[webdev] Web Design Update: June 5, 2014

Thu Jun 5 06:20:53 CDT 2014

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 12, Issue 50, June 5, 2014.

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

++ISSUE 50 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: BOOKS.
03: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.
04: DRUPAL.
05: EVALUATION & TESTING.
06: HTML5.
07: JAVASCRIPT.
08: NAVIGATION.
09: USABILITY.

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

[Contents ends.]

++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

How to Use the WAVE Tool to Test and Boost Site Accessibility
By Virginia DeBolt.
"The WAVE tool tests accessibility. Many other tools do the same
thing, but this one is particularly user friendly and helpful..."
http://www.webteacher.ws/2014/05/29/use-wave-tool-test-boost-site-accessibility/

Warning About Multiple H1...
By Jukka K. Korpela.
"A key problem in practice right now with only using H1s is that
current browsers do not yet actually expose the correct outline depth
of headings to accessibility software in the way that the HTML spec
says they must..."
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-validator/2014May/0019.html

More Delay for DOJ Web Regs - Does it Matter?
By Law Office of Lainey Feingold.
"...With these recent actions by the Department of Justice, there is
no excuse for any site owner or developer to wait for regulations
before undertaking digital accessibility plans. The ADA requires web
accessibility. People with disabilities need web accessibility. It's
good coding practice, good usability practice, good for business. And
there is a recognized international standard that works. Let's stop
waiting for regulations. Let's start making the promise of a web for
everyone a reality."
http://lflegal.com/2014/06/doj-delay/

Anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act: July 26
By U.S. Census Bureau.
"On July 26, 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans
with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against people
with disabilities in employment, transportation, public
accommodations, commercial facilities, telecommunications, and state
and local government services..."
http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb14-ff15.html

+02: BOOKS.

Pickering, Heydon. Apps For All: Coding Accessible Web Applications.
Smashing Magazine GmbH, 2014.

+03: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

CSS Test for Accessibility Issues
By Heydon Pickering.
"A set of rules for test accessibility issues from the book Apps For
All: Coding Accessible Web Applicatios..."
https://github.com/felixzapata/cssTest-a11y

First Public Working Draft - Non-element Selectors Module Level 1
By W3C.
"The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group has published a
Working Draft of Non-element Selectors Module Level 1."
http://www.w3.org/blog/news/archives/3878

CSS -Should We Change the Default for Overflow?
By Greg Smith.
"For the CSS overflow property, should auto or hidden be the default
instead of visible?..."
http://bocoup.com/weblog/new-overflow-default/

+04: DRUPAL.

Drupal262 - Introduction to Panopoly and Drupal Distributions
By David Snopek.
"In this presentation, David Snopek is going to talk about (and
demonstrate!) a Drupal distribution called Panopoly. Panopoly has many
great features for site builders and users right out of the box..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDSQskYD5VU

What You Want Out-of-the-Box: Introduction to Panopoly and Drupal Distributions
By David Snopek.
David's MidCamp Chicago presentation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6-jTA62nTg

simplytest.me
"An online service that provides on-demand sandbox environments for
evaluating drupal.org projects like modules, themes and
distributions."
https://drupal.org/project/simplytest
http://simplytest.me/

+05: EVALUATION & TESTING.

An Overview of Expert Heuristic Evaluations
By Ritch Macefield.
"An expert heuristic evaluation is a form of discount usability
evaluation. The essential idea is that such evaluations are, or should
be, quicker and cheaper to perform than usability studies with a
sample of participants that are representative of actual users..."
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2014/06/an-overview-of-expert-heuristic-evaluations.php

Selecting an Online Tool for Unmoderated Remote User Testing
By Marieke McCloskey.
"A good automated usability-testing tool offers recruiting
flexibility, the ability to write your own tasks, and a video
recording of the session."
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/unmoderated-user-testing-tools/

Choosing the Right Metrics for User Experience
By Pamela Pavliscak.
"Metrics are the signals that show whether your UX strategy is
working. Using metrics is key to tracking changes over time..."
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2014/06/choosing-the-right-metrics-for-user-experience.php

The Hidden Benefits of Remote Research
By Kathleen Asjes.
"Kathleen Asjes shows us situations where remote research may actually
be the preferable option..."
http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/hidden-benefits-remote-research/

5 Tips for Conducting a Mobile Usability Test
By Jeff Sauro.
"As companies continue to focus on improving the usability of their
mobile websites and applications, testing these interfaces can feel a
lot like testing websites in 1996-lots of surprises, unfamiliar
conventions, workarounds, and frustrations..."
http://www.measuringusability.com/blog/mobile-tips.php

+06: HTML5.

Testing Responsive Images
By Mat Marquis.
"At long last, the native picture element isn't just coming: it's
here. The picture element has landed in Canary-Google's 'beta' channel
for upcoming Chrome releases-and we can try it out for ourselves right
now. Firefox isn't far behind, and WebKit work is officially
underway."
http://alistapart.com/blog/post/testing-responsive-images/

+07: JAVASCRIPT.

Use ARIA to Expose the Role of Custom User Interface Components
By Denis Boudreau.
"Make sure custom user interface controls' roles are identified using
ARIA roles..."
http://dboudreau.tumblr.com/post/87162449697/use-aria-to-expose-the-role-of-custom-user-interface

+08: NAVIGATION.

Underlined Links - When Is It Ok To Break From Convention?
By Steven Bradley.
"Following convention leads to a more usable site. Convention presents
the known and expected to visitors, which helps them orient themselves
and lets them use existing knowledge and apply it to your site. If
convention is so helpful, is it ok to ever break from it?..."
http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/underlined-links-convention/

+09: USABILITY.

So You Think You've Built a Good Infinite Scroll
By Adrianr Roselli.
"...what to test, expect, and review if you attempt your own version
of an automatic infinite scroll..."
http://blog.adrianroselli.com/2014/05/so-you-think-you-built-good-infinite.html

Radio Buttons - Select One by Default or Leave All Unselected?
By Kara Pernice.
"Select a single radio button by default in most cases. Reasons to
deviate or not: expedite tasks, the power of suggestion, user
expectations, safety nets."
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/radio-buttons-default-selection/

Not Every Good Writer Can Write for the Web
By Paul Boag.
Writing for the web has many unique challenges. Just because you can
write well, does not mean you can write good web copy.
http://boagworld.com/content-strategy/writing-for-the-web-is-hard/

On Styled Form Elements
By Anthony Colangelo.
"For almost 20 years, we've had the same input types and form elements
we still use today: text fields and areas, password fields, select
dropdowns, radio buttons, checkboxes, file fields, hidden fields, and
the menagerie of button types including submit, reset, image, and
plain old button..."
http://alistapart.com/blog/post/on-styled-form-elements

[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.]