[webdev] Web Design Update: June 18, 2015

[Laura Carlson]

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 13, Issue 52, June 18, 2015.

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

++ISSUE 52 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: DRUPAL.
04: EVALUATION & TESTING.
05: EVENTS.
06: HTML5.
07: JAVASCRIPT.
08: MISCELLANEOUS.
10: TOOLS.
11: USABILITY.

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

[Contents ends.]


++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

A Journey Into Web Accessibility
By Steven Bradley.
"I don't pay as much attention to accessibility as I should. I suspect
it's the same for many web designers and developers. We know we should
do more, but it's often something we'll get to and not something we
actually do..."
http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/accessibility-journey/

What Does It Mean To Develop Accessible Websites?
By Steven Bradley.
"If I ask what it means to develop accessible websites, what would you
say? Would you respond that accessibility means adding code for screen
readers? Is there anything more? Does accessibility start and end with
screen readers?..."
http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/develop-accessible-websites/

How Can I Make My Forms A Little More Accessible?
By Rob Copeland.
"...what can we do, besides just semantic markup, that's easy to
implement and remember and will give us the most improvement for only
a small amount of effort?(Keep in mind that this is what I want to do
instead of doing nothing.) In trying to answer that question, I
decided to start in the obvious place, forms..."
https://medium.com/@roblcopeland/how-can-i-make-my-forms-a-little-more-accessible-1726d63210f2

3.3.1 Error Identification
By Rakesh Paladugula.
"If an input error is automatically detected, the item that is in
error is identified and the error is described to the user in text.
(Level A) Description Submitting a web form and retrieving information
on websites is quite common on today's interactive web space..."
http://www.maxability.co.in/2015/06/3-3-1-error-identification/

A New Appreciation for Audio Description
By Elizabeth Simister.
"While at the John Slatin AccessU event in Austin, TX recently, I had
the opportunity to learn more about audio description..."
http://www.ssbbartgroup.com/blog/a-new-appreciation-for-audio-description/

Why WCAG's H65 Technique is Invalid and Abused to Allow Disappearing
Placeholders Over Visible Labels
By Paul J. Adam.
"The examples in H65 have no relevance to a large form with many text
inputs like a Shipping Address fieldset. However, due to design trends
in mobile the use of Placeholder attributes have replaced the use of
visible label text to describe what the user must type into the
input..."
http://pauljadam.com/demos/wcagh65invalid.html

People with Disabilities Have Lousy Access at State Websites,
Including Covered California
By Ken Broder.
"California law has required state government websites to be
accessible by people with disabilities since 2003. According to the
California State Auditor, that's also how long state websites have not
followed the law..."
http://www.allgov.com/usa/ca/news/top-stories/people-with-disabilities-have-lousy-access-at-state-websites-including-covered-california-150610?news=856689

Release of the Windows 10 Edge Browser - What it Means for
Accessibility and ARIA Support in IE
By Bryan Garaventa.
"As the launch date for Windows 10 comes closer, so does the release
of a new web browser. Previously code named Spartan, this new browser
has officially been branded by Microsoft as Edge..."
http://www.ssbbartgroup.com/blog/release-of-the-windows-10-edge-browser-what-it-means-for-accessibility-and-aria-support-in-ie/

Reviewing PDF/UA-related Comments on the Section 508 NPRM
By Duff Johnson.
"The comment period has closed on the US Access Board's NPRM for the
refresh of Section 508. This article reviews the 17 (out of 126)
comments that mention PDF/UA. I've grouped them into four
categories..."
http://duff-johnson.com/2015/06/01/a-reviewing-pdfua-related-comments-on-the-section-508-nprm/


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

Accessible Footnotes with CSS
By Hugo Giraudel.
"I was playing with CSS counters the other day and thought about using
them to deal with footnotes..."
http://www.sitepoint.com/accessible-footnotes-css/

