[webdev] Web Design Update: December 11, 2010

Sat Dec 11 08:53:33 CST 2010

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 9, Issue 24, December 11, 2010.

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

++ISSUE 24 CONTENTS.

SECTION ONE: New references.
What's new at the Web Design Reference site?
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/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: PHP.
10: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.
11: USABILITY.

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

[Contents ends.]

++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

Ranking Schools by Web Accessibility Summary Score
By Illinois Center for Information Technology Accessibility.
"The data in this study was collected with the Illinois Functional
Accessibility Evaluator..."
http://webaccessibility.cita.illinois.edu/data/schools/

Cornell - Sites Will Be Upgraded for Disabled
By Jeff Stein.
"After rejecting policy in 2009, University afﬁrms commitment to disabled..."
http://www.cornellsun.com/section/news/content/2010/12/03/cornell-sites-will-be-upgraded-disabled

Will Penn State be the Next Test Case?
By John Eric Brandt.
"I am still waiting for the definitive legal case which affirms that
the websites of all institutions of higher education (IHE) be
accessible to people with disabilities. There was a celebrated case in
California a few years back where the entire state university system
was ruled to be out of compliance. The net result was the development
of strong guidelines and rules for UC campuses..."
http://jebswebs.net/blog/2010/12/will-penn-state-be-the-next-test-case/

Canadian Government Loses Milestone Web Access Case
By Tristan Parker.
"A blind accessibility consultant has won her case against the
Canadian government for the lack of accessibility on its websites, the
country's Federal Court has announced..."
http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=511

BSI (British Standards Institute) Boosts web accessibility with latest standard
By Phil Muncaster.
"BS 8878 Will Help Organisations Make Their Sites More Digitally Inclusive..."
http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2273584/bsi-accessibility-web-site

Five Accessibility Myths Demolished
By Tom Stewart.
I was pleased my grumpy old man blog post on usability myths really
sparked some interest, with most people agreeing, although a few
seemed eager to point out that I'd just 'critiqued' them rather than
'demolished' them.
http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/6913-five-accessibility-myths-demolished

+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

CSS Defaults/Mere Suggestions
By Niels Matthijs.
While css defaults are a useful necessity guaranteeing the separation
of content and style, you should not be afraid to change them around
to better match the layout you need to create. It all starts by
realizing that the basic browser styling is just some simple default
css hidden away in a separate file. If you get to that point,
overwriting it is just the next logical step.
http://www.onderhond.com/blog/work/css-browser-defaults

The Fifth Position Value
By Peter-Paul Koch.
Web developers are quite annoyed that position: fixed doesn't work on
mobile browsers, but mobile browser vendors cannot afford to support
it. This dilemma is unsolvable by the means we presently have at our
disposal.
http://www.quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2010/12/the_fifth_posit.html

Three-Sided Border
By Chris Coyier.
"If you need to put a border on only three sides of an element, there
are a bunch of ways you can do it..."
http://css-tricks.com/three-sided-border/

Why Percentage-Based Designs Don't Work in Every Browser
By Scott Gilbertson.
"Here's a rule any web designer can live by: Your designs don't need
to look exactly the same in every browser, they just need to look good
in every browser...There are also some workarounds. For example, you
can use ems instead of percentages, which render much more
consistently across browsers..."
http://www.webmonkey.com/2010/12/why-percentage-based-designs-dont-work-in-every-browser/

CSS3 Gradient Backgrounds and Controlling Their Height
By last-child.com.
"Let's assume you want to create a gradient background that starts at
the top of the page and finishes at the bottom of your page header,
i.e. is 100px tall. You can do this with a combination of CSS3 rules
and avoid those ugly background images..."
http://www.last-child.com/gradient-backgrounds-height/

+03: EVALUATION & TESTING.

The Drawbacks of Talk Aloud Usability Testing
By Gerry McGovern.
"A primary rule of web management is: 'Do as I do, not as I say'. So
why do we ask people to say what they're doing during usability
tests?"
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2010/nt-2010-12-06-Drawbacks-talk.htm

+04: EVENTS.

Introduction to SVG
January-February 2011.
Online course.
http://www.w3.org/2010/09/intro_svg_course_description.php

Creating Web Site Indexes
February 1-28, 2011.
Online course.
http://www.simmons.edu/gslis/careers/continuing-education/workshops/online.php

Midwest Instruction and Computing Symposium
April 8-9, 2011.
Duluth, Minnesota U.S.A
http://www2.css.edu/mics/

Web Directions @Media
May 24-27, 2011.
London, United Kingdom.
http://atmedia11.webdirections.org/

+05: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE.

