Web Design Update: July 15, 2025

[Laura Carlson]

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 26, Issue 03, July 15, 2025.

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

++ISSUE 03 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: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE.
07: JAVASCRIPT.
08: MISCELLANEOUS.
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.

From Word Fluff to Real Impact: Achieving Specific, Measurable, and
Accountable Accessibility
By Kelly Ford.
"…The prevailing culture of issuing aspirational statements about
accessibility, without the backing of specific, measurable, and
accountable actions, is no longer tenable…"
https://theideaplace.net/from-word-fluff-to-real-impact-achieving-specific-measurable-and-accountable-accessibility/

When Accessibility Standards Slip, Design Steps Up
By Rochelle Ratkaj Moser.
"…Designers, creatives, and communicators have the tools, the
platforms, and the responsibility to build what the system is
abandoning. It's on us. The question is-will we?…"
https://www.printmag.com/industry-perspectives/when-accessibility-standards-slip-design-steps-up/

Testing Methods: Identify Input Purpose
By Dennis Deacon.
"WCAG 1.3.5 Identify Input Purpose is a Level AA conformance level
Success Criterion…"
https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/testing-methods-identify-input-purpose/

Short Note: WCAG/ARIA - State of Confusion
By Steve Faulkner.
"…If the value of property cannot be set by the user it is not covered
by 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A). So when a testing tool or some
titular authority figure states that a lack of an aria-controls
attribute, for example, is a failure of 4.1.2 it is wrong."
https://html5accessibility.com/stuff/2025/07/08/short-note-wcag-aria-state-of-confusion/

A11y 101: 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide
By Nat Tarnoff.
"…When we talk about 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide, we are talking about a
variety of things. It could be video, animation, marquee,
auto-scrolling, carousels, or something else. Any of these items could
trigger a reaction that could make them very sick…"
https://tarnoff.info/2025/07/14/a11y-101-2-2-2-pause-stop-hide/

WCAG 2.2 and Beyond: Key Updates and Essential Guidelines You Need to
Know (Video)
By Vaishali Taneja.
"In this talk, we'll explore the key updates introduced in WCAG 2.2,
focusing on how they enhance accessibility for users with cognitive,
mobility, and visual challenges. We'll also revisit some essential
guidelines from WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 that continue to play a critical role
in inclusive design. Whether you're new to accessibility or looking to
stay up to date, this session will provide practical insights to help
you create more accessible digital experiences."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQVymoXxMS0

Why I Don't Trust WCAG 2.2 and What I'm Hoping From 3.0
By Daniel Schwarz.
"Accessibility is a right - and a legal requirement in many countries.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) set the standard for
digital accessibility, and failure to adhere to these guidelines can
result in lawsuits, fines, or worse…"
https://blog.logrocket.com/ux-design/wcag-3-vs-2-ux/

Managing Focus and Visible Focus Indicators: Practical Accessibility
Guidance for the Web
By Kirby Tucker.
"…In this post, we'll walk through three key WCAG success criteria
related to keyboard focus and explain their practical implications to
help you manage focus in a way that supports usability, accessibility,
and clarity…"
https://www.tpgi.com/managing-focus-and-visible-focus-indicators-practical-accessibility-guidance-for-the-web/

Improving Client-side Page Routing for Better Accessibility
By Doug Abrams.
"Client-side routing can be great for performance, but it also comes
with some potential side effects for accessibility…"
https://www.tpgi.com/client-side-routing-accessibility/

Can Joe Find Menus in the Menus of Restaurant Sites? (Video)
By Joe Dolson and Nathan Wrigley.
"…I'm joined, as always, by accessibility expert Joe Dolson, to tackle
a thought-provoking question: where are the menus in the menus - have
a watch and you'll get it…"
https://wpbuilds.com/accessibility/6/

Teaching Accessibility Fundamental Concepts & Skills
By Teach Access.
"The Teach Access Fundamental Concepts and Skills Framework provides
educators with core accessibility topics, goals, and learning
objectives to support teaching inclusive design across disciplines…"
https://www.teachaccess.org/teaching-accessibility-fundamental-concepts-skills/

2025 Midyear Accessibility Lawsuit Report: Key Legal Trends
By Jason Taylor.
"…In this blog, we break down the key trends from the 2025 report to
help legal teams, digital leaders, and accessibility decision-makers
prepare for what's ahead…"
https://blog.usablenet.com/2025-midyear-accessibility-lawsuit-report-key-legal-trends

#Accesstive Will Get You Sued
By Adrian Roselli.
"I can't actually assert the Accesstive overlay will result in a
lawsuit, though there is a trend of overlays attracting lawsuits.
Attorneys say overlays don't protect from lawsuits, either. Regardless
of the company making it, if you wonder if you should use an
accessibility overlay, the answer is no. Accesstive's overlay just
happens to be the subject of this post…"
https://adrianroselli.com/2025/07/accesstive-will-get-you-sued.html

#ARTY Could Get You Sued
By Adrian Roselli.
"I can’t actually assert the ARTY overlay will result in a lawsuit,
though there is a trend of overlays attracting lawsuits…"
https://adrianroselli.com/2025/07/arty-could-get-you-sued.html


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

Multicol and Fragmentation (Video)
By Rachel Andrew.
"The session begins with a warm introduction of Rachel Andrew,
highlighting her ability to simplify complex topics and her
contributions to the CSS community. Rachel, now part of Chrome
Developer Relations, shares her excitement about speaking to an
audience passionate about CSS. She outlines her role and involvement
with the CSS Working Group, setting the stage for a talk focused on
various CSS features…"
https://conffab.com/presentation/multicol-and-fragmentation/