The Future Generation of CSS Selectors - Level 4
By Louis Lazaris.
"This article will focus on the new selectors not discussed in my
previous article. Browser support for many of these is pretty poor, so
I don't recommend using many of these in production. View this post as
a peek into what's to come when the spec is further along and browsers
start their implementations. I've included demos for those that have
support..."
http://www.sitepoint.com/future-generation-css-selectors-level-4/

Linear Gradient Problems in Chrome
By Adrian Roselli.
"I'm going to tell you up front that I don't have a fix for the issue
I am raising, though there are bugs filed against it..."
http://blog.adrianroselli.com/2014/10/linear-gradient-problems-in-chrome.html


+03: DRUPAL.

Inline Form Errors for Accessibility and UX
By Brandon Bowersox-Johnson.
"...This issue involves accessibility, usability, all four themes, and
the Form system, so there are a lot of stakeholders involved..."
https://www.drupal.org/node/1493324


+04: EVALUATION & TESTING.

An Analytics-First Approach to UX, Part 1
By Luke Hay.
"Usability testing is typically done to identify why users are
behaving in a certain way. This week, author Luke Hay shows us how to
use analytics to determine what to spend time usability testing."
http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/an-analytics-first-approach-to-ux-part-1/

An Analytics-First Approach to UX, Part 2
By Luke Hay.
"In part two of this two-part series, Luke Hay shows us how to
identify user journeys and segment users to get the most out of
usability testing..."
http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/an-analytics-first-approach-to-ux-part-2/


+05: EVENTS.

W3C JavaScript Course
July 6-August 2, 2015.
Online.
http://www.w3devcampus.com/javascript-w3c-course/

Prototypes, Process & Play
August 6-7, 2015.
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
http://chicagocamps.org/events/2015/prototypes-process-play/

MidwestJS
August 12-14, 2015.
Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A.
http://midwestjs.com/

TypeCon2015: Condensed
August 12-16, 2015.
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
http://www.typecon.com/

HybridConf 2015
August 19-21, 2015.
Dublin, Ireland
https://hybridconf.net/


+06: HTML5.

HTML5 Accessibility - Work in Progress June 2015
By Steve Faulkner.
Steve updated his useful tests.
http://www.html5accessibility.com/

Introducing srcset Our First Step Towards Fully Responsive Images in
Microsoft Edge
By Greg Whitworth.
"Windows 10 Insider builds recently introduced support for srcset, our
first step on the path to fully supporting the picture element for
responsive images. In this post we'd like to share more about our
initial implementation of srcset in Windows 10 and our strategy for
bringing more components of responsive images to future releases."
http://blogs.windows.com/msedgedev/2015/06/08/introducing-srcset-responsive-images-in-microsoft-edge/

Is HTML 'Complete'?
By Bruce Lawson.
"...I agree with Tim that fixing the web platform is more important
right now than adding more elements to HTML...But I think it's
incorrect to claim HTML is finished..."
http://www.brucelawson.co.uk/2015/is-html-complete/


+07: JAVASCRIPT.

ECMAScript 2015 Has Been Approved
by Abel Avram.
"The General Assembly of Ecma International has announced the approval
of ECMA-262 6th edition, which is the Language Specification of
ECMAScript 6 (ES6), also known as ECMAScript 2015..."
http://www.infoq.com/news/2015/06/ecmascript-2015-es6

WAI-ARIA Support Matrix
By Paul J. Adam.
"WAI-ARIA attributes listed with accessibility support documented in
desktop and mobile OS, browser, and screen reader combinations..."
http://pauljadam.com/demos/ariasupport.html

Six Steps for Approaching the Next JavaScript
By Cody Lindley.
"The next recommendation/version of the JavaScript standard, also
known as "harmony", "ES.next", "ECMAScript 6", "ES6", and most
recently "JavaScript/ECMAScript 2015", is pretty much cemented..."
http://developer.telerik.com/featured/six-steps-for-approaching-the-next-javascript/

Against CSS in JS
By Keith J. Grant.
"...The relationship between CSS and JavaScript is not like the
relationship between HTML and JavaScript. With HTML, a true separation
of concerns between the markup and the corresponding component code is
impossible (because they are in fact the same concern). With CSS, this
separation is possible. And, in fact, the concerns are unique, so
separation is vital to clean code organization..."
http://keithjgrant.com/posts/against-css-in-js.html


+08: MISCELLANEOUS.

