+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 25, Issue, April 8, 2025. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 41 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: EVENTS. 04: HTML. 05: MISCELLANEOUS. 06: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY. SECTION TWO: 07: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. The Importance of Alt Text for Images By Michael Beck. "…Let's dive into what alt text is, why it matters, and how you can use it effectively…" https://afixt.com/the-importance-of-alt-text-for-images/ Alt Text in Google Docs and Slides By Whitney Lewis. "We often add images to Google Docs and Slides. To make sure everyone can get content from those images, we should also add alt text…" https://blog.pope.tech/2025/04/02/alt-text-in-google-docs-and-slides/ A Guide to Alt Text Across Popular Tools By Whitney Lewis. "Put simply, alternative text describes an image for people who can't see it. Images convey content, so users who can't see the image, rely on alternative text to get that content…" https://blog.pope.tech/2025/04/02/a-guide-to-alt-text-across-popular-tools/ A11y 101: 1.4.4 Resize Text By Nat Tarnoff. "Unless you have bionic eyes, at one point or another a computer screen will become difficult to read…" https://tarnoff.info/2025/04/07/a11y-101-1-4-4-resize-text/ Creating Accessible Interactive Maps for the Web Guide By David Berman. "Hi everyone! I hope you'll enjoy this guide we've crafted. Today, it seems especially valuable that everyone can clearly interpret maps and their borders…The guide is in Google Docs format, with commenting rights enabled for you so you can help us continuously improve the document…" https://docs.google.com/document/d/15vuWV0F3tDL81KgeRfDsHyha-jit3TIBU9JbII28wP0/ The New ADA Title II Regulation on Accessible Digital Technologies (Video) By University of Washington. "The video and supplemental resources for the March 13, 2025 webinar, The New ADA Title II Regulation on Accessible Digital Technologies: What it Means for Your School with Eve Hill, JD, has been uploaded to the DO-IT Center Webinars Page and is now available…" https://www.washington.edu/doit/webinars/?webinar=title2andU Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1O76etUlDjqxS6PmpMjU5DG1PdmGLidMq/ Digital Accessibility is a Civil Right By Karl Groves. "…digital accessibility is not a legal loophole. It's a civil rights issue to be taken seriously…" https://karlgroves.com/digital-accessibility-is-a-civil-right/ Mobile App Accessibility: Best Practices for Inclusive Design By Michael Beck. "…Let's explore key best practices to make your mobile apps accessible…" https://afixt.com/mobile-app-accessibility-best-practices-for-inclusive-design/ Automated vs. AI vs. Manual Testing - Text Alternatives By Dennis Deacon. "There's a lot of chatter on the intertubes of late around the thoroughness and accuracy of various accessibility testing approaches; Manual, Automated and Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based testing. I thought it might be good to take a look at these comparisons, to have a better sense when different approaches can be effective…" https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/automated-vs-ai-vs-manual-testing-text-alternatives/ Prioritizing Accessibility Bugs for Maximum Impact By Jack Haas. "Juggling competing priorities, tight deadlines, and endless iterations can make it easy to deprioritize accessibility considerations. In our work, we've seen how neglecting accessibility can lead to frustrating user experiences and other consequences. That's why we decided to treat accessibility issues with the same urgency as any other bug. Enter the Accessibility Bug Classification Matrix, which we created to help us quickly prioritize issues based on their impact. It provides a clear framework for promptly identifying and addressing the most critical accessibility barriers.