[webdev] Web Design Update: August 4, 2011

Thu Aug 4 06:28:14 CDT 2011

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 10, Issue 06, August 4, 2011.

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

++ISSUE 06 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: FLASH.
06: JAVASCRIPT.
07: NAVIGATION.
08: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.
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.

Web Accessibility and SEO
By Jared Smith.
"What is the value of finding content if the user experience and
accessibility of that content is poor?..."
http://webaim.org/blog/web-accessibility-and-seo/

Screen Reader Support for Abbr and Span on Mobile
By Henny Swan.
"If looking for a solution that works seamlessly across desktop and
mobile browsers it looks like <abbr> and <span> is not it. What works
best for screen readers on desktop browsers is <span> however this
seems to have the worst support on mobile..."
http://www.iheni.com/screen-reader-support-for-abbr-and-span-on-mobile/

My Challenge to the Accessibility Community: We Need an Accessibility
Body of Knowledge
By Karl Groves.
"...Let's all step up to put together a compendium of information on
web accessibility and other (closely) related topics. Let's put
together something which provides clear, actionable information that
helps everyone involved in web design, development, and management
understand the 5 Ws of accessibility. It should be seen as the central
body of knowledge for accessibility..."
http://www.karlgroves.com/2011/07/30/my-challenge-to-the-accessibility-community-we-need-an-accessibility-body-of-knowledge/

Google Plus Keyboard Accessibility
By Dennis Lembree.
"...Google+ is more accessible than most Google apps, especially for a
new one. But that's not saying much; there are still many issues to
resolve. And again, the list of problems on this post are only a
subset of issues. It's sad the such a huge, powerful, rich technology
company can't get the basics of web accessibility, even when they
planned it from the start."
http://webaxe.blogspot.com/2011/07/google-plus-accessibility-check.html

Court Rules in Favor of JetBlue - Airline Websites and Kiosks Not
Covered by State Law
By The Office of Lainey Feingold.
"In a blow to the rights of people with disabilities in California and
across the country, a second United States federal judge has ruled
that state anti-discrimination laws do not apply to airline websites
and kiosks. In a closely watched case against JetBlue Airways, Judge
Joseph Spero ruled on August 3, 2011 that regulations issued by the
United States Department of Transportation — no matter how weak and
ineffective — strip away the rights California residents with visual
impairments to access and use JetBlue’s website and airport kiosks..."
http://lflegal.com/2011/08/jetblue-order/

QR Codes - Uses and Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities
By Disabled World.
"Information on mobile phone scannable QR codes including
accessibility issues and practical uses of QR code technology to
assist persons with disability...."
http://www.disabled-world.com/assistivedevices/apps/qr-code.php

Using ARIA to Fix Non-Standard Images on Flickr
By Ted Drake.
"...ARIA roles and attributes allow us to fix this non-semantic
presentation. ARIA roles allow us to take a container and tell the
user it should be treated like another. The aria-label attribute also
allows us to place alternate text on this pseudo image..."
http://yaccessibilityblog.com/library/aria-fix-non-standard-images.html

+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

Hiding Content
By Dan Stringer.
"...In this post I will identify some of the common techniques that
are used to hide content and will attempt to identify the implications
of using these techniques. I will also attempt to identify appropriate
situations in which each technique could practically be put to good
use.  All of the techniques that we have identified below have been
tested with Jaws 12 and NVDA 2011.1 using Firefox 4, Firefox 5 and
Internet Explorer 8.  In addition the examples were tested with
voiceover on Apple OSX 10.6.4 with Safari..."
http://www.nomensa.com/blog/2011/hiding-content/

An Introduction to CSS3 Media Queries
By Michael Rohde.
"While HTML5 has been on everyone's mind lately, the use of related
technologies such as CSS3 media queries are becoming increasingly
important as well. Visitors have certain expectations when viewing
your site on everything from a desktop to a laptop to a netbook to a
tablet to a handheld. They expect your site to maintain a high level
of  user experience satisfaction no matter how or where they see your
site. This article dives into methodologies and techniques for using
CSS3 media queries..."
http://www.htmlgoodies.com/html5/tutorials/an-introduction-to-css3-media-queries.html

CSS3 Media Queries - Elixir or Snakeoil?
By James Williamson.
"...So...where does that leave us? Just like every other technique in
your toolbox, mediaqueries simply add to your capabilities.Are they
right for every project? Of course not. Mobiledesign is far more than
simply designing for a smallerscreen. However, given the right
circumstances, media queriesallow you to optimize designs for the
mobile environmentin a way that we weren't able to do before.Deciding
when, and if, to use them is, after all, your job."
http://www.slideshare.net/jameswillweb/css3-media-queries-mobile-elixir-or-css-snake-oil

Style Twitter Posts on Your Site with CSS3
By Zoe Gillenwater.
"Lists of recent tweets tend to look a bit boring. Zoe Mickley
Gillenwater, author of Stunning CSS3, explains how to use the new
properties and selectors of CSS3 to enhance the look of a tweet list
in modern browsers..."
http://www.netmagazine.com/node/1271

+03: EVALUATION & TESTING.

Outsourcing Your User Research Is Like Outsourcing Your Vacation
By Jared Spool.
"Hang around me long enough and you'll hear me say this: 'Outsourcing
your user research work is like outsourcing your vacation. It gets the
job done, but probably won't have the effects you were
seeking.'...Once you're in the habit of doing your own research,
you'll never want to go back. It's just too awesomely addicting and
useful."
http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2011/08/02/outsourcing-your-user-research-is-like-outsourcing-your-vacation/

+04: EVENTS.

