Web Design Update: April 24, 2024

[Laura Carlson]

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 22, Issue 44, April 24, 2024.

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

++ISSUE 44 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: COLOR.
04: EVALUATION & TESTING.
05: EVENTS.
06: HTML.
07: MISCELLANEOUS.
08: TOOLS.
09: USABILITY
10: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.

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

[Contents ends.]


++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

Long Alt
By Adrian Roselli.
" Keep your image alternative text brief, devoid of special characters, empty of URLs, and ideally in one language…"
https://adrianroselli.com/2024/04/long-alt.html

Write Alt Text Like You're Talking To A Friend
By Scott Vandehey.
"If you take nothing else away from this post, I want you to remember this: Write alternative text as if you're describing the image to a friend…"
https://cloudfour.com/thinks/write-alt-text-like-youre-talking-to-a-friend/

Make Sure That Your Design System Is Accessible
By Bogdan Cerovac.
"Prevention of accessibility issues starts long before we code. It is also true for design systems. Sometimes we need much more time to fix things, even if we use a design system…"
https://cerovac.com/a11y/2024/04/make-sure-that-your-design-system-is-accessible/

Sometimes, You Might Think That Previous Accessibility Wisdom Has Been Superseded by New "Facts"
By James Scholes.
"…There are three considerations usually missing here…"
https://dragonscave.space/@jscholes/112294600532099690

What Even Are Dragging Movements?
By Catherine Meade.
"Understanding and implementing the Web Accessibility Content Guidelines (WCAG) can be difficult for even trained experts. Catherine helps us with WCAG 2.2′s newest guideline by explaining the requirements and providing examples of how to improve our user interfaces…"
https://sparkbox.com/foundry/understanding_implementing_wcag_dragging_movements_accessibility

Building a Culture of Accessibility
By Felicity Miners-Jones.
"…Building an accessible culture you can be proud of often starts with HR professionals, project and product managers, and leaders within your organisation…"
https://tetralogical.com/blog/2024/04/19/building-a-culture-of-accessibility/

Re: AI and the Future of Web Accessibility Guidelines
By Alastair Campbell.
"…The summary is: We don't know what will be possible, or how available AI tools will be to people with disabilities. Therefore, we should allow for improved tools and user-agents that include AI features, but we cannot yet rely on them…"
https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2024AprJun/0043.html

Eight Key Takeaways From the DOJ's New Web and Mobile Accessibility Rule for Public Entities
By Jessie Weber.
"…Here are eight key takeaways from the Final Rule…"
https://browngold.com/blog/eight-key-takeaways-from-the-dojs-new-web-and-mobile-accessibility-rule-for-public-entities/

U.S. Department of Justice Accessibility Rule Announcement for State and Local Governments
By Thomas Logan.
"…This is Thomas Logan from Equal Entry here with Ken Nakata of Converge Accessibility. In this episode of A11yInsights, we're talking about this exciting new regulation from the DOJ that will affect all 50 states and local municipalities…"
https://equalentry.com/doj-accessibility-rule-announcement/

Digital Accessibility and Legal Updates in 2024: WCAG Accessibility and Beyond
By TPGi.
"In this article, we survey recent developments defining the legal landscape for US organizations' digital accessibility obligations in 2024. As we explain below, lawsuits are accelerating, and in a major recent development, the Attorney General signed a final version of regulations for web content and mobile app accessibility under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)…"
https://www.tpgi.com/digital-accessibility-in-2024-wcag-accessibility-and-beyond/

When Security and Accessibility Clash: Why Are Banking Applications So Inaccessible?
By Nic Chan.
"…I've rounded up some of the worst anti-patterns to discuss how they are creating blockers for disabled people…"
https://www.nicchan.me/blog/when-security-and-accessibility-clash/

Navigating Accessibility in Tech (Video)
By Intopia.
"This webinar was delivered in April 2024, and features Elle Waters from Adobe and Derek Featherstone from Salesforce. The webinar is moderated by Stewart Hay, Intopia's Managing Director…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rltBAP64BWQ&t=160

Personalize to Prioritize: Strategies to Grow Your Accessibility Program (Video)
By Erin Evans.
"It can feel impossible to gain the attention of the decision-makers to prioritize accessibility among all the competing priorities within a business. I'll share strategies, case studies, and success stories from my experiences in growing successful accessibility programs. We'll also talk about strategies that make accessibility to personal to those who may have never considered it before…"
https://a11ytalks.com/posts/2024-apr

Socks, Lies, and Accessibility
By Jan Maarten.
"Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is around the corner. Looking back at last year, I found some troubling things people in this field should be aware of. Because they're likely to be repeated…"
https://janmaarten.com/gaad-2023/

Accessibility Overlays - Friend or Foe? (Video)
By Intopia.
"This webinar was recorded in March 2024, and features Managing Director and Co-founder Stewart Hay, and Senior Digital Accessibility Consultants Neil Jarvis and Julie Grundy…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxsxDtuo820


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

A Primer on the Cascade and Specificity
By Andy Bell.
"Often feared by developers, the cascade and specificity is actually really simple if you utilise the right mental model when authoring CSS…"
https://piccalil.li/blog/a-primer-on-the-cascade-and-specificity/


+03: COLOR.

