Web Design Update: May 10, 2023

[Laura Carlson]

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 21, Issue 46, May 10, 2023.

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

++ISSUE 46 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: DRUPAL.
04: EVALUATION & TESTING.
05: EVENTS.
06: HTML.
07: JAVASCRIPT.
08: MISCELLANEOUS.
09: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.
10: TOOLS.
11: TYPOGRAPHY.
12: USABILITY.
13: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.

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

[Contents ends.]


++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

A Whole Lot of Bovver Over Hover
By Ian Lloyd.
"…Clear focus indicators are essential. Hover styles may be useful and improve UX, but are not essential. Hover styles should not be failed for the same reasons that you would fail poor focus indication. There is no such thing as an 'on-hover focus indication'. If your hover style causes a text contrast issue, you will fail SC 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum). Hover styles never fail 1.4.11."
https://www.tpgi.com/a-whole-lot-of-bovver-over-hover/

How OMB Can Improve .gov Accessibility
By Mike Gifford.
"…I would suggest that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) embrace the following strategic objectives… Standardize government wide accessibility monitoring… Feedback loops with people with disabilities… Clarify role of the Section 508 office… Keep accessibility evergreen… Support authors to create accessible content… Make procurement prioritize accessibility… Clearly state to avoid using PDFs…"
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/commentary/2023/05/how-omb-can-improve-gov-accessibility/

WCAG 2.2 Updated Candidate Recommendation (Take 2)
By Rachael Bradley Montgomery.
"In response to concerns raised with the Focus Appearance and Target Size success criteria in the most recent Candidate Recommendation (CR), the working group has decided to publish another CR. This allows review and implementation of the substantive changes proposed to address these concerns, along with fallback options (known as 'at risk') if the solutions raise new concerns…"
https://whollyaccessible.org/2023/05/04/wcag-2-2-updated-candidate-recommendation-take-2/

Digital Accessibility is a Bigger Education Issue than We Think. Here's What We Can Do About It.
By Emily F. Popek.
"About a month ago, a colleague forwarded me a newsletter from the school she works with…"
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2023-05-03-digital-accessibility-is-a-bigger-education-issue-than-we-think-here-s-what-we-can-do-about-it

2022 Digital Assistive Technology and Accessibility Report
By Vision Australia.
"This report and findings are now available to provide insight for anybody designing and building websites and apps…"
https://visionaustralia.org/business-consulting/digital-access/assistive-technology-survey

Under-Engineered Patterns for #WCBUF
By Adrian Roselli.
"The slides for my talk are available as a tagged PDF…"
https://adrianroselli.com/2023/05/under-engineered-patterns-for-wcbuf.html


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

Don't Use Custom CSS Scrollbars
By Eric Bailey.
"…You don't get to pick who visits your website or web app, what their circumstances are, or how they choose to interact with your content. Choosing not to mess with the browser's scrollbar is a simple, yet powerful thing you can do to help ensure people can get what they need…"
https://ericwbailey.website/published/dont-use-custom-css-scrollbars/

Neglecting the Scrollbar: A Costly Trend in UI Design
By Blake Watson.
"I've noticed an alarming UI trend over the last five years or so. Apps are neglecting, misusing, or outright omitting the scrollbar from their interfaces. Notice isn't the right word. I've been living this trend…"
https://blakewatson.com/journal/neglecting-the-scrollbar-a-costly-trend-in-ui-design/

An Introduction to the :has() Selector in CSS
By Stephanie Eckles.
"In this excerpt from Unleashing the Power of CSS, we take a deep dive into how to select elements with the CSS :has() selector…"
https://www.sitepoint.com/has-selector-in-css/

An Introduction to Container Queries in CSS
By Stephanie Eckles.
"In this excerpt from Unleashing the Power of CSS, we we explore the exciting new possibilities offered by container queries…"
https://www.sitepoint.com/css-container-queries-introduction/

:root Isn't Global
By Kilian Valkhof.
"…This is going to catch a lot of people off-guard because I, like many others, expect CSS Custom properties defined on :root to just be available everywhere…"
https://kilianvalkhof.com/2023/css-html/root-isnt-global/

Do Logical Properties Make CSS Easier to Learn?
By Chris Coyier.
"I recently said yes…"
https://chriscoyier.net/2023/05/02/do-logical-properties-make-css-easier-to-learn/

7 Practical CSS Typography Tips & Tricks (Video)
By Kevin Powell.
"Handy hands-on tips to improve your CSS Typography, explaining in detail how to implement fluid typography using clamp(), adjust letter spacing, set optimal and balanced line lengths, style link underlines, improve unordered list styling with emoji bullets, and use color fonts…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1QOiBRID2E

CSS Naked Day and the Lost Wikipedia Page
By Jens Oliver Meiert.
"This is the final draft of an article I had prepared for Wikipedia …"
https://meiert.com/en/blog/css-naked-day-and-wikipedia/


+03: DRUPAL.

