[webdev] Web Design Update: June 13, 2013

Thu Jun 13 06:09:59 CDT 2013

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 10, Issue 51, June 13, 2013.

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

++ISSUE 51 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: EVENTS.
04: HTML5.
05: JAVASCRIPT.
07: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.
08: USABILITY.

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

[Contents ends.]

++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

Call for Review - HTML5 Image Description Extension (longdesc) Updated
By Shawn Henry.
"An updated Working Draft of HTML Image Description Extension is
available for review to determine if there are any outstanding issues
before it progresses to Last Call..."
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-ig/2013AprJun/0262.html

Google Petitioned on Accessibility
By Media Access Australia.
"Software giant Google has been petitioned by J.P. Shandra, a blind
user, to make each of its products usable for people with
disability..."
http://www.mediaaccess.org.au/latest_news/general/google-petitioned-on-accessibility

Google - Include Accessibility in All Products
By J.P. Shandra.
"I'm starting this petition in complete frustration. Google has
declared to the world it's dedication to accessibility. This is a
disingenuous statement on the company's part. The only Google products
that have accessibility in mind are the ones you must provide by law.
That includes browsers and email. The rest were either half -hearted
attempts or no attempt at all..."
http://www.change.org/petitions/google-include-accessibility-in-all-products-2

Custom UI Widget Accessibility Problems
By Karl Groves.
"In this 33 second video, I demonstrate the differences between a
native UI element vs. a custom UI widget..."
http://www.karlgroves.com/2013/06/06/custom-ui-widget-accessibility-problems/

Requirements for Accessible PDF part Four - Proper Conversion Process
By Denis Boudreau.
"In the first three parts of this series, we've looked at ways through
which content can be optimized directly in the authoring source
document, so accessibility is built right in from the very beginning.
We've argued why it was preferable to build accessibility right in,
rather than waiting until the document had been converted from an
authoring source to bolt it on the resulting PDF..."
http://www.deque.com/accessible-pdf-proper-conversion-process

Accessibility Requirements for eDMs: Part 1
By accessiq.
"Many people believe web accessibility begins and ends with their
organisation's website. In reality, it should encompass all
communications.  This includes your Word templates, your PDF's and
your eDM's."
http://www.accessiq.org/create/content/accessibility-requirements-for-edms-part-1

+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

CSS Stacking with display:table
By Ian Devlin.
"With responsive design, one of the things that we often want to do is
to change the stack order of certain elements, moving the aside on the
left below the main text which we want to bring to the top. CSS3's
Flexbox will do this for us, but there is a quicker, if dirtier, way
which we can use now..."
http://www.iandevlin.com/blog/2013/06/css/css-stacking-with-display-table

+03: EVENTS.

DrupalCamp Austin
June 21-23, 2013.
Austin, Texas, U.S.A.
http://2013.drupalcampaustin.org/

+04: HTML5.

How Patents are Ruining the Adoption of HTML5 Video
By Vu Tran.
"There are a lot of video containers out there: avi, mp4, ogg, flv,
mkv, etc. One of the biggest headaches we're trying to solve with
Framebase is being able to upload any video and have it play across
all browsers and devices without heavy reliance on Flash. When
explaining Framebase, sometimes we get questions like, 'Why can't you
just use the <video> tag in HTML5?' As straightforward as that might
seem, a lot of people don't realize how much effort is required in
providing an HTML5 video solution..."
http://blog.framebase.io/post/51231726236/how-patents-are-ruining-the-adoption-of-html5-video

+05: JAVASCRIPT.

Triggering Events in Plain JavaScript
By Axel Rauschmayer.
"So you want to trigger an event for a DOM element, without using
jQuery? This blog post gives you a quick recipe for doing so..."
http://www.2ality.com/2013/06/triggering-events.html

Native JavaScript Equivalents of jQuery Methods: the DOM and Forms
By Craig Buckler.
"The debate is still ragging on my recent Do You Really Need jQuery?
article but, in summary, there are two reasons why using jQuery is a
good idea..."
http://www.sitepoint.com/jquery-vs-raw-javascript-1-dom-forms

+07: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.

Web Inventor Berners-Lee Warns Forces Are 'Trying to Take Control'
By James Hurley.
"Companies and governments 'trying to take control of the internet'
are undermining the founding principles of the web, Sir Tim
Berners-Lee has warned..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/10107784/Web-inventor-Berners-Lee-warns-forces-are-trying-to-take-control.html

Popular Misconceptions about Designing for the Web
By Paul Rissen.
I've been working on web projects for a few years now. Most of the
things I've contributed to have been based, at least in part, around
the principle of 'one-URL-per-thing'.
http://www.r4isstatic.com/489

The Pastry Box Project
By Mat Marquis.
"...working in web standards is incredibly frustrating. It involves no
small amount of interaction with people who seem to have graduated
from the Hacker News Commenter School of Diplomacy. We 'authors' don't
hold much weight in standards discussions; at least, nowhere near as
much as browser representatives do..."
http://the-pastry-box-project.net/mat-marquis/2013-may-28/

+08: USABILITY.

Redefining Mobile for Usability and Accessibility
By Pratik Patel.
"Mindfulness toward human beings is the only way we will succeed at
creating truly usable and accessible solutions."
http://www.ezfire.net/blog/redefining_mobile

Questions to Ask When Writing for the Web
By Paul Boag.
"If you can write a half decent document you may be mistaken for
thinking writing for the web will be easy. However, the web requires a
focus of writing rarely needed elsewhere..."
http://boagworld.com/content-strategy/writing-for-the-web/

Interesting Facts Make Web Pages Compelling
By Jakob Nielsen.
"Users hunt for facts online, so factually rich content will attract
readers and keep their attention."
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/write-interesting-facts/

[Section one ends.]

++ SECTION TWO:

+09: 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

Drupal Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/drupal.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

HTML5 Information.
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/html.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.]