[webdev] Web Design Update: May 1, 2009

[Laura Carlson]

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 7, Issue 44, May 1, 2009.

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

++ISSUE 44 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: COLOR.
04: EVALUATION & TESTING.
05: FLASH.
06: JAVASCRIPT.
07: MISCELLANEOUS.
08: NAVIGATION.
09: TOOLS.
10: USABILITY.


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

[Contents ends.]


++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

Create Your Own Accessibility Statement
By Leonie Watson.
"Increasingly, people are including declarations on their websites that 
define the level of web accessibility the website aims to achieve. 
Known as Accessibility Statements, these declarations take the form of 
a short information page which is available via a link from every page 
of the website."
http://tinyurl.com/cxlwzx

Web Accessibility Statements - The Best Of Intentions, Clearly Stated
By headstar.
"...The accessibility statement is seen as central to having a website 
that is accessible to all users, including people with disabilities, 
the report says. However, despite the low level of excellent practice 
found, local authority sites fare well when compared with the private 
sector, it says. No private sector statements were found to be 
excellent, and just 16 per cent were satisfactory..."
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=281

New Accessible Web Site Agreement
By Lainey Feingold.
"Staples announced today that it has agreed to make
its web site accessible to people with disabilities and to install
tactile keypads at flat screen pos devices..."
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ig/2009AprJun/0081.html

Pitfalls of Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools
By Peter Krantz.
"Automated web accessibility evaluation tools are hard to trust, 
understand and only provides feedback on a small amount of factors that 
influence accessibility. Also, a unified web evaluation methodology 
should be adopted to provide consistent results across tools."
http://tinyurl.com/dxf4ns

Finest Worksong
By David Sloan.
"...here's a summary of my perspective of what's happened since WCAG 
1.0 was published. I plot developments in four stages, with approximate 
time periods for each..." (props given to @geezer and @johnfoliot)
http://58sound.com/2009/04/27/finest-worksong/

Captioning and Audio Description
By Alternate Media Thread.
"...I am interested in what different campuses are doing concerning 
Audio descriptions for the blind and captioning in the classroom..."
http://htclistserv.htctu.fhda.edu/read/messages?id=40738


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

Basic Table Styling with CSS (New Screencast)
By Chris Coyier.
"Tables are great. They are perfectly suited for use on the web. That 
is, for displaying tabular data! In this screencast we'll cover what 
that actually means, take a look at a table, the markup that creates 
it, quirks and things-you-should-know. Then we start styling it up with 
CSS and quickly touch on some jQuery bonus stuff at the end..."
http://css-tricks.com/new-screencast-basic-table-styling-with-css/

How to Improve 37signals.com with 1 Line of CSS
By Sam Brown.
"a:hover {opacity: 0.75;}"
http://tinyurl.com/de9m2v

The Mystery Of CSS Sprites: Techniques, Tools And Tutorials
By Smashing.
"CSS Sprites are not new. In fact, they are a rather well-established 
technique and have managed to become common practice in Web 
development. Of course, CSS sprites are not always necessary, but in 
some situation they can bring significant advantages and improvements - 
particularly if you want to reduce your server load. And if you haven't 
heard of CSS sprites before, now is probably a good time to learn what 
they are, how they work and what tools can help you create and use the 
technique in your projects..."
http://tinyurl.com/ce8pxw

The Art of Crafting Beautiful Stylesheets
By Saddam Azad.
"Crafting beautiful stylesheets is not a dark art. Yes, it takes 
discipline, commitment and persistence but with a few tricks up your 
sleeve, you too can be a CSS ninja. Let me show you a few techniques I 
use to craft readable, maintainable and easy to debug stylesheets..."
http://tinyurl.com/djeygs

Don't Use @import
By Steve Souders.
"...use LINK instead of @import if you want stylesheets to download in 
parallel resulting in a faster page..."
http://www.stevesouders.com/blog/2009/04/09/dont-use-import/

Using an XML Declaration Triggers Quirks Mode in IE 6
By Roger Johansson.
"If you use an XHTML doctype in your documents, do not include an XML 
declaration unless you want Internet Explorer 6 to use its Quirks 
mode..."
http://tinyurl.com/cg3fuf


+03: COLOR.

Guideline 1.4 Separate Background From Foreground
By Olga Revilla.
"Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating 
foreground from background..."
http://tinyurl.com/dc9e29


+04: EVALUATION & TESTING.

User Research for Personas and Other Audience Models
By Steve Baty.
"...this article is about the ingredients we can draw on when creating 
audience models and some alternative ways of communicating the results 
of an audience analysis..."
http://tinyurl.com/d8md2y

Analysis, Plus Synthesis: Turning Data into Insights
By Lindsay Ellerby.
"Conducting primary user research such as in-depth interviews or field 
studies can be fairly straightforward, when compared with what you face 
upon returning to the office with piles of notes, sketches, user 
journals, and audio and video recordings. You may ask, What should I do 
with all this data? and How do I turn it into something meaningful?"
http://tinyurl.com/c2ensc


+05: FLASH.

Firefox Focus and Actual Links
By Andrew Kirkpatrick.
"I mentioned at the TPG Webinar on Flash that there is a way around the 
issues with focus trapping in Firefox. My friend and 
accessibility-colleague Michael Jordan has developed a simple example 
that shows how to get focus in and out of Flash content in Firefox 
(using the SWFFocus class). Also in this example he shows how to make 
links that are not buttons, but use the MSAA link role. This has always 
been possible, but usually people use the button role."
http://tinyurl.com/c55hnt


+06: JAVASCRIPT.