Good Accessibility Requires a Team Effort - Interview with Mike Gifford
By Kazima Abbas.
"…Through this conversation, we can read more of Mike's enduring journey with Drupal, his extensive and deep-rooted involvement with digital accessibility, and the importance of prioritizing accessibility in web development projects. He also discusses the biggest challenges in making Drupal 10 accessible for all users…"
https://www.thedroptimes.com/30454/good-accessibility-requires-team-effort-interview-with-mike-gifford


+04: EVALUATION & TESTING.

Measuring UX: Your First Step Towards Objective Evaluation
By Roma Videnov.
"Have you ever experienced a situation where a good design was rejected just because the decision maker woke up on the wrong side of the bed?…"
https://uxplanet.org/measuring-ux-your-first-step-towards-objective-evaluation-a408b312777b

Archetypes Don't Have Photos, but Characters Do
By Indi Young.
"Develop a cast of characters that represent archetypes you want to support…"
https://medium.com/inclusive-software/archetypes-dont-have-photos-but-characters-do-920a744a2841

Initial Validation of Tech-Savvy Measures
By Jeff Sauro and Jim Lewis.
"How do you measure tech savviness? For several years (since 2015), we've been on a mission to develop a valid and practical measure…"
https://measuringu.com/initial-validation-of-tech-savvy-measures/

Best Practices for Building and Maintaining Your Own Research-Participant Database
By Kim Salazar.
"Developing your own research-participant database allows you to be efficient in recruiting study participants, enabling you to run more studies with faster turnaround."
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/research-participant-database/

Documenting a UX-Benchmarking Study
By Raluca Budiu.
"All the details of your benchmark study need to be stored in your research repository for further reference. They include the study methodology, the tasks, the screener, the definitions of the collected metrics, as well as the raw data obtained from the study."
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-benchmarking-repository/

Downsides of the Net Promoter Score (Video)
By Raluca Budiu.
"The Net Promoter Score (NPS) can be gamed and its definition loses information and precision by treating fairly dissimilar responses in the same way. It should be used together with other UX metrics rather than in isolation.
https://www.nngroup.com/videos/downsides-net-promoter-score/


+05: EVENTS.

Accessible PDF Fillable Forms
May 11, 2023.
Online
https://adata.org/event/accessible-pdf-fillable-forms

AccessU Thursday Evening Accessibility Social Meetup
May 11, 2023.
Austin, Texas, U.S.A.
https://www.meetup.com/a11yatx/events/293107402/

Levelling Up Accessibility Skills in Your Organisation
May 16, 2023 at 1 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST)
Online
https://intopia.digital/articles/intopia-webinar-levelling-up-accessibility-skills-in-your-organisation/

Why is Web Accessibility Important?
May 16, 2023.
Online
https://www.tpgi.com/webinar-may-16-at-12pm-et-why-is-web-accessibility-important/

The Workshop for Workshops
May 18, 2023.
Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A.
https://uxpamn.org/event-5265277

Baking Accessibility in with Design Systems
May 18, 2023.
Online
https://www.meetup.com/A11YCollective/events/293299760

Accessibility Awareness and Foundations with Nic Steenhout, Denis Boudreau, and Tim Harshbarger
May 18, 2023.
Online
https://accessibility.deque.com/accessibility-awareness-and-fundamentals-webinar

Accessibility in Technology Procurement and Use
June 22, 2023.
Online
https://webaim.org/training/procurement/

Accessible Components from Design to Development with Carie Fisher
September 14-22, 2023.
Online
https://smashingconf.com/online-workshops/workshops/accessible-frontend-carie-fisher/


+06: HTML.

ShatGPT
By Steve Faulkner.
"I am concerned. Not about Large Language Models (LLM)s doing me out of a job, but about the people who make money out of them not making their User Interfaces (UI)s accessible…"
https://html5accessibility.com/stuff/2023/05/08/shatgpt/


+07: JAVASCRIPT.

React Testing Library and Accessibility
By Mark Steadman.
"React testing library is one of, if not, the most popular testing libraries there is for React…"
https://dev.to/steady5063/react-testing-library-accessibility-4fom


+08: MISCELLANEOUS.

