[webdev] Web Design Update: February 9, 2012

Thu Feb 9 06:19:27 CST 2012

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 10, Issue 33, February 9, 2012.

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

++ISSUE 33 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: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE.
07: JAVASCRIPT.
08: MISCELLANEOUS.
09: NAVIGATION.
10: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.
11: TOOLS.
12: USABILITY.

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

[Contents ends.]

++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

Writing Good ALT Text
By The Guild of Accessible Web Designers.
"One of the first things anyone learns about accessible web design is
the importance of the alt attribute on images. If you are using XHTML,
image tags without alt attributes won't even validate, so ensuring
this information is provided becomes even more important. Writing alt
text is easy, but writing it well enough for it to be a help rather
than a hindrance can take some thought..."
http://www.gawds.org/show.php?contentid=28

Multimedia Lectures - Tools for Improving Accessibility and Learning
By Mary Bart.
"...Accessibility is not optional but rather a critical success factor..."
http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-with-technology-articles/multimedia-lectures-tools-for-improving-accessibility-and-learning/

Web Accessibility Testing: Do Automatic Testing First
By Karl Groves.
"...By initially testing for a subset of high impact issues, you can
get quick wins that help minimize the pain experienced when an
organization is new to accessibility. Then you can build on those
successes by including a few more of the more subjective things and/
or including some manual testing. Increasing the scope gradually and
deliberately will help minimize the perceived impact."
http://www.karlgroves.com/2012/02/02/web-accessibility-testing-do-automatic-testing-first/

WCAG 2.0 Parsing Error Bookmarklet
By Steve Faulkner.
"...It is true (as far as I know) that there is no currently available
dedicated service or software for checking 4.1.1 Parsing. What I do
and advise clients to do is use the W3C validation service to check
their code as the checks required for parsing criterion conformance
are a subset of the checks that are made when validating HTML code..."
http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/2012/02/wcag-2-0-parsing-error-bookmarklet/

CNN Sued Over Lack of Closed Captioning on Website
By Bob Egelko.
"A federal magistrate has refused to dismiss a suit by deaf
Californians against CNN for its refusal to add closed captioning to
news video clips on its website..."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/03/BAKK1N2SST.DTL#ixzz1lRloAurO

+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

Using max-width on Images Can Make Them Disappear in IE8
By Roger Johansson.
I recently ran into a problem that was really hard to figure out. I
was working on a responsive design where I used img {max-width:100%;}
to make sure that images would be downsized rather than overflow in
narrower viewports.
http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/201202/using_max-width_on_images_can_make_them_disappear_in_ie8/

One Design to Rule Them All?
By Karine Joly.
"Responsive web design in higher education...Notre Dame's new home
page, launched in July 2011, has been the most talked about RWD
implementation within the higher ed web community so far...More and
more institutions, including Vassar College (N.Y.) and West Virginia
University, have also embraced the RWD approach for existing websites
or new web projects..."
http://www.universitybusiness.com/article/one-design-rule-them-all

Irresponsibly Responsive - Tower of Babel
By Niels Matthijs.
"2011 was an exciting year for the web development community. We saw
the rise of mobile, coined concepts like mobile-first and responsive
and braced ourselves for a future where anything could be seen by
anyone, anywhere, on any device. It was a great year for
experimentation and mucking about, but now it's time to get serious.
The question is, can we still control the beasts that responsive and
mobile-first have become?..."
http://www.onderhond.com/blog/work/irresponsibly-responsive

Image-y Nation
By Jeremy Keith.
"...Josh is working on a responsive project at Clearleft right now-and
doing a superb job of it-where he's deliberately cutting the
server-side aspect of responsive images out of the picture. He's still
starting with the small (mobile) images by default and then, after the
page has loaded, swaps them out with JavaScript if the viewport is
wide enough..."
http://adactio.com/journal/5208/

+03: EVALUATION & TESTING.

Communicating User Research Findings
By Jim Ross.
"...Even the best research can lose much of its value when presented
in a poorly executed deliverable that doesn't clearly communicate
research findings and recommendations. Following these guidelines can
help you to deliver useful findings and recommendations without
putting everyone to sleep."
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2012/02/communicating-user-research-findings.php

Strategies for Choosing Test Devices
By Stephanie Rieger.
"...When choosing devices, we've found it helps to consider a variety
of factors..."
http://stephanierieger.com/strategies-for-choosing-test-devices/

+04: EVENTS.

Mobile World Congress 2012
February 27 - March 1, 2012.
Barcelona, Spain
http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/

An Event Apart Washington, San Francisco
November 6-8, 2012.
San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
http://aneventapart.com/2012/sanfrancisco/

+05: FLASH.

Adobe Confirms: No Flash for Chrome on Android
By Ryan Paul.
"Google issued a beta release of Chrome for Android earlier today. The
browser provides support for modern web standards and includes a
number of compelling features that aren't available in the Android's
default browser. One noteworthy Chrome desktop feature that isn't
included in the mobile port, however, is the integrated Flash
runtime."
http://www.webmonkey.com/2012/02/adobe-confirms-no-flash-for-chrome-on-android/

+06: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE.

IA Strategy - Addressing the Signatures of Information Overload
By Nathaniel Davis.
"...In this article, I have reviewed six traceable signatures of
impending conditions of information overload. If, as an IA
practitioner, you hold yourself to high standards, I challenge you to
test the use of these signatures. I also encourage you to discover new
ones. Then, apply and share your insights, because almost 1 trillion
dollars of lost productivity are on the table for organizations of all
sizes, who could benefit from reducing these costs through a sound
information architecture strategy."
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2012/02/ia-strategy-addressing-the-signatures-of-information-overload.php

+07: JAVASCRIPT.

