+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 25, Issue 29, January 15, 2025.

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

++ISSUE 29 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: HTML.
07: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE.
08: JAVASCRIPT.
09: MISCELLANEOUS.
10: NAVIGATION.
11: USABILITY.
12: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.

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

[Contents ends.]


++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

Automated and Manual Accessibility Testing Work Best Together
By Whitney Lewis.
"…It's not a battle of automated vs manual testing because automated and manual accessibility testing work best together…"
https://blog.pope.tech/2025/01/09/automated-and-manual-accessibility-testing-work-best-together/

aria-description Does Not Translate
By Adrian Roselli.
"It does, actually. In Firefox. Sometimes. A major risk of using ARIA to define text content is it typically gets overlooked in translation…"
https://adrianroselli.com/2025/01/aria-description-does-not-translate.html

A11y 101: 1.3.1 Info and Relationships
By Nat Tarnoff.
"Whenever I come across a a violation of 1.3.1, I have a primal need to look deeper…"
https://tarnoff.info/2025/01/13/a11y-101-1-3-1-info-and-relationships/

Accessibility Audit of the Met Office App: Outcomes and Learnings
By Andrew Hick, Eu-Hyung Han, and Sophie Yeomans-Smith.
"The Accessibility Monitoring team at Government Digital Service (GDS) audits public sector websites and mobile applications (apps) to see if they meet The Public Sector Bodies (Website and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 ('the accessibility regulations')…"
https://accessibility.blog.gov.uk/2025/01/14/accessibility-audit-of-the-met-office-app-outcomes-and-learnings/

Accessibility of Emojis for List Bullets - Potential Issues
By Bogdan Cerovac.
"Sometimes they can be a huge burden and sometimes just a small annoyance. A quick reflection on what to think before using…"
https://cerovac.com/a11y/2025/01/accessibility-of-emojis-for-list-bullets-potential-issues/

Planning Your Accessibility Now, Not Later, Makes Much Less Work
By Lucy Greco.
"Too many people leave out the process of accessibility in their design phase or early development cycles…"
https://accessaces.com/planning-your-accessibility-now-not-later-makes-much-less-work/

Mobile App Accessibility Assessment Framework (RAAM 1): Criteria and Tests
By Luxembourg Government.
"The RAAM 1 framework for assessing the accessibility of mobile apps, published by the Luxembourg Government, has been translated into English. It contains 107 testing procedures grouped in 15 themes."
https://accessibilite.public.lu/en/raam1/referentiel-technique.html

Advancing Accessibility: Strategies for Continuous Improvement
By Equal Entry.
"This article is based on Andrew Hedges' talk at A11yNYC…With continuous accessibility, organizations can move beyond compliance and create digital experiences that work for everyone - consistently, sustainably, and at scale."
https://equalentry.com/advancing-accessibility-strategies-for-continuous-improvement/

From Code to Compliance: Assessing ChatGPT's Utility in Designing an Accessible Webpage - A Case Study (PDF)
By Ammar Ahmed, Margarida Fresco, Fredrik Forsberg, and Hallvard Grotli.
"…This study demonstrates that while ChatGPT can address a range of accessibility issues in web development from straightforward errors to more complex challenges it does not inherently prioritize accessibility in its default code generation. Developers can leverage ChatGPT as a supportive tool to assist with coding tasks and improve accessibility features, but it should not replace human judgment and expertise…"
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2501.03572

State and Local Governments: First Steps Toward Complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act Title II Web and Mobile Application Accessibility Rule
By U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division.
"…This resource can help state and local governments figure out what they should do to comply with the rule…"
https://www.ada.gov/resources/web-rule-first-steps/

ADA Title II: Top 20 Questions Answered
By Glenda Sims. 
"…In this post, I'll share answers to some of the most common questions we've been encountering…"
https://www.deque.com/blog/ada-title-ii-top-20-questions-answered/

Accessibility Under a New U.S. President
By Thomas Logan and Ken Nakata.
"In this episode of Accessibility Insights, we talk with Michal Nowicki of the CommLaw Group . Michal's work has focused on disability issues primarily technology-based. Michael has expertise in the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) and works to advocate for the widespread implementation of audio description…"
https://equalentry.com/accessibility-new-us-president/

