[webdev] Web Design Update: March 26, 2015

Laura Carlson lcarlson at d.umn.edu
Thu Mar 26 06:10:31 CDT 2015 

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 13, Issue 40, March 26, 2015.

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

++ISSUE 40 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: COLOR.
03: EVALUATION & TESTING.
04: EVENTS.
05: FLASH.
06: HTML5.
07: JAVASCRIPT.
09: USABILITY.

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

[Contents ends.]


++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

A Culture of Inclusion
By Nicolas Steenhout.
"Organisations need to develop a culture of accessibility, including
people with disabilities in the process, before we see a truly
accessible web..."
http://incl.ca/a-culture-of-inclusion/

aria-labelledby (property)
By Rakesh Paladugula.
"Before understanding aria-labelledby it is worth reading aria-label
(property)..."
http://www.maxability.co.in/2015/03/aria-labelledby-property/

Written Testimony to the US Access Board from the California Council
of Citizens with Low Vision
By Wayne E. Dick.
"The California Council of Citizens with Low Vision finds the Access
Board's decision to include WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA (henceforth WCAG)
by reference is admirable to harmonize standards, but inconsistent
with  the 1973 Rehabilitation Act. By applying 1194.22(d) from the
current 508, removing the author's visual style, readers with low
vision could achieve limitless enlargement with no need to scroll
horizontally on mainstream browsers..."
http://nosetothepage.org/508/Testimony.html

Building University-Wide IT Accessibility
By David Raths.
"While many higher ed institutions focus mostly on Web accessibility
or rely on a disability resources center to serve students in need,
Temple University has ramped up its accessibility efforts across the
board..."
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2015/03/18/building-university-wide-it-accessibility.aspx

Are alt Attributes Required? Always?
By Joe Dolson.
"TL;DR Yes. Yes, they are..."
https://www.joedolson.com/2015/03/are-alt-attributes-required-always/

WP Accessibility Update: alt Enforcement
By Joe Dolson.
"I released an update to WP Accessibility today, that adds some
limited enforcement on alt attributes for images..."
https://www.joedolson.com/2015/03/wp-accessibility-update-alt-enforcement/

The Evils of Captcha Explained by a Blind Person
By Stefania Leone.
"Whoever forgets their online banking password or any other account
with sensitive data must pass the dreaded captcha test..."
http://www.west-info.eu/the-evils-of-captcha-explained-by-a-blind-person/

Acrobat DC and Reader DC Accessibility Update
By Matt May.
"Last week, Adobe announced the upcoming release of Adobe Acrobat DC
and Adobe Reader DC. We have a few big new accessibility features that
we want to let you know about in advance..."
http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility/2015/03/acrobat-dc-accessibility-update.html


+02: COLOR.

Don't Forget About Contrast
By Susan Robertson.
"Several years ago I wanted to get an external monitor to go along
with the laptop my work provided. I was a remote worker and decided to
buy one myself that I could hang on to even if I left that job. But I
was also a bit cheap. I drooled over the Apple Cinema displays, but I
didn't want to spend that kind of money..."
http://alistapart.com/blog/post/dont-forget-about-contrast


+03: EVALUATION & TESTING.

Should Your Entire Product Team Observe Usability Testing?
By Janet M. Six.
"In this edition of Ask UXmatters, our panel of UX experts provides a
wide variety of responses that UX professionals might make to a client
who declares that the rest of the product team need not observe
usability testing..."
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2015/03/should-your-entire-product-team-observe-usability-testing.php

How Hard Are Your Surveys to Take?
By Jeff Sauro.
"...Before you put your survey in front of customers, use the SRS to
determine how easy or difficult your customers will find it to
complete and use the feedback from the think-aloud sessions for ideas
on what to fix."
https://measuringu.com/blog/hard-surveys.php

In-Depth Guide to Website Usability Testing Methods
By Hunter Liptrap.
"Making sure your app or website works the way you intended isn't
always easy. If your site is not functioning properly, that could be
the reason you aren't seeing the results you are looking for. The
solution is to find the right testing methods to verify your site's
functionality and usability..."
http://www.modgility.com/usability-testing-methods/


+04: EVENTS.

