Web Design Update: January 6, 2026

[Laura Carlson]

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 26, Issue 28, January 6, 2026.

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

++ISSUE 28 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: USABILITY.

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

[Contents ends.]

++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

How To Design For (And With) Deaf People
By Vitaly Friedman.
"Practical UX guidelines to keep in mind for 466 million people who experience hearing loss. More design patterns in Smart Interface Design Patterns, a friendly video course on UX and design patterns by Vitaly…"
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2025/12/how-design-for-with-deaf-people/

The Anatomy of an Accessible Text Field
By Erik Kroes.
"…We're going to dissect the most common form-specific element: the text field…"
https://inklusivo.nl/blog/accessible-text-field-anatomy/

Accessibility is Personal
By Matthias Zöchling.
"It's no coincidence that my online identity starts with CSS: I get paid to make HTML look nice. But for many years now, web accessibility-or A11Y, if you are into numeronyms-plays an even bigger role…"
https://cssence.com/2025/accessibility-is-personal/

2026 Deserves Proactive Accessibility Governance
By Bogdan Cerovac.
"Regressions happen, but proper processes can prevent a lot of it. With accessibility it may be more difficult, but systems can help. Fixing one bug and introducing another one reveals poor system processes - consider accessibility governance."
https://cerovac.com/a11y/2025/12/2026-deserves-proactive-accessibility-governance/

Contrasting the Results of an Accessibility Assessment by Automated Tools with the Analysis of a Person with Low Vision (PDF)
By Ygor Barros, Juliana Outão, Yndiana Gouveia, Simone Bacellar Leal Ferreira, Rodrigo Santos, and Mariano Pimentel.
"…In 2019, Brazil launched the Gov.br portal, which consolidates the digital channels of all federal government agencies and provides unified access to information and services. This study aims to assess the accessibility of the Gov.br portal…"
https://journals-sol.sbc.org.br/index.php/jis/article/view/5357

Testing Methods: Name, Role, Value
By Dennis Deacon.
"WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value is a Level A conformance level Success Criterion. It sits at the heart of accessibility for assistive technologies, ensuring that all interactive components are both perceivable and operable through programmatic means…"
https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/testing-methods-name-role-value/

Testing Methods: Status Messages
By Dennis Deacon.
"WCAG 4.1.3 Status Messages is a Level AA conformance level Success Criterion. It focuses on ensuring that dynamic content updates are communicated effectively to users of assistive technologies, especially those who rely on screen readers…"
https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/testing-methods-status-messages/

Building the Brain of Your Accessibility AI
By Ted Drake.
"This document reflects the most accurate guidance I can offer today, based on the current state of accessibility standards, AI tooling, and real-world practice. Both accessibility and AI are evolving quickly. As models improve, platforms change, and new standards emerge, some of the details and recommendations here will need to adapt. The core principles-intentional curation, clear boundaries, and responsible use-are designed to hold up over time, even as the technology underneath them shifts…"
https://www.last-child.com/build-ai-brain-a11y.html


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

Do Screen Readers Announce 'Bullet' When a List Uses List-Style: None?
By Russ Weakley.
"If you remove bullets from an unordered list using list-style: none, do screen readers still announce 'bullet' before each list item? At first glance, this feels like a screen reader question. But the answer actually lives deeper in the browser pipeline: To explore this, we'll start with a simple unordered list, then follow what happens as it moves through the browser, into the accessibility tree, and finally into screen reader output."
https://www.maxdesign.com.au/articles/lists.html

Maintaining and Modernising CSS (Video)
By Ana Rodrigues.
"…Ana will explore practical strategies for navigating the challenges of maintaining and modernising legacy CSS. Is refactoring an option? What are the pros and cons of this? How do we approach stakeholders? And if refactoring is not an option, how do we prioritise and initiate changes, measure improvements and quick wins? Ana will share lessons from past experiences and look forward to what's ahead…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZP1e8iQtBQ


+03: EVALUATION & TESTING.

Stop Misrecruits: Add Foils to Your Screener (Video)
By Nielsen Norman Group.
"When creating screener surveys, use fake answer options - called foils - to spot misrecruits before they join your study. Learn how to craft foils that protect your data and catch cheaters early."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x2Hmj3OLvk


+04: EVENTS.

