Web Design Update: May 3, 2023

[Laura Carlson]

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 21, Issue 45, May 3, 2023.

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

++ISSUE 45 CONTENTS.

SECTION ONE: New references.
What's new at the Web Design Reference site?
https://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: HTML.
06: JAVASCRIPT.
07: MISCELLANEOUS.
08: TOOLS.
09: TYPOGRAPHY.
10: USABILITY.
11: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.

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

[Contents ends.]


++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

Progress Over Perfection: The Better Way for Communication and Accessibility Advocacy
By Meryl K. Evans.
"Disability and accessibility advocates are passionate. They speak up about accessibility problems. Sometimes, it can have the opposite effect. A progress over perfection approach to communication educates people and it's kinder. This article has four steps on how to do that…"
https://meryl.net/accessibility-progress-over-perfection-communication/

Rethinking Disability Simulation Activities: Moving from Empathy to Informed Action
By Tom Babinszki.
"…These exercises tend to be highly effective at helping participants empathize with people with disabilities and inspiring teams to prioritize digital accessibility. However, when conducted without the proper research and nuance, disability simulations can be essentializing. And even when conducted thoughtfully, they don't tell a complete story…"
https://www.levelaccess.com/blog/rethinking-disability-simulation-activities-moving-from-empathy-to-informed-action/

Accessibility Lessons: Context-Sensitive Text Alternatives
By Equal Entry.
"…This article will show you that you need to look at how the same image is being used on the page to determine what the text alternative should be. Context matters…"
https://equalentry.com/accessibility-lessons-context-sensitive-text-alternatives/

Web Accessibility: A Reference to Creating Inclusive Websites
By Alex Ivanovs.
"Unlock the full potential of your website by embracing web accessibility! Our comprehensive guide will walk you through the key principles and best practices to create an inclusive online experience for everyone. From understanding the importance of accessibility to implementing practical solutions, we'll empower you to transform your website into a welcoming digital space for users of all abilities."
https://stackdiary.com/web-accessibility/

Designing and Coding for Voice
By Brian DeConinck.
"An overview of simple interactions for voice command or speech recognition software users, and the accessibility barriers that can emerge. Adapted from an internal Ad Hoc Technology Blog post…"
https://www.briandeconinck.com/designing-coding-voice/

What's New in WCAG 2.2 Draft
By W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
"…WCAG 2.2 is scheduled to be completed and published in Q3 of 2023 (July, August, September)…"
https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/new-in-22/

WCAG 2.2 Update: Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze?
By Hiram Kuykendall.
"… In support of this mission to be ever vigilant in pushing the boundaries of accessibility, yes, the juice of the WCAG 2.2 update is worth the squeeze, and we look forward to it reaching a recommendation status…"
https://www.microassist.com/digital-accessibility/wcag-2-2-update-is-the-juice-worth-the-squeeze/

Check Out This Grab Bag of Great Global Accessibility Awareness Day Goodies!
By Jennie Delisi.
Resources for GAAD campaigns and for learning
https://mn.gov/mnit/media/blog/?id=574517

Accessibility Beyond Borders (Video)
By International Ally User Group.
"Webinar recording where a global roundtable discusses the challenges and opportunities of digital accessibility in higher education."
https://eu.bbcollab.com/recording/47763f4d1649459faea07da7d5afec19

Inaccessible PDFs? How to Know When to Use HTML Webpages Instead of PDFs
By Whitney Lewis.
"…In this article, we'll review the pros of using HTML web pages and when it makes sense to use a PDF…"
https://blog.pope.tech/2023/05/01/inaccessible-pdfs-how-to-know-when-to-use-html-webpages-instead-of-pdfs/

Pros and Cons About Quick Accessibility Fix Products
By Jennie Delisi.
"What you need to know when a vendor offers an easy solution"
https://mn.gov/mnit/media/blog/?id=574507

Legal Update: April 2023
By Ken Nakata.
"…In terms of interesting cases, April offered a respite after a busy March. Thank goodness because other work at Converge has been going crazy…"
https://convergeaccessibility.com/2023/05/01/legal-update-april-2023/


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

Modern CSS Layout is Awesome! (Video)
By Michelle Barker.
"…In this session we'll delve into some real-world use cases for container queries, subgrid, the :has() pseudo class (or parent selector) and much more. We'll explore how to combine these new features with some more familiar ones, in order to build robust, flexible and creative layouts that respond to both content and context…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O0KBNslevQ


+03: EVALUATION & TESTING.