The History of SEO (Video)
By Kim Krause Berg.
"If you understand what motivates us to make decisions, you're 90% there…"
https://cre8pc.com/2023/05/kim-krause-berg-seo-pioneers/


+09: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS.

Where Would You Take the W3C?
By Robin Berjon.
"…Unless you happen to work on a specific part of web standards, you likely feel that the W3C isn't relevant and you probably have no idea what's going on there. The question I want to ask you specifically is: given the chance to fix this, what would you do?"
https://github.com/darobin/w3c-governance-considerations/discussions/1


+10: TOOLS.

The Contrast Triangle
By Chip Cullen.
"Removing underlines from links in HTML text presents an accessibility challenge. In order for a design to be considered accessible, there is now a three-sided design contraint - or what I call "The Contrast Triangle". Your text, links and background colors must now all have sufficient contrast from each other. Links must have a contrast ratio of 3:1 from their surrounding text. This is so that colorblind users can tell what pieces of text are links. By not using underlines, a design has to rely on contrast alone to achieve this. Even the default blue link color in browsers doesn't meet this contrast level. Both the text and links have to have a contrast ratio of 4.5:1, or 3:1 if it's large scale text…"
https://contrast-triangle.com/
Chip's Contrast Triangle Blog Post:
https://chipcullen.com/the-contrast-triangle/


+11: TYPOGRAPHY.

Typefaces for Dyslexia (Update: May 2, 2023)
By Adrian Roselli.
"Ads of the World profiled a new typeface designed to for use in video captions to benefit dyslexic viewers"
https://adrianroselli.com/2015/03/typefaces-for-dyslexia.html#Update14

No, No, No, No and No!
By Gareth Ford Williams.
"…What is it with designers making wild claims about fixing the reading experience for dyslexics like me, without offering up the research data or even the methodology behind their work?…"
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7059187980745199617/

Online Book 'Legibility: How and Why Typography Affects Ease of Reading' by Mary Dyson
By David Březina.
"Design Regression is pleased to announce the publication of Mary Dyson's book Legibility: how and why typography affects ease of reading in a new, digital edition, in English and Spanish…"
https://designregression.com/announcement/legibility-how-and-why-typography-affects-ease-of-reading


+12: USABILITY.

The Problem With Sticky Menus and What to Do Instead
By Adam Silver.
"Designers use sticky menus (menus that stick to the edge of the viewport) to make them easy to access on long pages. But this fancy pattern hurts UX far more than it improves it. Here's why…"
https://adamsilver.io/blog/the-problem-with-sticky-menus-and-what-to-do-instead/

UX Vision & Strategy: Top Questions Answered (Video)
By Sarah Gibbons and Anna Kaley.
"A UX vision is a part of a UX strategy, alongside goals (or measures) and a plan."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwLAGDlhLM8

Why Chatbots Are Not the Future
By Amelia Wattenberger.
"…I come to you today: because you've volunteered to be here with me, can we please discuss a few reasons chatbots are not the future of interfaces…"
https://wattenberger.com/thoughts/boo-chatbots


+13: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.

Measure and Improve Your Site's Footprint with Carbon Control from Catchpoint WebPageTest
By Scott Jehl.
"Today we're proud to announce the release of Carbon Control, an exciting new feature in Catchpoint WebPageTest…"
https://blog.webpagetest.org/posts/carbon-control/

The Intersectionality of Web Performance
By Jeremy Keith.
"…If you're shipping less stuff down the wire, and you're optimising what you do send, then there's less energy required.…"
https://adactio.com/journal/20154

Pilot Study: Minnesota's E-Waste Is Worth $2.8 Billion Each Year, but Most Isn't Captured
By Heidi Wigdahl.
"Over 266 million pounds of electronic waste are available for recycling in Minnesota every year but, according to a pilot study, only 23.7% of it gets captured…"
https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/kare11-extras/pilot-study-minnesotas-e-waste-worth-28-billion-each-year-but-most-isnt-captured/89-10c9cf1e-610f-4773-9009-d73eed2e5a48

Tips for More Sustainable Smartphone Use
By Gerry McGovern.
"About 80% of the total environmental damage of a smartphone occurs during the manufacturing process, so the single most important thing you can do to mitigate that damage is to hold on to your phone for as long as possible…"
https://gerrymcgovern.com/tips-for-more-sustainable-smartphone-use/


[Section one ends.]


++ SECTION TWO:

+14: 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.

WEB DESIGN UPDATE is available by subscription. For information on how to subscribe and unsubscribe please visit:
https://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/webdev_listserv.html
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:
http://www.headstar.com/ten


+ 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.]