Enhanced Keyboard-Accessible Google Maps
By Martin Kliehm.
"Patrick H. Lauke wrote an excellent article about keyboard-accessible 
Google Maps on the Opera Developer website. Still I was able to improve 
it slightly when I implemented an accessible map myself. I would like 
to share these modifications with you..."
http://learningtheworld.eu/2009/keyboard-accessible-google-maps/

Introduction, Test Cases and Web Browser Compatibility Tables for 
JavaScript 1.6, JavaScript 1.7 & JavaScript 1.8
By Robert Nyman.
"Lately I've been investigating newer versions of JavaScript, and what 
web browser support they have. And, as usual when I create something I 
find useful, I want to share it with the world..."
http://tinyurl.com/d4xeko

A Couple of Quick Tips for JavaScript Optimization
By Jonathan Christopher.
"...I'd like to quickly discuss a couple things I've started doing to 
ease the load of JavaScript on the browser and therefore the user..."
http://tinyurl.com/dfbgoc

YUI Theater - PPK (Peter-Paul Koch): JavaScript Events
By Eric Miraglia.
"PPK (Peter-Paul Koch) of Quirksmode has been sharing his research into 
browser quirks for years, and this year he's turned his attention to 
mobile browsers while doing a consultancy for Vodafone. That work has 
got him thinking about JavaScript events once again, and, as is his 
habit, the results of his research are freely available to the rest of 
us on Quirksmode (big-screen browser compatibility tables; mobile 
browser compatibility tables)."
http://yuiblog.com/blog/2009/04/27/video-ppk-jsevents/

Objects in JavaScript (part II)
By Dmitry's Tumblr.
"I will not write about prototypical inheritance in JavaScript today. 
Instead let's take a look at one misunderstanding..."
http://tinyurl.com/dhflru

JavaScript for Hackers
By Gareth Heyes.
"I love to use JavaScript in unexpected ways, to create code that looks 
like it shouldn't work but does, or produces some unexpected behavior. 
This may sound trivial, but the results I've found lead to some very 
useful techniques. Each of the techniques described can be used for XSS 
filter evasion, which was my original intention when developing them. 
However, learning such JavaScript can dramatically increase your 
knowledge of the language, helping you become better at cleaning up 
input, and increase web application security. So read on and enjoy my 
weird and wonderful JavaScript hacks..."
http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/opera-javascript-for-hackers-1/

Using JavaScript to Style Active Navigation Elements
By Rob Glazebrook.
"I'm all about efficiency when I'm writing web code. Any time I find 
myself writing the same functionality more than once or twice, I try to 
consider whether my repeated code could be wrapped into a function of 
some sort."
http://tinyurl.com/dneta2


+07: MISCELLANEOUS.

How Much Intelligence Does Good Design Really Require?
By Jens Meiert.
"Of the definitions for art, design, and decoration I published back in 
the days, I do believe in the statement that design works - or has to 
work, respectively - the most. However, one thing's still challenging 
me, and that is how much intelligence good, working design requires..."
http://meiert.com/en/blog/20090428/intelligence-and-good-design/

Reverse Developing Website Strategy
By Ross Johnson.
"...Focus instead on what you want to get out of it first. What are the 
1 - 4 goals that the web site should actively accomplish..."
http://tinyurl.com/dztoo7


+08: NAVIGATION.

Using a taxonomy to create faceted navigation.
By Stephanie Lemieux.
Stephanie Lemieux "shares her tips on what facets are and how teams can 
implement them effectively."
http://www.uie.com/articles/faceted_search


+09: TOOLS.

Color Oracle
"Color Oracle takes the guesswork out of designing for color blindness 
by showing you in real time what people with common color vision 
impairments will see. Color Oracle applies a full screen color filter 
to art you are designing - independently of the software that you are 
using..."
http://colororacle.cartography.ch/


+10: USABILITY.

You're Only a First-Time User Once
By Steve Calde.
"Remember: a person is a first-time user exactly once (and in the case 
of the infusion pump, because of training and observation, nurses were 
actually never really first-time users), and in many cases a beginner 
for only a very short while."
http://www.cooper.com/journal/2009/04/first-time.html

World's Best Headlines: BBC News
By Jakob Nielsen.
"Precise communication in a handful of words? The editors at BBC News 
achieve it every day, offering remarkable headline usability."
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/headlines-bbc.html

Traditional Writing Skills Don't Work on Web
By Gerry McGovern.
"Most web content is overwritten; too much content, too much  context, 
not nearly enough focus on the action. Unfortunately,  we're taught to 
write this way."
http://tinyurl.com/ded27q

Men Like It Fast
By Andy King.
"In a recent usability survey, researchers from Southern Illinois 
University found that after ease of use, men prefer fast download speed 
to easy navigation. Women prefer ease of use, easy navigation, and 
accessibility. The researchers hypothesize that these different 
usability criteria are due to differences in how men and women use the 
Web."criteria are due to differences in how men and women use
the Web."
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/usability-criteria/

Web Users Prefer Speed Over Customization
By Andy King.
"The most important interface design factor is speed, according to a 
new HCI study. Good interface design is essential for widespread user 
adoption and ultimately website success."
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/design-factors/


[Section one ends.]


++ SECTION TWO:

+11: 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 
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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 
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if there is anything else we can do to make navigation easier. For TEN 
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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 at d.umn.edu


[Issue ends.]