The Enemy Within
By Karen McGrane.
"I remember the first time I heard the phrase 'information
architecture.' It was in the technical communication program at RPI,
in a conversation with the department chair about my enthusiasm for
combining my love of clear writing, making outlines, and labeling my
file folders with what I was then just discovering: a whole new world
of spatial design, how people translate cognitive information into
physical tasks, how visual and tactile cues help make verbal
communication more clear."
http://52weeksofux.com/post/2094540762/ux-the-enemy-within

+06: JAVASCRIPT.

JavaScript for PHP Developers
By Stoyan Stefanov.
"Hopefully, you've been a good geek in 2010. You've followed last
year's advice and learned some JavaScript. Now, let's kick back with a
glass of wine by the fireplace and take a moment to review what you've
learned."
http://phpadvent.org/2010/javascript-for-php-developers-by-stoyan-stefanov

The Anatomy of a JavaScript Design Pattern
By James Edwards.
"This is a follow-on post to My Favourite JavaScript Design Pattern,
which will hopefully answer a few of the questions it raised, and
provide more in-depth discussion on some of the pattern's features..."
http://blogs.sitepoint.com/2010/12/08/the-anatomy-of-a-javascript-design-pattern/

+07: MISCELLANEOUS.

One Web
By Jeremy Keith.
"...Most of the time, creating a separate mobile website is simply a
cop-out...I'm with Team Timbo. One web."
http://adactio.com/journal/1716/

+08: NAVIGATION.

Examining the Order Effect of Website Navigation Menus With Eye Tracking
By Alex J DeWitt.
"We analysed the eye-tracking data of 147 participants as they used a
total of 15 separate website navigation menus to complete key
activities. The hypotheses for this study were that (a) the
psychological phenomenon of the order effect would manifest in that
items at either end of a menu would be located more quickly than those
in the middle and (b) that the items that were relevant to completing
the user's tasks would be located more quickly through peripheral
visual identification of these items. Although items relevant to the
user's task were acquired 1.8 seconds faster on average, both of the
hypotheses were rejected as no statistically significant patterns were
found. It was concluded that each user was likely to have his or her
own searching behaviour and this could be affected by other factors
such as the graphic design of the menu..."
http://www.upassoc.org/upa_publications/jus/2010november/dewitt1.html

Faceted Navigation: Grouping - An UnTapped Potential?
By James Kalbach.
"Research shows that relevant documents (as judged by a user) tend to
be thematically related. That means that if is someone finds a
relevant document in a collection, chances are documents with a
similar subject are also relevant."
http://experiencinginformation.wordpress.com/2010/12/06/faceted-navigation-grouping-an-untapped-potential/

+09: PHP.

The Thing with the Two Heads
By Ed Finkler.
"...In the end, treating your front end(s) and back end as separate
apps means each app will be able to do what works best for its given
platform. You'll end up with a better development experience, and a
superior user experience."
http://phpadvent.org/2010/the-thing-with-the-two-heads-by-ed-finkler

Bits and PHPieces
By Joel Perras.
"I like to think of PHP as a mixed bag of tricks. The language itself
was born out of some simple, real-world use cases, and that ideology
still drives the language forward today. It sometimes isn't pretty,
but PHP isn't meant to be pretty - it's meant to solve problems..."
http://phpadvent.org/2010/bits-and-phpieces-by-jo%C3%ABl-perras

10 PHP Tricks for Associative Array Manipulation
By W. Jason Gilmore.
"The associative array -- an indispensable data type used to describe
a collection of unique keys and associated values -- is a mainstay of
all programming languages, PHP included. In fact, associative arrays
are so central to the task of Web development that PHP supports dozens
of functions and other features capable of manipulating array data in
every conceivable manner. Such extensive support can be a bit
overwhelming to developers seeking the most effective way to
manipulate arrays within their applications. In this article, I'll
offer 10 tips that can help you shred, slice and dice your data in
countless ways..."
http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/associative-array-manipulation/Jason_Gilmore12092010.php3

+10: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.

