[webdev] Web Design Update: December 21, 2005

Wed Dec 21 06:28:26 CST 2005

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 4, Issue 27, December 21, 2005.

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/goto/webdesign/
New links in these categories:

01: ACCESSIBILITY.
02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.
03: EVALUATION & TESTING.
04: EVENTS.
05: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE.
06: JAVASCRIPT.
07: MISCELLANEOUS.
08: NAVIGATION.
09: SITES AND BLOGS.
10: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.
11: TOOLS.
12: TYPOGRAPHY.
13: USABILITY.
14: XML.

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

[Contents ends.]

++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

Side by Side, 508 to WCAG 2.0
By Jim Thatcher.
"I have written a 508 to WCAG 2 side-by-side comparison similar to the 
one I
did for WCAG 1.0."
http://jimthatcher.com/508wcag2.htm

How Useful are Accessibility Evaluation Tools?
By Mike Cherim.
"To assess and discuss the benefits and limitations of using an 
automated evaluation tool to assess the technical accessibility of a 
large, standards-compliant website driven by a Content Management 
System. I've broken this research into several areas: [1] The 
Usefulness of Automated Tools [2] Limitations of Automated Tools, [3] 
Quality control at the bench."
http://tinyurl.com/9s2fn

Using the Web Accessibility Toolbar
By Trenton Moss.
"Testing a website for accessibility can be a time-consuming and 
laborious process. The free Web Accessibility Toolbar can do most of 
the hard work for you though and is an indispensable tool for anyone 
interested in accessibility..."
http://www.webdevtips.com/webdevtips/article.php?item=96

Writing a Good Accessibility Statement
By Gez Lemon.
"Accessibility statements are an ideal place to empower visitors to 
your website. Most accessibility statements are too technical, and 
don't necessarily address the needs of the visitor. Those that do 
address the needs of visitors often have the information lost in a 
myriad of other information that is unlikely to be understood by the 
average visitor to the website. What should and shouldn't be included 
in an accessibility statement?"
http://tinyurl.com/am8wl

Text-Only Pages are Possibly Not So Bad
By Joe Clark.
"...Of course, this is not a fair comparison. Of course text-only pages 
will be preferable to an inaccessible page; the text-only version is 
less inaccessible. The trick would be to compare really good, 
standards-compliant sites (some with valid code or the next best thing, 
others with invalid but still semantic code) against text-only pages. I 
doubt that subjects would prefer text-only in that case. And a test 
using learning-disabled subjects would be a near-complete failure for 
text-only pages, unless they happened to use crazy fonts like brown 
Comic Sans on pale blue, which is what we keep being told this group 
wants and needs."
http://blog.fawny.org/2005/11/08/text-only/

+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

The Form Garden
By Cedric Savarese.
"A CSS Stylesheet Collection for Web Forms."
http://www.formassembly.com/form-garden.php

Auto-Selecting Navigation
By Drew McLellan.
Drew McLellan takes a quick look at a simple method of styling 
navigation so that the correct item shows selected on each page. It's a 
really simple idea, but extremely effective, and quite a time-saver to 
boot."
http://24ways.org/advent/auto-selecting-navigation

The Attribute Selector for Fun and (no ad) Profit
By Andy Budd.
Andy Budd studies the slightly maligned CSS attribute selector to see 
how it can be used productively despite incomplete browser support. If 
I had to select one of Andy's attributes it would be his compassionate 
demeanor, but that's by-the-by.
http://24ways.org/advent/the-attribute-selector-for-fun-and-no-ad-profit

Replicating a Tree Table
By Russ Weakley.
"The aim is to replicate a graphic table tree using HTML. This was 
based on a request from a Web Standards Group member. Posted here in 
case it is of use to someone else..."
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/tree-table/

Simple, Accessible External Links
By Russ Weakley.
"The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 state: 'Clearly identify 
the target of each link. [Priority 2] Link text (The rendered text 
content of a link) should be meaningful enough to make sense when read 
out of context -- either on its own or as part of a sequence of links. 
Link text should also be terse.' Depending on how this checkpoint is 
read, this could mean that every external link should be identified 
within the link text itself. For example, you could use '(off-site 
link)' or '(external link)' within any link text that points to any 
external resource. The problem: Is there a way to add descriptive text 
to all external links and then replace this text with a small icon for 
CSS supporting browsers?"
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/external/

How to Remove the Ugly Border Around an Image in a Link
By Christian Heilmann.
"This question pops up almost weekly on message boards, mailing lists 
and in chat sessions..."
http://www.wait-till-i.com/index.php?p=204

+03: EVALUATION & TESTING.

