating the New Web Accessibility Ruling in the U.S. By Caro Sotillo Silva. "…here are the key points to creating an action plan for accessibility compliance…" https://thoughtbot.com/blog/navigating-the-new-web-accessibility-ruling-in-the-u-s It's Really This Thing That Gets Me By Chris Coyier. "…this is a literal scam. You're scammers. You sell a thing that doesn't work to companies you're trying to scare for a bunch of money." https://chriscoyier.net/2024/07/13/its-really-this-thing-that-gets-me/ +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Styling Tables the Modern CSS Way By Michelle Barker. "…We're going to run through some tips and gotchas for building simple and complex tables in HTML and CSS, and where modern CSS can help us…" https://piccalil.li/blog/styling-tables-the-modern-css-way/ Alt Text in CSS Generated Content By Mayank. "…is now supported all modern browsers (as of firefox 128 and safari 17.4)…" https://front-end.social/@mayank/112764025458966324 Providing Type Definitions for CSS with @property By Stephanie Eckles. "A cross-browser feature as of the release of Firefox 128 in July 2024 is a new at-rule - @property - which allows defining types as well as inheritance and an initial value for your custom properties. We'll learn when and why traditional fallback values can fail, and how @property features allow us to write safer, more resilient CSS custom property definitions…" https://moderncss.dev/providing-type-definitions-for-css-with-at-property/ CSS Grid Areas By Ahmad Shadeed. "A fresh look at the CSS grid template areas and how to take advantage of its full potential today…" https://ishadeed.com/article/css-grid-area/ +03: COLOR. A Practical Guide to Designing for Colorblind People By Nam Le Thanh. "Colorblindness, or color vision deficiency, affects approximately 8% of men and 0.5% of women worldwide…" https://namtheartist95.medium.com/a-practical-guide-to-designing-for-colorblind-people-web-designer-nam-le-thanh-7e32fcc86775 +04: EVALUATION & TESTING. A Lesson on Top Tasks from Hurricane Beryl By Evan Sunwall. "Companies that do not support their users' top tasks in a crisis fail their users and their reason for existence…" https://www.nngroup.com/articles/top-tasks/ +05: EVENTS. To Equitability and Beyond: Embracing Equitable Design Principles with Charlii Parker and Jacinta Gregory July 31, 2024 at 11am Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST). https://intopia.digital/articles/intopia-webinar-to-equitability-and-beyond-embracing-equitable-design-principles/ Understanding Accessibility: Learning from People with Disabilities with Michael Harshbarger August 15, 2024. Online https://accessibilityfirstsolutions.com/join-our-free-understanding-accessibility-webinar/ The Accessibility Forum Various days between September 2-13, 2024. Online https://accessibility2024.arxiv.org/schedule State of the Browser September 14, 2024. London, England, United Kingdom https://2024.stateofthebrowser.com/ EDUCAUSE Annual Conference October 21-24, 2024. San Antonio, Texas, U.S.A. https://events.educause.edu/annual-conference A11y Camp October 23, 2024. Melbourne Australia https://a11ycamp.com.au/ Introduction to Digital Accessibility October 23, 2024. Online https://ti.to/abilitynet/introduction-digital-accessibility-oct2024 +06: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE. Flat vs. Deep Hierarchies in Information Architecture (Video) By Samhita Tankala. Information can be structured in flat or deep hierarchies, each with their own set of benefits and drawbacks. https://www.nngroup.com/videos/flat-vs-deep-hierarchies/ +07: MISCELLANEOUS. 5 Questions for Miriam Suzanne By Miriam Suzanne. "I talked with Jens Oliver Meiert over at Frontend Dogma about our work here at OddBird, what's happening in the CSS Working Group, and advice for getting started in frontend development…" https://www.oddbird.net/2024/07/15/frontend-dogma/ Disability Pride Month: What You Need to Know By Meryl K. Evans. "…This article explores the challenge of people with disabilities working harder, the value of hiring disabled employees and listening to their voices, and tips on how to be a disability ally…" https://meryl.net/disability-pride-month/ Lessons Learned in 35 Years of Making Software By Jim Grey. "…Do things in the most straightforward way possible. It's easy to fall into the trap of clever solutions, or clever applications of technology, or overbuilding something because you're anticipating the future. Don't do it. You will hate yourself for it later when you have to maintain it…" https://dev.jimgrey.net/2024/07/03/lessons-learned-in-35-years-of-making-software/ +08: TOOLS. Some Simple Accessibility Bookmarklets By Russ Weakley. "A bookmarklet is a web browser bookmark with JavaScript commands that add new features. These small JavaScript snippets are stored as a bookmark URL and executed when clicked…" https://intopia.github.io/exercise/simple-bookmarklets.html ARC Toolkit Now Available for Firefox By The Paciello Group Interactive (TPGi) "ARC Toolkit, the powerful and free accessibility testing tool, is a browser extension that is now available for use in Firefox…" https://www.tpgi.com/arc-toolkit-now-available-for-firefox/ +09: USABILITY. Decision Frames: How Cognitive Biases Affect UX Practitioners By Kathryn Whitenton. "Designers are vulnerable to the same cognitive biases as users. The context in which you present a problem can bias your design choices." https://www.nngroup.com/articles/decision-framing-cognitive-bias-ux-pros/ [Section one ends.] ++ SECTION TWO: +10: 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.]