It's Still Important to Talk about HTML 4
By Joseph Dolson.
"...If you think about it, a significant part of web site updating is
done by non-experts: the person tasked with maintaining the web site
in a small business may not be at all knowledgeable. The beginning
blogger may not know anything about HTML. Their learning will still
come through basic searches, starting from a task-oriented question
which is probably not technology specific. Those are people we need to
reach if we seriously want to improve the quality of HTML on the
internet."
http://www.joedolson.com/articles/2010/12/its-still-important-to-talk-about-html-4

Wrapping Things Nicely with HTML5 Local Storage
By Christian Heilmann.
"HTML5 is here to turn the web from a web of hacks into a web of
applications - and we are well on the way to this goal. The coming
year will be totally and utterly awesome if you are excited about web
technologies. This year the HTML5 revolution started and there is no
stopping it. For the first time all the browser vendors are rallying
together to make a technology work. The new browser war is fought over
implementation of the HTML5 standard and not over random additions. We
live in exciting times..."
http://24ways.org/2010/html5-local-storage

Recommended: "Wrapping Things Nicely with HTML5 Local Storage"
By Tiffany B. Brown.
"Keep in mind: local storage can be - and will be, and right now is
probably being - used to create hard-to-delete 'super cookies' for
advertising, marketing, and other privacy-eroding things..."
http://tiffanybbrown.com/2010/12/07/recommended-wrapping-things-nicely-with-html5-local-storage/

HTML5: If You Bang Your Head Against The Keyboard You'll Create a
Valid Document!
By Brian Kelly.
"...In future, it would seem, there won't be a need to bother about
escaping &s and closing empty tags, although if Web authors wish to
continue with such practices they can do so."
http://ukwebfocus.wordpress.com/2010/12/10/html5-if-you-bang-your-head-against-the-keyboard-youll-create-a-valid-document/

"Probably, Maybe, No" - The State of HTML5 Audio
By Scott Schiller.
"...CSS3's border-radius, box-shadow, text-shadow and gradients, and
HTML5's <canvas>, <audio> and <video> are some of the most anticipated
features we'll see put to creative (ab)use as adoption of the 'new
shiny' grows. Developers jumping on the cutting edge are using subsets
of these features to little detriment, in most cases. The more popular
CSS features are design flourishes that can degrade nicely, but the
current audio and video implementations in particular suffer from a
number of annoyances..."
http://24ways.org/2010/the-state-of-html5-audio

+11: USABILITY.

It's Not a Training Issue
By Jim Ross.
"...Training should never be a substitute for designing a usable
application. Of course, not all user interfaces can be-or should
be-simple enough for users to immediately use them successfully
without any training. To design usable applications-especially when
designing very complex applications that do require training-we must
have an in-depth understanding of users and the tasks they perform.
After an initial training period, a well-designed application helps
users perform their tasks in an efficient and effective manner, and
the organization that created the application reaps the rewards of
their design and development investment."
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2010/12/its-not-a-training-issue.php

Not Creating User Experiences
By Gary Barber.
"...This creating of a user experience is just a myth...But the
designer doesn't make the user experience, the user and the
environment (which maybe the site) does...As designers all we can ever
do is just create an environment to allow for the user experience. An
environment that we would like the audience to encounter and have the
right experience with and for that experience to grow, flourish and
mature. The designer is just creating FOR a user experience.  Yes it's
a minor, but important difference...
http://manwithnoblog.com/2010/12/09/not-creating-user-experiences/

25 Reasons Why I'll Leave Your Website in 10 Seconds
By Chris Lake.
"What makes people press the back button, shortly after visiting your
website? Why do they bail out so quickly? And what can you do about
it?..."
http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/6924-25-reasons-why-i-ll-leave-your-website-in-10-seconds

Abundance of Choice and Its Effect on Decision Making
By Colleen Roller.
"Current research shows that, as the number of options increases, so
does the level of complexity of the decision itself. Although people
are inherently attracted to having lots of choices, when it comes to
actually choosing from among a large number of options, people often
find themselves paralyzed and unable to make a decision. Why is it
that an abundance of choice can become so overwhelming?..."
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2010/12/abundance-of-choice-and-its-effect-on-decision-making.php

Need Better Data? Pay More Attention to Your Web Forms
By Graham Rhind.
"A hugely significant 87% of adults attempting to carry out an online
transaction using a Web form...had encountered problems with the
process; with 41% of them either giving up on the transaction
altogether or moving to a competitor as a result of these problems."
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2010/12/need-better-data-pay-more-attention-to-your-web-forms.php

[Section one ends.]

++ SECTION TWO:

+12: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site?

Accessibility Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/accessibility.html

Association Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/associations.html

Book Listings.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/books.html

Cascading Style Sheets Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/css.html

Color Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/color.html

Dreamweaver Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/dreamweaver.html

Evaluation & Testing Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/testing.html

Event Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/events.html

Flash Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/flash.html

Information Architecture Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/architecture.html

JavaScript Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/javascript.html

Miscellaneous Web Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/misc.html

Navigation Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/navigation.html

PHP Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/php.html

Sites & Blogs Listing.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/sites.html

Standards, Guidelines & Pattern Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/standards.html

Tool Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/tools.html

Typography Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/type.html

Usability Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/usability.html

XML Information.
http://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
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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.]