[webdev] Web Design Update: April 19, 2012

Thu Apr 19 06:58:08 CDT 2012

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 10, Issue 43, April 19, 2012.

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

++ISSUE 42 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: JAVASCRIPT.
06: MISCELLANEOUS.
07: NAVIGATION.
08: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.
09: USABILITY.

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

[Contents ends.]

++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

Google Apps Accessibility
By North Carolina State University.
"...While we are excited about, and want to promote the collaborative
nature of the Google Application Suite on campus, caution must be used
in planning how to use it. These guidelines delineate the ways in
which NC State's Google Apps may be used accessibly..."
http://google.ncsu.edu/accessibility/google-apps-accessibility

Google Docs Accessibility - Documents
By North Carolina State University.
"...There is no way from within Documents to add alternative text to
images, headers to rows and columns for data tables, or to define the
language of the document. Additionally, when publishing to the Web
nested lists with more than a single level are coded incorrectly..."
http://google.ncsu.edu/accessibility/google-docs-documents

Google Docs Accessibility - Spreadsheets
By North Carolina State University.
"In general, when sharing this information with others the best option
is to convert a Google Docs Spreadsheet to a Microsoft Excel
document."
http://google.ncsu.edu/accessibility/google-docs-spreadsheets

Google Docs Accessibility - Presentations
By North Carolina State University.
"If you want to share presentation files with others, in general, the
best option is to convert the presentation into a Microsoft PowerPoint
document. The author will need to do further editing work in the
target application to add accessibility information, such as
alternative text for images. This information can be added through
tools like Microsoft PowerPoint’s built-in accessibility checker."
http://google.ncsu.edu/accessibility/google-docs-presentations

Google Docs Accessibility - Google Sites
By North Carolina State University.
"...Overall, Google Sites is a fairly weak platform for creating
accessible, standards-based Web sites. Except for the most basic of
sites, which even then will still have some problems with them, you
will probably be better served using another Web publishing system.
Additionally, some users will not be able to edit content within Sites
due to the lack of accessibility support..."
http://google.ncsu.edu/accessibility/google-sites

Content Order on Touch Screens
By Henny Swan.
"There seems to be an assumption that content order is not relevant
for touch screens because you can tap and find what you're looking
for. In other words you're not forced to browse in a linear way as you
are with a keyboard on desktop or a keypad device with no directional
controller. This is simply not true, the order in which content is
coded is as important for touch devices as it is keypad devices and
desktop..."
http://www.iheni.com/content-order-on-touch-screens/

+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

Responsive Viewport Units
By David Storey.
"With all this new fangled talk of responsive web design, its about
time that we had a poster child CSS unit to go with it. So move over
em, CSS3 Values and Units introduces a bunch of new viewport units
that are getting ready for their time in the limelight..."
http://generatedcontent.org/post/21279324555/viewportunits

Automatic Responsive Images in WordPress
By Keir Whitaker.
"The simplest way to see the script in action (if you are using a
desktop browser) is to resize this screen so that it's very narrow and
hit refresh; all being well the image above should turn into a black
and white version, physically smaller in terms of dimensions and file
size. Now slowly stretch the screen out again and you should see the
colour version kick back in. Josh's script cleverly replaces the
lo-res version with the full size colour version - nice and easy..."
http://viewportindustries.com/blog/automatic-responsive-images-in-wordpress/

CSS Selectors Defined
By Louis Lazaris.
"If you're just getting started with CSS, it's good to have a
fundamental understanding of what we mean when we refer to CSS
selectors. In this post I'll briefly describe all the most well-known
CSS selectors along with some examples..."
http://www.impressivewebs.com/css-selectors/

DRY CSS - Don't Repeat Your CSS
By Steven Bradley.
"...Overall I think the basic ideas behind DRY CSS make sense. Don't
repeat yourself is a good general principle to follow and eliminating
duplication of css code should naturally be part of that..."
http://www.vanseodesign.com/css/dry-principles/

+03: EVALUATION & TESTING.

20 Tips for Your Next Moderated Usability Test
By Jeff Sauro.
"Despite the rise in unmoderated usability testing, the bulk of
evaluations are still done with a facilitator..."
http://www.measuringusability.com/blog/20-usability-tips.php

+04: EVENTS.

Institutional Web Management Workshop
June 16-18, 2012.
Edinburgh, Scotland
http://iwmw.ukoln.ac.uk/iwmw2012/

Assets 2012
October 22-24, 2012.
Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.
http://www.sigaccess.org/assets12/

EDUCAUSE
November 6-9, 2012.
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A. and Online
http://www.educause.edu/E2012

+05: JAVASCRIPT.