If You Use the WAI-ARIA Role 'application', Please Do So Wisely!
By Marco Zehe.
"This goes out to all web developers out there reading this blog and
implementing widgets and other rich content in HTML, CSS and
JavaScript! If you think of using the WAI-ARIA role “application” in
your code, please do so with caution and care! And here's why..."
http://www.marcozehe.de/2012/02/06/if-you-use-the-wai-aria-role-application-please-do-so-wisely/

Understanding ARIA Widgets
By Todd Kloots.
"ARIA is a W3C specification that can be used to dramatically improve
the accessibility of custom widgets, especially for users of screen
readers. For those unfamiliar with ARIA this article aims to explain
the unfamiliar through the lens of the familiar: existing HTML
widgets..."
http://yaccessibilityblog.com/library/understanding-aria-widgets.html

+08: MISCELLANEOUS.

An Interview with Kevin Chao
By Henny Swan.
"Kevin Chao seems to be everywhere tweeting, commenting and
contributing to lists about various products and companies ranging
from Apple, NVDA, Adobe, Google and Android. He's a student, visually
impaired and lives in the USA and as he himself admits loves to 'get
under the hood' of technologies to see how they work and how they can
be improved..."
http://www.iheni.com/an-interview-with-kevin-chao/

Inside the CSS WG: Daniel Glazman, Co-Chair
By Molly Holzschlag.
"In a new series web standards advocate Molly Holzschlag gives us
exclusive access to the W3C CSS Working Group and interviews its
members about their work and vision. Today she quizzes the group's
co-chair, Daniel Glazman..."
http://www.netmagazine.com/interviews/inside-css-wg-daniel-glazman-co-chair

On Mobile Web Development
By Tiffany B. Brown.
"Much of what we see is that developers rely on a specific browser
(e.g., Webkit) and they forget about other engines on various devices,
including Opera, Firefox, and others. The problem seems most
persistent on mobile, perhaps because of Webkit's market share. Things
break and developers don't understand why; or they don't notice the
problem, of if they do they do browser sniffing to avoid the
problem..."
http://tiffanybbrown.com/2012/02/01/on-mobile-web-development/

+09: NAVIGATION.

Should Links be Underlined?
By Gerry McGovern.
"The most important thing is that a link is clearly understood to be a
link. That way, when you scan the page you can immediately identify
the links..."
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2012/nt-2012-02-06-Should-underlined.htm

Skip Links and Standards?
By Russ Weakley.
"Question: Are there any standards associated with skip links? Answer:
Yes! In order to comply with Success Criterion 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks -
you must provide a mechanism to 'bypass blocks of content that are
repeated on multiple Web pages. (Level A)' "
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/2012/02/02/skip-links/

How Taxonomy and Metadata Leads to Findability
By Theresa Putkey.
"Taxonomy and metadata are becoming much more popular these days.
Companies need to keep track of their information, but can't use
traditional classification systems, such as Dewey Decimal or Library
of Congress Subject Headings. In the last 10 years, faceted taxonomies
have taken on new importance on the web; XML has upgraded the
visibility of metadata. Having the skills to create taxonomies and
metadata will serve you well. Most people don't have the instinctual
skills to create information organization structures that are useful
or the practical knowledge and experience to be confident in the
structures they create. Understanding how taxonomies and metadata feed
into user interfaces allows you to recommend good designs that improve
findability."
http://e3contentstrategy.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-taxonomy-and-metadata-leads-to.html

+10: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.

Semantic Mark-Up
By BBC.
"Semantic mark-up is HTML that describes the content, rather than the
manner in which the content is presented. It allows the meaning to be
delivered to users regardless of the browser they use, so that content
can be provided to the widest possible audience..."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/futuremedia/technical/semantic_markup.shtml

Structure First. Content Always.
By Mark Boulton.
"We have to start somewhere. Something has to come first..."
http://www.markboulton.co.uk/journal/comments/structure-first-content-always

HTML5 Web Camp Silicon Valley
By Microsoft.
Microsoft's HTML5 Web Camp videos are now online.
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/HTML5-Web-Camp/HTML5-Web-Camp-Silicon-Valley

+11: TOOLS.

W3C Launches New Markup Validation Service
By W3C.
"The W3C has launched the Nu Markup Validation Service, a
non-DTD-based markup validator being made available to the community
in parallel to the existing DTD-based validator.w3.org W3C markup
validator. The W3C Nu Markup Validation Service uses the same backend
as the Validator.nu site, which is also the backend for the
HTML5-checking feature of validator.w3.org..."
http://www.w3.org/News/2012.html#entry-9353

+12: USABILITY.

Fact vs. Fiction - What Usability is Not
By Vishal Mehta.
"A close friend asked me a few days ago – “You've covered decent
ground on the science, dimensions, characteristics, design aspects,
process and pervasiveness of usability considerations. How about doing
a reverse bit? What usability is not about? Or the myths of
usability?” I jumped at the chance..."
http://www.uxbooth.com/blog/fact-vs-fiction-what-usability-is-not/

Recent Findings On Captcha and The User Experience
By Kim Krause Berg.
"The opinions on what makes a form or Web application user friendly
may vary but most everyone dislikes Captcha fields. Some Captcha's are
so difficult to decipher they actually increase form and page
abandonment..."
http://searchengineland.com/recent-findings-on-captcha-the-user-experience-109779

[Section one ends.]

++ SECTION TWO:

+13: 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.]