Towards the Design of Effective  Formative Test Reports
By Mary Theofanus and Whitney Quesenbery.
"Many usability practitioners conduct most of their usability 
evaluations to improve a product during its design and development. We 
call these "formative" evaluations to distinguish them from "summative" 
(validation) usability tests at the end of development. A standard for 
reporting summative usability test results has been adopted by 
international standards organizations. But that standard is not 
intended for the broader range of techniques and business contexts in 
formative work. This paper reports on a new industry project to 
identify best practices in reports of formative usability evaluations."
http://www.upassoc.org/upa_publications/jus/2005_november/formative.html

+04: EVENTS.

W3C Workshop on Transparency and Usability of Web Authentication
March 15-16, 2006.
New York, New York U.S.A.
http://www.w3.org/2005/Security/usability-ws/

Webstock
May 23-26, 2006.
Wellington, New Zealand.
http://www.webstock.org.nz/

+05: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE.

Introduction to Information Architecture
By Austin Govella.
A list of resources good for newbies looking for a place to start.
http://www.squidoo.com/ia/

+06: JAVASCRIPT.

Improving Form Accessibility with DOM Scripting
By Ian Lloyd.
Ian Lloyd looks at how DOM Scripting can help out with an uncomfortable 
accessibility issue. Form field labels can be tricky to implement in 
some cases, but with a little ingenuity Ian demonstrates how a balance 
can be struck.
http://24ways.org/advent/improving-form-accessibility-with-dom-scripting

Statistical AJAX
By Steve Smith.
These days the term 'AJAX' seems almost as over used as 'drop-shadow' 
was 18 months ago. Though it seems that in the hype of creating 
on-the-fly browser-server interaction, tracking that interaction has 
been overlooked.
http://orderedlist.com/articles/statistical-ajax/

+07: MISCELLANEOUS.

Web Design and Development Trends for 2006
By Andy Budd.
"The Web Standards movement has increasingly been gaining speed over 
the last couple of years. Once the preserve of a few high profile 
bloggers and evangelists, more and more developers have become wise to 
the benefits of meaningfully marked-up documents that separate content, 
presentation and behaviour..."
http://tinyurl.com/8jclh

The Website Development Process
By PingMag.
"However, as is the organic nature of these things, there are an 
infinite amount of variables that can affect the project timeline. For 
that reason, projects are never ever as clear-cut as in this sequence 
of photos. Things may need to be done over and over, steps may get 
jiggled around, you may need more time for CMS / back-end development 
etc - so please think of this sequence as merely a basic example of the 
kind of process that I have grown comfortable with, speaking as a web 
designer/developer."
http://www.pingmag.jp/2005/12/09/the-website-development-process/

+08: NAVIGATION.

Search Engine 'Best Bets'
By James Robertson.
"Much can be done to improve the quality of search results. No amount 
of tweaking of metadata or search configuration will, however, ensure 
that the most relevant results always appear at the beginning of the 
list. This is where search engine 'best bets' come in. These are a 
hand-created list of key resources for common queries, and they can 
dramatically improve the search experience, particularly on 
information-rich sites such as intranets."
http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/cmb_bestbets/

SEO For The New Google
By Dave Davies.
"For those whose businesses rely on the Internet to produce revenue the 
latest Google update, nicknamed Jagger, was one of the biggest events 
in the past couple years (probably since the Florida Update of 2003). 
With this 3-part update Google has essentially changed many of the 
rules and have thrown the SEO community for a loop... The key areas 
that have been affected with this update are: [1] The history of your 
web pages; [2] The way backlinks are counted; [3] Site content & 
structure..."
http://evolt.org/node/60553

What About Site Maps and Site Indexes?
By Jared Spool.
"Site maps have been popular since the invention of the web. Site 
indexes are more in vogue these days. Are they worth the effort?"
http://tinyurl.com/8lt4f

+09: SITES AND BLOGS.

timbl's Blog
By Tim Berners-Lee.
"So I have a blog...In 1989 one of the main objectives of the WWW was 
to be a space for sharing information. It seemed evident that it should 
be a space in which anyone could be creative, to which anyone could 
contribute. The first browser was actually a browser/editor, which 
allowed one to edit any page, and save it back to the web if one had 
access rights..."
http://dig.csail.mit.edu/breadcrumbs/blog/4

+10: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.

Pattern Quiz I - Site Patterns
By John Allsopp.
"The point of the overall project is to start collaboratively building 
a pattern language for web development..."
http://westciv.typepad.com/dog_or_higher/2005/12/patternquiz_i_s.html

+11: TOOLS.

Luminosity Contrast Ratio Algorithm
By Gez Lemon.
"Guideline 1.4 of the draft version of the Web Content Accessibility 
Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 requires that it is easy to distinguish 
foreground information from background images or sounds. The guideline 
suggests a luminosity contrast ratio algorithm to help determine the 
contrast between foreground and background colours. To help understand 
the algorithm, I have provided a Luminosity Contrast Ratio Analyser 
(Beta), along with example luminosity contrast ratios."
http://juicystudio.com/article/luminositycontrastratioalgorithm.php

+12: TYPOGRAPHY.