W3Cx: Introduction to Web Accessibility
Starts January 6, 2026.
Online
https://www.edx.org/learn/web-accessibility/the-world-wide-web-consortium-w3c-introduction-to-web-accessibility

San Diego Accessibility & Inclusive Design January Meetup
January 8, 2026.
San Diego, California, U.S.A.
https://www.meetup.com/a11ysd/events/312329025/

XR Social Accessibility in Practice: Lessons from Meta Horizon Worlds
January 12, 2026.
Online and New York, New York, U.S.A.
https://www.meetup.com/a11ynyc/events/312254520/

Building Better Documents - Usable to All
January 15, 2026.
Online
https://accessibilityonline.org/ada-tech/session?id=111200

Durham-Raleigh A11y: The Accessibility Meetup-Triangle Style
January 20, 2026.
Durham-Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.A.
https://www.meetup.com/durham-raleigh-a11y/events/312453062/

Accessibility Club Meetup #13
January 21, 2026.
Hamburg, Germany
https://accessibility.club/event/accessibility-club-meetup-13-17

Building a Complete Accessibility Program: From an Audit to Long-Term Inclusion with my Amy Major and David Sloan
January 29, 2026.
Online
https://vispero.com/lp/building-a-complete-accessibility-program-from-an-audit-to-long-term-inclusion/


+05: HTML.

HTML Content Categories
By Russ Weakley.
"If you have worked with HTML for a long time, you may have heard elements described as 'block-level' or 'inline.'"
https://www.maxdesign.com.au/articles/html-content-categories.html

How Can You Tell What's Allowed Inside Each HTML Element?
By Russ Weakley.
"The HTML Living Standard documents every element. This includes: where elements can appear, what they are allowed to contain, which attributes they support and how they behave in the DOM…"
https://www.maxdesign.com.au/articles/allowed-inside-elements.html


+06: JAVASCRIPT.

aria-busy Is Not Your Friend
By Gerard K Cohen.
"Don't use aria-busy! It doesn't do what you think it does, and it doesn't even do what the spec says it should…"
https://gerardkcohen.me/writing/2025/aria-busy-not-your-friend.html

Is aria-label Allowed on Static Elements?
By Russ Weakley.
"…In this article, we examine how aria-label behaves on static elements in practice, across browsers and platforms, and why real-world behaviour is often more nuanced than common assumptions suggest. The examples include clearly flagged bad-practice patterns alongside legitimate use cases, to show what is exposed at the accessibility API level - and why exposure alone does not imply recommendation…"
https://www.maxdesign.com.au/articles/aria-label.html

Button as Live Region
By Adrian Roselli.
"I'm _not_ saying to never put a live region in / on a button, but I _am_ saying it may not (will not) perform as you want…"
https://toot.cafe/@aardrian/115809819150506342


+07: MISCELLANEOUS.

The Parasocial Model of Disability
By Liz Jackson and Rua Williams.
"…The Big Con is a hotbed for the Parasocial Model of Disability, which places capitalist frames of profit and growth above social transformation and world building. The Valuable 500 and other advocates for corporate disability inclusion have perfected a practice of masterfully executed ineffectiveness, granting hollowed-out corporations the freedom to do exactly what they want to do…"
https://buttondown.com/TYFYFL/archive/the-parasocial-model-of-disability/

My Use of "AI" on this Site
By Adrian Roselli.
"I'm using this post to acknowledge my past practices and establish future ones on this site related to 'AI'…I look forward to a 2026 crafted by humans, even if it means I have to block everything else."
https://adrianroselli.com/2025/12/my-use-of-ai-on-this-site.html


+08: USABILITY.

Can You Name Your User? It's Time We Talk Seriously About Users and Experiences. (Video)
By Jared Spool.
"Many UX professionals say they practice user-centered design. Maybe you say that. But do you really?…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLtrgMBxcPY

The Cortex-First Approach: Why UX Starts Before the Screen
By Tushar Deshmukh.
"Explore why psychology, not pixels, decides whether users flow effortlessly or freeze in confusion, and how understanding cognition changes everything about UX design."
https://uxmag.com/articles/the-cortex-first-approach-why-ux-starts-before-the-screen

Understanding Don Norman's Principles of Interaction
By Paivi Salminen.
"Learn how Don Norman's six interaction design principles explain why some things feel intuitive while others leave us frustrated…"
https://uxmag.com/articles/understanding-don-normans-principles-of-interaction

Ableist Design: Challenging Systemic Norms
By Tamara Sredojevic.
"Discover how ableism influences our interfaces and why real design begins with humanity, not assumptions…"
https://uxmag.com/articles/ableist-design-challenging-systemic-norms

Inattentional Blindness in Interfaces (Video)
By Nielsen Norman Group.
"Inattentional blindness is a phenomenon where we miss something that's in plain sight because our attention is focused elsewhere…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWJZowq-V4o


[Section one ends.]


++ SECTION TWO:

+09: 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.


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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.]

Laura L. Carlson
Information Technology Systems and Services
University of Minnesota Duluth
Duluth, MN U.S.A. 55812-3009
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/

W3C Invited Expert
Accessibility Guidelines Working Group
https://www.w3.org/groups/wg/ag/participants

Pronouns: she/her/hers