The Journey & the Destination - with Derek Featherstone
April 8, 2015.
The UX Mastery Campfire Chatroom
http://uxmastery.com/ask-the-uxperts-accessibility-the-journey-the-destination-with-derek-featherstone/

CSS Naked Day
April 9, 2015.
Online
http://meiert.com/en/blog/20150319/css-naked-day/

Funka Accessibility Days
April 14-15, 2015.
Stockholm, Sweden
http://www.funkanu.com/en/Our-services/Funka-Accessibility-Days/

Madison+ UX 2015
July 9-11, 2015.
Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A.
http://madisonpl.us/ux/

Open Source Convention (OSCON)
July 20-24, 2015.
Portland, Oregon, U.S.A.
http://www.oscon.com/open-source-2015

2015 Boston Accessibility Conference
September 19, 2015.
Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
http://a11y-bos.org/


+05: FLASH.

Flash's Slide into Irrelevance
By Mike Davies.
"Flash is no longer an essential plugin on the desktop/laptop Web. It
is non-existent on mobile. It is no longer the default way to consume
video on the Web..."
http://isolani.co.uk/blog/standards/FlashSlideIntoIrrelevance


+06: HTML5.

HTML5 Structural Elements - Series Wrap Up
By Steven Bradley.
"For the last month and a half I've been trying to better understand
how to work with the new HTML5 structural elements with some degree of
success as well as failure..."
http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/html5-structural-elements-series-wrap/

Zen and the Art of Wearable Markup
By Jeffery Zeldman.
A recent dustup over whether wearables should support HTML, CSS, and
JavaScript or run only native apps got me thinking about that
question, which is really about the limits (if any) of progressive
enhancement, which is the cornerstone of standards-based design.
https://the-pastry-box-project.net/jeffrey-zeldman/2015-march-21


+07: JAVASCRIPT.

Accessible Drag and Drop with Multiple Items
By James Edwards.
"In this article, I'd like to show you how to extend the capabilities
of HTML5 drag and drop - so it can handle multiple elements, and
support keyboard interaction, for sighted and screen reader users."
http://www.sitepoint.com/accessible-drag-drop/

Simple Inheritance with JavaScript
By David Catuhe.
"...A lot of my friends are C# or C++ developers. They are used to
using inheritance in their projects and when they want to learn or
discover JavaScript, one of the first question they ask is: 'But how
can I do inheritance with JavaScript?'..."
http://www.sitepoint.com/simple-inheritance-javascript/


+09: USABILITY.

The Cost of Complexity is Use
By Gerry McGovern.
"The best way to measure complexity is to measure use. Given a choice,
the harder something is to use the less people will use it..."
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/new-thinking/cost-complexity-use

The State of Mobile User Experience
By Raluca Budiu.
"Mobile usability has improved over the past 7 years due to better
prioritization of content over UI elements and  better understanding
of the users' needs."
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/mobile-usability-update/

What on Earth is ISO 9241?
By Paul Brooks.
"International standards are everywhere, if you just know how to look.
This week, author Paul Brooks brings to light one particular standard
that can improve the usability of all our products..."
http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/what-on-earth-is-iso-9241/

[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

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

HTML 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.


+ SUBSCRIPTION INFO.

WEB DESIGN UPDATE is available by subscription. For information on how
to subscribe and unsubscribe please visit:
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/webdev_listserv.html
The Web Design Reference Site also has a RSS 2.0 feed for site updates.


+ TEXT EMAIL NEWSLETTER (TEN).

As a navigation aid for screen readers we do our best to conform to
the accessible Text Email Newsletter (TEN) guidelines.  Please let me
know if there is anything else we can do to make navigation easier.
For TEN guideline information please visit:
http://www.headstar.com/ten


+ 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.]

More information about the Webdev mailing list