…" https://accessibility.civicactions.com/posts/prioritizing-accessibility-bugs-for-maximum-impact 10 Hilarious (but Sadly Real) Stereotypes About Digital Accessibility By Monika Prasad. "…Digital accessibility isn't some mythical bonus feature-it's essential. The web should be usable for everyone, and these stereotypes? They're holding progress back…" https://www.digitala11y.com/10-hilarious-but-sadly-real-stereotypes-about-digital-accessibility/ The WebAIM Million By WebAIM. "The 2025 report on the accessibility of the top 1,000,000 home pages…" https://webaim.org/projects/million/ Infographic - Disability Discrimination Act: Guidelines on Equal Access to Digital Goods and Services By Naomi Saines. "Intopia has released a useful infographic to help explain the Disability Discrimination Act Guidelines on Equal Access to Digital Goods and Services (the Guidelines)…" https://intopia.digital/articles/infographic-disability-discrimination-act-guidelines/ Follow Up Questions: WCAG 3 CSUN Talk By Rachael Bradley Montgomery. "The Accessibility Guidelines Working Group chairs and staff presented 'WCAG 3: The True Story!' at CSUN 2025. Due to time constraints, we were not able to answer all of the audience's questions. We've posted the questions and answers below…" https://whollyaccessible.org/2025/04/04/follow-up-questions-wcag-3-csun-talk/ A Note About WCAG Conformance Levels By Dennis Deacon. "People in their early stages of their accessibility journey are often confused about the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Conformance levels and what the expectations are to meet them. Here's a quick glimpse into their meaning and how you should approach them…" https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/a-note-about-wcag-conformance-levels/ Accessibility Not-Checklist By Intopia. …"The Not-Checklist acts as a guide to make sure you haven't missed anything. If you're new to accessibility, the resource provides a foundation - it's an overview of what you'll need to consider, but it won't teach you WCAG from front to back…" https://not-checklist.intopia.digital/ What's the Difference Between WCAG, the EAA, and EN 301 549? By Melissa Morse. "Let's break down the key differences between the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the European Accessibility Act (EAA), and EN 301 549 - and what they mean for businesses and organizations worldwide…" https://www.tpgi.com/whats-the-difference-between-wcag-the-eaa-and-en-301-549/ +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Tweaking Text Level Styles, Reprised By Adrian Roselli. "…Use the HTML elements instead of ARIA because you get the user agent styles for free. You don't need to adjust the default styles, but if you do it anyway be mindful of contrast, sizing units, forced-colors mode, print styles, and language. Do not make any changes for screen readers - do not use CSS generated content and do not use aria-roledescription…" https://adrianroselli.com/2025/04/tweaking-text-level-styles-reprised.html Support Setting Offscreen Content Inert (GitHub Comment) By Alice Boxhall. "…I need to step away from this for a bit; it's been exceptionally stressful trying to engage on this topic when there doesn't appear to be a genuine effort made to understand and engage with (not just rebut) the feedback others and I are giving on accessibility. Some brief thoughts, however…" https://github.com/w3c/csswg-drafts/issues/10711#issuecomment-2765041902 Feature for Making Text Always Fit the Width of Its Parent (GitHub Comment) By Patrick H. Lauke. "…wondering what the accessibility impact on this may be for users that use full-page zoom (on desktop/laptop)… will they zoom to try and make text bigger, but the text will scale down to still fit in the now smaller viewport/parent?…" https://github.com/w3c/csswg-drafts/issues/2528#issuecomment-2770261671 +03: EVENTS. ADA Title II 1 Year Away with Mark Miller and David Sloan April 17, 2025. Online https://www.tpgi.com/the-state-of-accessibility-episode-8/ Global Accessibility Awareness Day: Committing to Change May 15, 2025. Online https://accessibility.umn.edu/gaad/gaad-2025 Worldwide Developers Conference June 9-13, 2025. Online https://developer.apple.com/wwdc25/ Disability:IN 2025 Annual Conference July 14-17, 2025. Orlando, Florida, U.S.A. https://disabilityin.org/2025conference/ AHFE 2025 International Conference July 26-30, 2025 Orlando, Florida, U.S.A. https://ahfe.org/ World Design Congress 2025 September 9-10, 2025. London, England, United Kingdom https://www.worlddesigncongresslondon.com/ UX Nordic September 24-25, 2025 Online and Copenhagen, Denmark https://www.uxnordic.com/ +04: HTML. Mainlining Mains By Adrian Roselli. "…Use only one (non-hidden) main landmark per HTML page. This means it's ok to have an