Beware of AI Accessibility Promises: US Federal Agency Fines an Overlay Company One Million Dollars
By Lainey Feingold.
"Public can submit comments until February 5th in case against AccessiBe for misleading advertising…"
https://www.lflegal.com/2025/01/ftc-accessibe-million-dollar-fine/#How-to-File-a-comment-about-the-FTC-accessiBe-settlement


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

A Simple Masonry-Like Composable Layout
By Andy Bell.
"…A masonry layout is a grid-like layout that has a set column system with a flexible, content-driven row system. What this setup does is allow content to be displayed in a brick wall-like layout - hence the name, masonry. Content is packed into space, rather than adhering to a strict, set row system…"
https://piccalil.li/blog/a-simple-masonry-like-composable-layout/

Let's Standardize Async CSS!
By Scott Jehl.
"6 years back I posted the Simplest Way to Load CSS Asynchronously to document a hack we'd been using for at least 6 years prior to that…"
https://scottjehl.com/posts/async-css-already/


+03: DRUPAL.

Accessibility Always a Focus in Drupal!
By Alka Elizabeth.
"A Conversation with Gareth Alexander, Starshot Track Lead for Accessibility Tools…"
https://www.thedroptimes.com/interview/45279/accessibility-always-focus-in-drupal


+04: EVALUATION & TESTING.

SEQ vs. SUS (Video)
By Maddie Brown.
"Pair qualitative methods with quantitative metrics like the System Usability Scale (SUS) for benchmarking and the Single Ease Question (SEQ) for task-level insights. Use both carefully with qualitative data.
https://www.nngroup.com/videos/seq-vs-sus/

The Evolution of Usability Metrics and How They Shape Digital Experiences
By Ahmad Benny.
"Did you know that 88% of online consumers are unlikely to return to a website after a bad experience? Think about that data: a single frustrating interaction can turn a potential loyal customer into a one-time visitor faster than you can hit the 'back' button…"
https://www.loop11.com/the-evolution-of-usability-metrics-and-how-they-shape-digital-experiences/


+05: EVENTS.

Understanding Title II Compliance: What Educational Institutions Need to Know
January 16, 2025.
Online
https://benetech.zoom.us/webinar/register/7617346447034/WN_n7mvOmPmRqW8MbnDqn0crw#/registration

European Accessibility Act (EAA) Fireside Chat with Mark Miller and David Sloan
January 16, 2025.
Online
https://www.tpgi.com/the-state-of-accessibility-episode-5/

Planning for Success: New ADA Title II Web Content and Mobile App Requirements
January, 21, 2025.
Online
https://www.accessibilityonline.org/ADA-Audio/session?id=111151

ADA Website Accessibility Requirements for Governments
January 22, 2025.
Online
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ada-website-accessibility-requirements-for-governments-tickets-1070460940489

Older Adults and Digital Inclusion with Tom Kamber
February 4, 2025.
Online and New York, New York, U.S.A.
https://www.meetup.com/a11ynyc/events/305131910/

A11ySea Book Club: A Life Impossible
February 11, 2025.
Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.
https://www.meetup.com/a11ysea/events/305315374/

axes4 Day - Day of Document Accessibility: Use Cases, Practical Knowledge, Tools
March 27, 2025.
Berlin, Germany
https://www.axes4.com/de/ressourcen-community/axes4-Day-25

devopsdays Atlanta
April 29-30, 2025.
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.
https://devopsdays.org/events/2025-atlanta/


+06: HTML.