Form Control Styling (Video)
By Tim Nguyen.
"The session begins with an introduction to Tim, a WebKit engineer at
Apple, known for his contributions to features like the dialog element
and view transitions in Safari. The speaker sets the stage for Tim's
talk on form control styling, highlighting the challenges and
opportunities in this area. This introduction provides context for the
audience, emphasizing the relevance of form control styling in web
development…"
https://conffab.com/presentation/form-control-styling/

A Revisit of the Every Layout Sidebar With :has() and Selector Performance
By Heydon Pickering.
"Heydon takes a fresh look the Every Layout Sidebar layout, 6 years
on, to see if modern CSS selectors can improve it…"
https://piccalil.li/blog/a-revisit-of-the-every-layout-sidebar-with-has-and-selector-performance/

Get the Index of an Element Within Its Parent
By Temani Afif.
"With CSS, you can use the new sibling-index() function to get the
position of any element relative to all its sibling elements. You can
also rely on sibling-count() to get the number of siblings…"
https://css-tip.com/element-index/

Dynamic nth-child() Using sibling-index() and if()
By Temani Afif.
"We can get the index of an element using sibling-index(), and we can
express inline conditions using if(). With both features, we can
implement :nth-child(An + B)…"
https://css-tip.com/nth-child/


+03: EVALUATION & TESTING.

Might Not Be a Magic Number but There Are Magic Ranges
By Jeff Sauro.
"…These graphs and tables make it very clear that there is no 'magic
number' for UX research studies. There isn't even one 'magic range.'
By considering competing statistical and logistical considerations,
we've recommended ranges for three of the most common high-level UX
research goals: discovery, estimation, and comparison…"
https://measuringu.com/might-not-be-a-magic-number-but-there-are-magic-ranges/


+04: EVENTS.

Found an Accessibility Issue? Now What?
July 29, 2025.
Online
https://a11ytalks.com/posts/2025-jul

Audio Description: If Your Eyes Could Speak
July 31, 2025.
Online
https://umn.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bBLToxnpQ1-3ddvrMszhsQ#/registration

UXPALOOZA 2025
September 19, 2025.
Online
https://uxpa.org/uxpalooza/

UX Nordic
September 24-25, 2025.
Copenhagen, Denmark
https://www.uxnordic.com/


+05: HTML.

Screen Reader HTML Support Tables
By Steve Faulkner.
"With the addition of Gez Lemon to the editing team, work continues on
expanding and improving the HTML and screen reader support
information…"
https://tetralogical.com/blog/2025/07/10/html-support/

A Label and a Name Walk Into a Bar
By Steve Faulkner.
"When is a label also an (accessible) name, when is it not and when is
it neither?…"
https://html5accessibility.com/stuff/2025/07/14/a-label-and-a-name-walk-into-a-bar/

What is popover=hint?
By Una Kravets.
"If you've been following along with advancements in HTML, such as the
new popover API, you may have noticed that a new popover type (hint)
recently landed in Chrome 133 (January 2025). But what exactly does it
do?…"
https://una.im/popover-hint/

Influence the State of HTML 2025 Survey!
By Lea Verou.
"Two years ago, I was funded by Google to design the inaugural State
of HTML survey…"
https://lea.verou.me/blog/2025/design-state-of-html/


+06: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE.

Wireflows 101 (Video)
By Megan Brown.
"Wireflows combine wireframes with flowcharts to help document user
interactions. They can aid in team collaboration, developer handoff,
and help ensure clear communication for complex interactions…"
https://www.nngroup.com/videos/wireflows-101/


+07: JAVASCRIPT.

What's New in ECMAScript 2025
By Paweł Grzybek.
"Another version of ECMAScript version has been approved by the TC39,
and to keep my annual tradition I'm sharing what's new in the ES2025
with simple practical examples…"
https://pawelgrzybek.com/whats-new-in-ecmascript-2025/


+08: MISCELLANEOUS.

European Tech (Video)
By Bruce Lawson.
"Bruce talks about the need for European tech sovereignty away from
Big Tech, at CSS Day 2025 (excerpt)…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRYLA8Hohqg


+09: USABILITY.

Designing Scroll Behavior: When to Save a User's Place
By Megan Chan.
"Save scroll position when users are likely to compare content in a
long static list."
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/saving-scroll-position/

UX Maturity Is a Living System, Not a Ladder
By Kate Kaplan.
"Focus on continuous reflection - not stage-hopping - to grow
sustainable, resilient UX practices."
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-maturity-living-system/


+10: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.

display: green; Applying the Web Sustainability Guidelines
By Hidde de Vries.
"The session begins with an introduction to Hidde de Vries,
highlighting his long-standing involvement in web conferences and his
contributions to various working groups, including the CSS Working
Group and Web Accessibility. Hidde is recognized for his recent
appointment to the W3C advisory board and his blog focused on
accessibility. The introduction sets the stage for his talk on best
practices from the W3C's new web sustainability guidelines…"
https://conffab.com/presentation/display-green-applying-the-web-sustainability-guidelines/?gl=twfrctrXHq77

ChatGPT Has Already Polluted the Internet So Badly That It's Hobbling
Future AI Development
By Frank Landymore.
"Cleaning is going to be prohibitively expensive, probably impossible…"
https://futurism.com/chatgpt-polluted-ruined-ai-development


[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.]