How to Estimate the Standard Deviation for Rating Scales
By Jeff Sauro and Jim Lewis.
"The standard deviation is the most common measure of variability. It's less intuitive than measures of central tendency such as the mean, but it plays an essential role in analysis and sample size planning…"
https://measuringu.com/rating-scale-standard-deviations/

Video: Why Don't A/B Tests Add Up?
By Luke Wroblewski.
"Most companies use A/B tests to help them make product decision decisions. This three minute clip from my Mind the Gap presentation looks at why the cumulative results of these kinds of tests often don't add up to more significant impact…"
https://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?2012

Product Instrumentation: 3 Benefits (Video)
By Sara Ramaswamy.
"Product instrumentation tells us when and how much people use different aspects of our product. This insight can inform feature prioritization, validate our assumptions, and identify potential user problems."
https://www.nngroup.com/videos/product-instrumentation/

Evaluating User Interfaces with the Squint Test
By Luke Wroblewski.
"Over twenty years ago (ouch), I outlined how and why visual hierarchy should be used to make the purpose and function of user interfaces clear. Since then, I'm pretty sure most of the feedback I've given on UI design has included visual hierarchy questions. Why?…"
https://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?2013


+04: EVENTS.

Do You Speak Accessibility? - A look at accessibility hurdles for language learning and linguistics with Florian Beijers
May 8, 2023.
Online
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prYF34KyVAo

Developers' Guide to Getting Started with Accessibility Testing
May 16, 2023.
Online
https://accessibility.deque.com/developers-guide-to-getting-started-with-accessibility-testing

UX Virtual Training
July 15-28, 2023.
Online
https://www.nngroup.com/training/july/

HighEdWeb 2023 Annual Conference
October 8-11, 2023.
Online and Buffalo, New York, U.S.A.
https://events.highedweb.org/heweb23

EDUCAUSE Annual Conference
October 9–12, 2023, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
October 18–19, 2023, Online.
https://events.educause.edu/annual-conference

M-Enabling Summit
October 10-12, 2023.
Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
https://m-enabling.com/

World Usability Congress
October 10-12, 2023.
World Usability Congress
https://worldusabilitycongress.com/


+05: HTML.

Short Note: Why Isn’t role=presentation/none Allowed on Focusable Elements?
By Steve Faulkner.
"…In terms of interesting cases, April offered a respite after a busy March. Thank goodness because other work at Converge has been going crazy…"
https://html5accessibility.com/stuff/2023/05/02/short-note-why-isnt-rolepresentation-none-allowed-on-focusable-elements/

It's Very Likely That…
By Manuel Matuzović.
"…if you're using javascript:void(0) as the value of the href attribute, the element you're actually looking for is <button>…"
https://www.matuzo.at/blog/its-very-likely-1/


+06: JAVASCRIPT.

No, APG's Support Charts Are Not 'Can I Use' for ARIA
By Adrian Roselli.
"Despite claims, APG's support charts are not ARIA support charts and they are not analogous to Can I Use. While brand new and likely to grow, their scope is still strictly APG patterns…"
https://adrianroselli.com/2023/04/no-apgs-support-charts-are-not-can-i-use-for-aria.html

How to Deep Merge Arrays and Objects With JavaScript
By Chris Ferdinandi.
"…Today, we're going to circle back and cover how to deep merge arrays and objects with vanilla JS…"
https://gomakethings.com/how-to-deep-merge-arrays-and-objects-with-javascript/

The Power of the Reduced Test Case
By Chris Ferdinandi.
"…Reduced test cases are the single most effective tool I use for debugging broken code."
https://gomakethings.com/the-power-of-the-reduced-test-case/


+07: MISCELLANEOUS.

Be A Digital Ally: Planning Inclusive Events with Sharron Rush and Melissa Green (Video)
By Adam Cord.
"…Happy to welcome you to this episode of BADA, which is Planning Inclusive Events…"
https://knowbility.org/blog/2023/be-a-digital-ally-planning-inclusive-events

How Inaccessible Workplaces Can Destroy Team Collaboration
By Sheri Byrne-Haber.
"…Less than 40 % of employees disclose their disability to their managers, with even lower rates of disclosure to teams, HR, and clients. The employees who do not disclose their disabilities are 60 % less happy, have double the anxiety levels, and experience 400% higher isolation levels…"
https://www.linkedin.com/comm/pulse/how-inaccessible-workplaces-can-destroy-team-byrne-haber-disabled-

"The Secret List of Websites"
By Chris Coyier.
"Google is a portal to the web. Google is an amazing tool for finding relevant websites to go to. That was useful when it was made, and it's nothing but grown in usefulness. Google should be encouraging and fighting for the open web. But now they're like, actually we're just going to suck up your website, put it in a blender with all other websites, and spit out word smoothies for people instead of sending them to your website. Instead."
https://chriscoyier.net/2023/04/21/the-secret-list-of-websites/

The Ethics of Inclusive AI
By Mike Gifford and Emily Ryan.
"…In this article, we will discuss the challenges associated with achieving inclusive AI, the organizations and principles working to address these issues, and practical considerations for designing AI systems that serve the needs of all members of society…"
https://www.govloop.com/community/blog/the-ethics-of-inclusive-ai/