HTML Developers: Please Consider - in the Year of 2025
By Steve Faulkner.
"I wrote the rules of ARIA, their intention was not to discourage, but to encourage developers to understand the benefits of the built-in semantics, accessibility and behaviours already available in native HTML…"
https://html5accessibility.com/stuff/2025/01/11/html-developers-please-consider-in-the-year-of-2021/

Web Components Can't Save Us. But You Can! (Video)
By Scott Jehl.
"Scott Jehl was SmashingConf New York's mystery speaker, and his talk was all about how web components, combined with the human factor, can help designers and developers alike.…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1irn19VPQK4

Relatively New Things You Should Know About HTML Heading Into 2025 
By Chris Coyier.
"Not all of this is like absolutely brand spanking new just-dropped-in-2024 stuff. Some of it is, but generally it's relatively new stuff that's all pretty great. I'm pointing things out that I think are really worth knowing about. It's possible you haven't kept up too much with HTML developments as it tends to, rightfully, move a lot slower than CSS or JavaScript…"
https://frontendmasters.com/blog/bone-up-html-2025/


+07: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE.

Prescriptive and Descriptive Information Architectures
By Jorge Arango.
"There are two stances you can take toward language in your website or app: prescriptive or descriptive. Which you choose influences the system's understandability and findability…"
https://jarango.com/2025/01/09/prescriptive-and-descriptive-information-architecture/


+08: JAVASCRIPT.

ECMAScript Feature: Regular Expression Pattern Modifiers
By Axel Rauschmayer.
"Traditionally, we could only apply regular expression flags such as i (for ignoring case) to all of a regular expression. The ECMAScript feature 'Regular Expression Pattern Modifiers' (by Ron Buckton) enables us to apply them to only part of a regular expression. In this blog post we examine how they work and what their use cases are…"
https://2ality.com/2025/01/regexp-modifiers.html


+09: MISCELLANEOUS.

Progressive Enhancement Brings Everyone In
By Jay Hoffmann.
"Early computers faced unexpected failures, and that gave us graceful degradation. But on the web, we needed something different. We needed progressive enhancement."
https://thehistoryoftheweb.com/the-inclusive-web-of-progressive-enhancement/


+10: NAVIGATION.

Where Should 'Skip to Main Content' Links Go?
By Ashlee M Boyer.
"'Skip to main content' links should target the <main> HTML element of a webpage…"
https://ashleemboyer.com/blog/where-should-skip-to-main-content-links-go


+11: USABILITY.

Should Accordions Auto-Close Sections?
By Ashlee M Boyer.
"The short answer… No…"
https://ashleemboyer.com/blog/should-accordions-auto-close-sections

15 UX Best Practices for Creating User-Friendly E-Commerce Product Pages (Video)
By Christian Holst.
"…In this video, Christian Holst, co-founder of Baymard Institute, shares the 15 best practices for optimizing e-commerce product pages to improve usability, boost conversions, and create a better shopping experience. These insights are based on more than 150,000 hours of large-scale usability testing…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv74GmBXxHE


+12: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.

Finding Signal Amongst the Noise in Carbon Aware Software (Podcast)
By Chris Adams.
"In this episode of Environment Variables, host Chris Adams is joined by Tammy Sukprasert, a PhD student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, to dive deep into her research on carbon-aware computing…"
https://podcasts.castplus.fm/e/v855j7m8-finding-signal-amongst-the-noise-in-carbon-aware-software

GOV.UK One Login: Advancing Digital Sustainability in Government
By GOV.UK.
"In our last digital sustainability post, we wrote about our ambition to make GOV.UK One Login one of the most sustainable government digital services in operation. We discussed how we had begun this journey into digital sustainability; defining a digital service and the challenge of calculating our emissions. It took us nearly four months to develop a baseline and since then, things have moved very quickly…"
https://gds.blog.gov.uk/2025/01/08/gov-uk-one-login-advancing-digital-sustainability-in-government/

The Disbanding of the WordPress Sustainability Team
By Chris Lewis.
"On Wednesday 8th January, Wordpress cofounder Matt Mullenweg disbanded the Wordpress sustainability team…"
https://www.wholegraindigital.com/blog/the-disbanding-of-the-wordpress-sustainability-team/

Moore's Law Is Breaking Down
By Gerry McGovern.
"…Driven by cost reduction concerns, generation after generation, the value of the materials in a chip declines. There is no money in recycling silicon. It is the ultimate throwaway toxic waste."
https://gerrymcgovern.com/moores-law-is-breaking-down/


[Section one ends.]


++ SECTION TWO:

+13: 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.


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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@d.umn.edu 


[Issue ends.]