The Impact of Color Contrast on Accessibility
By Fahad Lambate.
"Me being an avid gamer, I see lots of live streams of games. One such game was a football game - where the streamer had used different mods to enhance the graphics along with the look and feel of the game. However, the background and text used in the scoreboard that shows different stats was so bad - that it was quite difficult to view the information…"
https://www.barrierbreak.com/the-impact-of-color-contrast-on-accessibility/


+04: EVALUATION & TESTING.

UX and NPS Benchmarks of Banking Websites (2024)
By Emily Short, Will Schiavone, Jeff Sauro, and Jim Lewis.
"…We computed SUPR-Q® and Net Promoter scores, investigated reasons for using the websites, measured users' attitudes regarding their experiences, conducted key driver analyses, and analyzed reported usability problems…"
https://measuringu.com/banking-benchmark-2024/

The Wizard of Oz Method in UX
By Sara Ramaswamy and Maria Rosala.
"The Wizard of Oz is a user-research method where a user interacts with a mock interface controlled, to some degree, by a person…"
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/wizard-of-oz/


+05: EVENTS.

A11yNYC, Let's Schmooze and Network!
May 7, 2024.
New York, New York, U.S.A.
https://www.meetup.com/a11ynyc/events/300438660/

The International Symposium on Making Websites Real Good
May 9, 2024.
Online
https://conf.11ty.dev/

Ask Me Anything - GAAD Edition
May 14, 2024, 12 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time.
Online
https://intopia.digital/articles/intopia-webinar-ask-me-anything-gaad-edition/

Virtua11y Web Accessibility Conference 2024
May 14-16, 2024.
Online.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/virtua11y-web-accessibility-conference-2024-tickets-823580169457

Open Source Accessibility NOW!
May 15, 2024.
Online.
https://a11ytalks.com/posts/2024-may

Accessibility Fundamentals Bootcamp
May 16, 2024.
Online.
https://www.deque.com/global-accessibility-awareness-day/


+06: HTML.

9 Signs Your Frontend Code Has Quality Issues That Affect Your Users
By Angelika Tyborska.
"…Below I've compiled a list of 9 common signs that I see in projects with poor frontend code quality. I've focused only on issues that have a negative impact on your project's users…"
https://angelika.me/2024/04/13/9-signs-your-frontend-code-has-quality-issues/


+07: MISCELLANEOUS.

Invisible Success
By Eric Bailey.
"I spent a decent amount of time last year helping to create a table component…"
https://ericwbailey.website/published/invisible-success/

AI Isn't Useless. But Is It Worth It?
By Molly White.
@molly...@hachyderm.io hachyderm.io
"AI can be kind of useful, but I'm not sure that a 'kind of useful' tool justifies the harm…"
https://www.citationneeded.news/ai-isnt-useless/

We Need To Rewild The Internet
By Maria Farrell and Robin Berjon.
"The internet has become an extractive and fragile monoculture. But we can revitalize it using lessons learned by ecologists…"
https://www.noemamag.com/we-need-to-rewild-the-internet/

This Web of Ours, Revisited
By L. Jeffery Zeldman.
"Why did leading designers in 2000 look down their nose at the web? And are things any better today?…"
https://zeldman.com/2024/04/19/this-web-of-ours-revisited/


+08: TOOLS.

Form Extractor Prototype
By Tim Paul and Joe Lanman.
"This tool extracts the structure from an image of a form…"
https://github.com/timpaul/form-extractor-prototype?tab=readme-ov-file#form-extractor-prototype


+09: USABILITY.

I Took David Hamill's UX Challenge (How Did I Do?)
By Adam Silver.
@theada...@mastodon.world
"…Some of the issues may seem obvious to you at first glance, but I found the challenge a lot harder than I thought I would. Let's dive into the main issues I spotted before I walk you through my redesign…"
https://adamsilver.io/blog/i-took-david-hamills-ux-challenge-how-did-i-do/

A Radical Proposal: Put UX Research In Charge
By Jared M. Spool.
"This will sound radical. Bear with me on this…"
https://articles.centercentre.com/a-radical-proposal-put-ux-research-in-charge/


+10: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.

What You Can Do as a Web Builder on Earth Day
By Adrian Roselli.
"One easy thing you can do for the earth is not use 'AI' tools. Consider this as a programmer, web developer, web designer, copywriter, webmaster, etc…"
https://adrianroselli.com/2024/04/what-you-can-do-as-a-web-builder-on-earth-day.html

The Red Hot Heat of AI
By Gerry McGovern.
"The sheer heat of AI. Billions of parameters whirling through billions of words to process with white-hot speed. Big Tech maximizes revenue and power through maximizing heat, maximizing material use, maximizing waste production…"
https://gerrymcgovern.com/the-red-hot-heat-of-ai/

[Section one ends.]


++ SECTION TWO:

+11: 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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+ 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.]