Make Something Wonderful - Steve Jobs
By Edited by Leslie Berlin. Published by the Steve Jobs Archive.
An ebook with speeches, interviews, and correspondence from Steve Jobs.
https://book.stevejobsarchive.com/

30th Anniversary of Licensing the Web for General Use and at No Cost
By Coralie Mercier.
"Today marks the 30th anniversary of the release of the World Wide Web into the public domain, for general use, and at no cost, on 30 April 1993 by CERN…"
https://www.w3.org/blog/2023/04/30th-anniversary-of-licensing-the-web-for-general-use-and-at-no-cost/

WWW Project Turns 30
By Adrian Roselli.
"Twenty years ago, on April 30 1993, European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced the World Wide Web project. While the web existed before then, this marks its release into the public domain…"
https://adrianroselli.com/2023/04/www-project-turns-30.html


+08: TOOLS.

Microsoft Edge now allows you to simulate dark, light, high contrast mode, blurred vision and colour deficiencies right from the Device Emulation toolbar
By Christian Heilmann.
"I was incredibly excited to see that from Microsoft Edge 111 onwards you can now emulate different viewing modes and vision deficiencies right from the device emulation toolbar…"
https://christianheilmann.com/2023/04/28/microsoft-edge-now-allows-you-to-simulate-dark-light-high-contrast-mode-blurred-vision-and-colour-deficiencies-right-from-the-device-emulation-toolbar/

Accessibility alt text Bot (GitHub)
By Kendall Gassner and Kate Higa.
"An action to remind users to add alt text to their issue descriptions and comments…"
https://github.com/marketplace/actions/accessibility-alt-text-bot


+09: TYPOGRAPHY.

Typography Manual
By Mike Mai.
"Believe it or not, you can do a lot with just a single font… The guidelines in this manual are solely based on his typographic philosophy and visual judgment."
https://mikemai.net/typography-manual/


+10: USABILITY.

Challenges for Screen-Reader Users on Mobile
By Tanner Kohler.
"Using a screen reader on a mobile device is challenging because users must access information sequentially and they cannot easily scan page content. Screen-reader users do not consider accessibility menus helpful."
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/screen-reader-users-on-mobile/

UX & Marketing: Balancing Business Goals and Supporting Users
By Samhita Tankala.
"There are inevitable tensions that form between UX and marketing teams because of their differing approaches to users and differing priorities. Regardless, both teams can still work together to find effective solutions that address those tensions."
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-and-marketing/

Accessible Target Sizes Cheatsheet
By Vitaly Friedman.
"Practical guidelines to prevent rage taps and rage clicks with accessible tap targets for icons, links and buttons - on desktop and on mobile. With useful techniques and guidelines."
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2023/04/accessible-tap-target-sizes-rage-taps-clicks/

Bill Gates Tries to Install Movie Maker
By Bill Gates.
"…January 15, 2003… I am quite disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don't drive usability issues…"
https://www.techemails.com/p/bill-gates-tries-to-install-movie-maker


+11: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.

Useful Resources for Improving Your Site's Performance (and Reducing Carbon Emissions)
By Michelle Barker.
"There are lots of areas where better web performance and reducing carbon emissions overlap: faster websites are often less carbon-intensive ones…"
https://css-irl.info/useful-resources-for-web-performance/

Toxic Legacy of the Smartphone
By Gerry McGovern.
"Sixteen billion smartphones have been sold since 2007. During the manufacturing process, each one of them caused an average of 60 kg of CO2, dirtied 14,000 liters of water and resulted in 90 kg of toxic mining waste. In total, that's 950 million tons of CO2, 1.4 billion tons of toxic mining waste, and 214 billion tons of dirty water…"
https://gerrymcgovern.com/toxic-legacy-of-the-smartphone/


[Section one ends.]


++ SECTION TWO:

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

Accessibility Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/accessibility.html

Association Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/associations.html

Book Listings.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/books.html

Cascading Style Sheets Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/css.html

Color Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/color.html

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

Evaluation & Testing Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/testing.html

Event Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/events.html

HTML Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/html.html

Information Architecture Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/architecture.html

JavaScript Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/javascript.html

Miscellaneous Web Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/misc.html

Navigation Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/navigation.html

PHP Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/php.html

Sites & Blogs Listing.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/sites.html

Standards, Guidelines & Pattern Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/standards.html

Tool Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/tools.html

Typography Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/type.html

Usability Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/usability.html

WebWaste & Sustainability Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/webwaste.html

XML Information.
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/xml.html

[Section two ends.]


++END NOTES.


+ SUBSCRIPTION INFO.

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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:
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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:lcar...@d.umn.edu


[Issue ends.]