When Responsive Images Get Ugly
By Taylor Hunt.
"...As for those weirdo units, like ch or ex or pc... If you use them,
Tim Berners-Lee calls Håkon W. Lie, who calls Bert Bos, and he calls
the authorities..."
http://codepen.io/Tigt/blog/when-responsive-images-get-ugly


+09: PHP.

Naming Functions Consistently
By Anna Filina.
"I believe that in order to write readable and maintainable code, we
must name our functions in a consistent way..."
http://afilina.com/naming-functions-consistently/


+10: TOOLS.

aXe (The Accessibility Engine)
By Deque.
"...open source library is a lightweight (~100 KB), fast, portable
JavaScript library that executes automated accessibility testing
inside your testing framework or browser of choice..."
http://www.deque.com/products/axe/


+11: USABILITY.

A Checklist for Designing Mobile Input Fields
By Raluca Budiu.
When you design an input field for use on mobile devices, check
whether it satisfies this list of 14 usability requirements.
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/mobile-input-checklist/

5 Common UX Mistakes to Avoid on Your Mobile Site
By Spencer Lanoue.
"... I'm going to break down 5 of the most common mistakes mobile
sites make that frustrate users, causing them to leave and go
somewhere else..."
http://www.usertesting.com/blog/2015/06/09/5-common-ux-mistakes-to-avoid-on-your-mobile-site/

Scannability - Principle and Practice
By Devan Goldstein.
"...how can writers reach people who don't read? Through scannability..."
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2015/06/scannability-principle-and-practice.php

The Homepage Exception
By Johanna Bates.
"Structured, automatic systems are great at managing content
efficiently-but not so great at accommodating humans changes in that
content. On the other hand, free-for-all WYSIWYGs lead to
inconsistency and breakdowns. Stakeholders and content administrators
need flexibility and control, especially where the all-important
homepage is concerned. What's a website to do? Johanna Bates suggests
embracing a people-friendly homepage solution within our robot-driven
architectures."
http://alistapart.com//article/homepage-exception

Answer These 3 Questions on Your Homepage to Reduce Bounce Rates
By Marieke McCloskey.
"...Who are you? Through your logo, name, and tagline....What do you
offer?...Who is this for? Through customer-focused language and a
descriptive tagline..."
http://www.usertesting.com/blog/2015/06/09/homepage/

Dealing With Redundant, Out-Of-Date and Trivial (ROT) Content
By Paul Boag.
"...Although there is a cost to producing this content in the first
place, there is a far higher cost in maintaining that content over
time...The hidden cost is not just limited to maintenance. It also
impacts the usability of sites..."
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2015/06/11/dealing-with-redundant-out-of-date-trivial-rot-content/

5 UX Tips to Capture the Audience You're Probably Ignoring
By Jennifer Winter.
"...Capturing-and holding-your reader's' attention has always been a
challenge. But there's an entire population out there that you might
be ignoring: Users with low literacy..."
http://www.usertesting.com/blog/2015/06/11/low-literacy/

Help People Create Passwords That They Can Actually Remember
By Kara Pernice.
Create designs that capitalize on what we know about human memory.
Help people remember passwords by encouraging them to: focus when
creating, and rehearse; choose passwords that relate to important
events, are chunked, have limited characters, and can be articulated
in 2 seconds.
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/passwords-memory/

[Section one ends.]


++ SECTION TWO:

+12: 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.


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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.]