Of Parser-Fetishists and Semi-Colons
By Christian Heilmann.
"...if you advocate omitting sensible syntax as parsers will fix that
for us, you are not a visionary developer. You waste your and our
time. And you come across as a semi-colon..."
http://christianheilmann.com/2012/04/16/of-parser-fetishists-and-semi-colons/

Semicolons Save Lives - Unambinguous and Robust
By Niels Matthijs.
"...Killing ambiguity in your code makes it stronger. It helps the
code to ready itself for an unknown future. The more you rely on
exceptions, loopholes and fixes in whatever parser you're using at the
time, the more fragile and less compatible your code becomes. This is
not something you can brush away with arguments like "writing style"
or "the parser will fix it". It's a reality that has tripped us up
time and time again and will continue to do so if we don't change the
way we write code..."
http://www.onderhond.com/blog/work/semicolon-robust-future-proof-code

+06: MISCELLANEOUS.

Responsive Web Design - Project Management Perspective
By Rudy Rigot.
"What strikes many people about responsive web design, the first time
they hear about it, is the simplicity of the syntax. As Rich Quick
said in his recent talk at Front Row to introduce the basic concepts:
'it's all roughly about learning one single line of CSS code'..."
http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/responsive-web-design-a-project-management-perspective/

How to Make Things Happen
By Scott Berkun.
"This is an excerpt from Making Things Happen, my bestselling book on
leading project teams..."
http://www.scottberkun.com/blog/2012/how-to-make-things-happen/

+07: NAVIGATION.

Improve Accessibility in HTML5 with WAI-ARIA Landmark Roles
By Virginia DeBolt.
"HTML5 contains several new elements that are considered semantic in
that they more accurately describe the content they contain than a
generic element such as a div..."
http://www.webteacher.ws/2012/04/16/improve-accessibility-in-html5-with-wai-aria-landmark-roles/

Annoying JAWS 13 + IE 9 ARIA Landmark Role on Div Element Bug
By Steve Faulkner.
"If you place role=main (example 1) or other landmark role on a div
containing form fields, when JAWS 13 (using IE) is in forms mode it
announces "landmark region" along with the field label text, each time
a field receives focus. If you place the landmark role on a section
element, for example, nested inside the div element (example 2)JAWS
does not announce "landmark region" inappropriately..."
http://www.html5accessibility.com/tests/div-landmark.html

HTML5 Accessibility Chops - 'real world' ARIA Landmark Use
By Steve Faulkner.
"I tweeted yesterday about initial results of data crunching on ARIA
landmark role use on the top 10,000 web sites HTML home page code
samples. What I found is very encouraging..."
http://www.paciellogroup.com/blog/2012/04/html5-accessibility-chops-real-world-aria-landmark-use/

Heading Levels - Navigation or Decoration?
By Duff Johnson.
"Is it OK to skip heading levels in electronic documents? WCAG 2.0 is
ambiguous, PDF/UA says no. When it comes to PDF, large documents are
commonplace. What are implementers and authors to do?..."
http://www.commonlook.com/heading-levels-navigation-or-decoration

+08: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.

Using Custom Attributes in HTML5
By Sue Smith.
"Custom attributes are among the most significant additions for HTML5,
and can play a major role in semantic Web development. In this
tutorial we'll go through a practical example of creating and
accessing HTML5 custom data attributes, including the necessary
JavaScript functions..."
http://www.developerdrive.com/2012/04/using-custom-attributes-in-html5/

The Current State of HTML5 Forms
By Chris Coyier.
"Browser support for the different features of HTML5 forms is quite varied..."
http://www.wufoo.com/2012/04/11/the-current-state-of-html5-forms-updated/

+09: USABILITY.

The Usability Principles, Accessibility Style: Part 3
By Steve Grobschmidt.
"...let's wrap up our journey through the classic 10 Usability Principles..."
http://www.theaccessibility.com/2012/04/usability-3/

Mobile Site vs. Full Site
By Jakob Nielsen.
"Good mobile user experience requires a different design than what's
needed to satisfy desktop users. Two designs, two sites, and
cross-linking to make it all work."
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mobile-vs-full-sites.html

Jakob Nielsen is Stuck in the Past
By Josh Clark.
"For all of Jakob Nielsen's many great contributions to web usability
over the years, his advice for mobile is just 180-degrees backward.
His latest guidelines perpetuate several stubborn mobile myths that
have led too many to create 'lite' mobile experiences that patronise
users, undermine business goals, and soak up design and tech
resources."
http://www.netmagazine.com/opinions/nielsen-wrong-mobile

Designers Respond to Nielsen on Mobile
By Tanya Combrinck.
"Jakob Nielsen's recent post outlining his recommendations for mobile
sites based on large-scale usability testing has come under fire from
others in the industry. Here he responds to some of the main
criticisms."
http://www.netmagazine.com/news/designers-respond-nielsen-mobile-121892

Leveraging the Wisdom of the 80/20 Rule - Focusing on Content that Matters
By Tom Johnson.
"The 80/20 rule, or Pareto’s Principle, states that 80 percent of the
effects come from 20 percent of the causes. Applied to help authoring,
this could mean that from 100 help topics you write, about 20 of the
topics will be viewed 80 percent of the time..."
http://idratherbewriting.com/2012/04/17/leveraging-the-wisdom-of-the-8020-rule-focusing-on-content-that-matters/

[Section one ends.]

++ SECTION TWO:

+10: 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.]