Accessibility Camp DC
October 22, 2011.
Washington, DC, U.S.A.
http://www.accessibilitycampdc.org/

UX Intensive 2011 Chicago
October 24-27 2011.
Chicago, Illinois, USA
http://uxichicago2011.eventbrite.com/

Hardboiled Web Design Manchester with Andy Clarke
October 28, 2011.
Manchester, England, United Kingdom.
http://stuffandnonsense.eventwax.com/hardboiled-web-design-workshop-with-andy-clarke

Full Frontal JavaScript Conference
November 11, 2011.
Brighton, England, United Kingdom
http://2011.full-frontal.org/

Accessibility Everywhere: Groundwork, Infrastructure, Standards
(AEGIS) International Conference
November 28-30, 2011.
Brussels, Belgium
http://www.epr.eu/aegis/

+05: FLASH.

Farewell Flash? Adobe Launches HTML5 Web Animations Tool "Adobe Edge"
By Sarah Perez.
"Today, Adobe is launching a new tool called Adobe Edge which will
allow creative professionals to design animated Web content using Web
standards like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript. Not Flash..."
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/farewell_flash_adobe_launches_html5_web_animations_tool_adobe_edge.php

Four Things You Need to Know About Adobe Edge
By Brad Reed.
"While you shouldn't expect Adobe's Edge to replace its Flash standard
anytime soon, it will act as a gateway for the company to start using
HTML5. To help guide you through what Adobe Edge will and won't do,
we've put together a quick compilation of key facts about Adobe's
newest HTML-based Web animation technology..."
http://www.macworld.com/article/161486/2011/08/adobe_edge.html

Experiments with Adobe Edge
By Anna Debenham.
"A development version of Adobe Edge came out today, and I thought I'd
give it a quick play to see whether it would be useful for any of the
projects I'm working on..."
http://maban.co.uk/58

Devs Respond to Adobe Edge
By Tanya Combrinck.
"We speak to leading developers about the newly released web animation
tool, and discover concerns over HTML5 branding and absence of SVG and
canvas, although Adobe stresses it's still early days..."
http://www.netmagazine.com/features/devs-respond-adobe-edge

Living on the Edge - New Adobe Animation Tool Sparks Necessary Conversations
By Chris Heilmann.
"Adobe made quite some splash in the last days by releasing Edge, a
Flash-like tool to create HTML5/CSS3/JS driven animations. There is a
need for a tool like that and I for one am very happy to see that
Adobe are recognising this. Other tools that try to tackle the same
task are already around, with the yet to be released Animatable being
shown at quite a few conferences and Radi leading the way."
http://hacks.mozilla.org/2011/08/living-on-the-edge-new-adobe-animation-tool-sparks-necessary-conversations/

+06: JAVASCRIPT.

JavaScript Creator Says the Language Wasn't Just Dumb Luck
By Klint Finley.
"JavaScript creator Brendan Eich has spoken out against the perception
that JavaScript was an arbitrary or random success. In a comment at
Hacker News Eich explains the historical context from which JavaScript
emerged and how it was unlikely to have happened any other way..."
http://www.readwriteweb.com/hack/2011/07/javascript-was-no-accident.php

+07: NAVIGATION.

Marking Up the Current Page with HTML5 Links
By Leonie Watson.
"...The HTML5 specification subtly changes the purpose of the <strong>
element though. Instead of marking up content with strong emphasis, it
should be used to markup content of strong importance..."
http://tink.co.uk/2011/07/marking-current-page-html5/

+08: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.

Understanding HTML5 Semantics
By Stephanie (Sullivan) Rewis.
"If your business is like mine, you've been hearing a lot of HTML5
this and HTML5 that lately. Lots of talk about the "Flash killing"
video element, animations with canvas, geolocation, and much more. In
fact, the buzz around HTML5 has been extended to include things that
aren't even HTML5 at all. All over the web, people are talking about
the new expressive capabilities of CSS3 while calling them HTML5.
Often forgotten in the overwhelming marketing buzz of HTML5 are the
new elements introduced and other semantic changes. In this article,
I'd like to help you understand and learn to properly use these
not-necessarily-exciting, yet definitely very important new, semantic
elements. While the subject may seem dry and boring, there's actually
a new richness you can add to your markup with the proper use of these
new elements..."
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/understanding-html5-semantics.html

Thoughts on the HTML 5 Working Draft
By Jonathan Avila.
"...There are many new and redesigned aspects of the HTML 5 that
promote accessiblity in web based documents. However, the effort must
continue to ensure that all content can be made accessible to users at
the level of the specification. For instance, guidelines such as the
WCAG version 2.0 cannot be fully implemented for canvas content.
Furthermore, more instructions in the API sections of the HTML 5
documentation must be included to support access to content via the
keyboard. It has been 14 years since the last major update of the HTML
specification (version 4.0) and the new specification is much needed
to provide consistency and increased structure to the web."
https://www.ssbbartgroup.com/blog/2011/08/03/thoughts-on-the-html-5-working-draft

+09: TOOLS.

10 Excellent Tools for Responsive Web Design
By Jason Gross.
"...Tools have started to spring up to provide us with shortcuts and
helpers for common responsive web design tasks. Let's take a look at
just  few that I find the most useful..."
http://sixrevisions.com/tools/responsive-web-design/

+10: USABILITY.

Defer Secondary Content When Writing for Mobile Users
By Jakob Nielsen.
"Mobile devices require a tight focus in content presentation, with
the first screen limited to only the most essential information..."
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mobile-content.html

Verbalizing About Visuals - Targets, Team, and Tag Lines
By John Sorflaten.
John Sorflaten addresses visual vs. verbal design approaches.
http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/usability-newsletter.asp#research

[Section one ends.]

++ SECTION TWO:

+11: 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.

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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.]