The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web
By Richard Rutter.
"...In order to allay some of the myths surrounding typography on the 
web, I have structured this website to step through Bringhurst's 
working principles, explaining how to accomplish each using techniques 
available in HTML and CSS. The future is considered with coverage of 
CSS3, and practicality is ever present with workarounds, alternatives 
and compromises for less able browsers. At the time of writing, this is 
a work in progress... "
http://webtypography.net/

+13: USABILITY.

10 Tips To A Better Form
By Chris Campbell.
"The most monotonous entities in the known universe, forms, are a 
staple of every web programmer's balanced diet. Whether we like them or 
not, forms are the gatekeepers to our site's goodies and often their 
design alone determines whether a user will try what you're selling or 
simply walk away. Without pomp or circumstance, here are ten tips to 
transform your plain vanilla into double chocolate chunk with 
marshmallows."
http://particletree.com/features/10-tips-to-a-better-form/

Forms Suck - Re: 10 Tips To A Better Form
By Jesse Andrews.
"Particletree did a great job summarizing how to make forms a little 
better. Too bad they (forms) still suck. The web is a different medium 
and moving complicated paper forms to web has yet to be sanely 
demonstrated without changing everything."
http://tinyurl.com/9ewes

Check User ID Button
By Jared Spool.
"We've all been there. You find a new cool site. You decide to register 
for their service. You enter your favorite user id, the password, your 
pet's birth date, the name of your third grade teacher (the cute one 
that you had a crush on), and your favorite Easter egg color. You 
finally press Submit. Then you find out the user id is already taken. 
Arrgghh! Digg.com bypasses the ugly post-submit depression by putting a 
'Check' button next to the user id. Enter the name. Press Check. Find 
out immediately if your favorite Id is available."
http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2005/11/23/check-user-id-button/

One Billion Internet Users
By Jakob Nielsen.
"...By 2015, Americans will be less than 15% of Internet users and will 
likely account for about one-third its value (Americans typically spend 
more than other users). The fact that two-thirds of Internet revenues 
will come from other countries highlights the growing importance of 
international usability. Unfortunately, few companies currently do user 
testing abroad, and fewer still have a truly robust 
internationalization strategy. Sooner or later, local options will 
increase and overseas users will stop using sites that don't meet their 
requirements. Another implication of this demographic shift: U.S. 
market share and Silicon Valley buzz will become less important than 
international use as the metric for judging the potential of companies 
and technologies. The Mac, for example, already matters less than you 
think. Although it has a prominent role in the U.S., it's hard to refer 
to a company with single-digit market share as "dominant." In Asia, the 
Mac is practically nonexistent..."
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/internet_growth.html

Raising the Perceived Value of Your Website
By Gerry McGovern.
"To maximize value you must publish high-quality content (killer web 
content). That requires significant skill and active management. Low 
quality content is easy to get. Just have junior people pump your 
intranet with whatever they can find. Give authors control and let them 
publish what they want...If you want to deliver value from content you 
must treat it as a management activity. You need to grow the content 
management
expertise within your organization. That is the path of value."
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2005/nt-2005-12-19-value.htm

Help Is For Experts
By Jensen Harris.
"One of the most interesting epiphanies I've had over the last few 
years seems on the surface like a paradox: 'help' in Office is mostly 
used by experts and enthusiasts...Experience shows that intermediates 
tend to explore the product, not the help system..."
http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/2005/11/29/497861.aspx

+14: XML.

Teach Yourself XML in 24 Hours, Complete Starter Kit, 3rd Edition. Part 
1
By Michael Morrison.
"You've probably worked with XML, but you may not have heard about 
XLink, the XML linking technology that allows you to carry out advanced 
linking between XML documents. Learn how XML linking works in 
conjunction with addressing XML documents in this excerpt from Sams 
Publishing."
http://www.webreference.com/programming/xml_24/

Putting RSS to Work: Immediate Action Feeds
By Mark Woodman.
"Mark Woodman shows us how to enhance the usability of RSS and Atom 
syndication channels with an idea he calls Immediate Action Feeds."
http://tinyurl.com/dqjyz

[Section one ends.]

++ SECTION TWO:

+15: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site?

Accessibility Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/accessibility

Association Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/associations

Book Listings.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/books

Cascading Style Sheets Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/css

Color Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/color

Dreamweaver Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/dreamweaver

Evaluation & Testing Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/testing

Event Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/events

Flash Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/flash

Information Architecture Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/architecture

JavaScript Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/javascript

Miscellaneous Web Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/misc

Navigation Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/navigation

PHP Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/php

Sites & Blogs Listing.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/sites

Standards, Guidelines & Pattern Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/standards

Tool Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/tools

Typography Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/type

Usability Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/usability

XML Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/xml

[Section two ends.]

++END NOTES.

+ SUBSCRIPTION INFO.

WEB DESIGN UPDATE is available by subscription. For information on how 
to subscribe and unsubscribe please visit:
http://www.d.umn.edu/goto/webdevlist
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:
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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.]