Web Design Update: July 29, 2025

[Laura Carlson]

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 26, Issue 05, July 30, 2025.

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

++ISSUE 05 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: JAVASCRIPT.
08: MISCELLANEOUS.
09: USABILITY.
10: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.
11: XML.

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

[Contents ends.]


++ SECTION ONE: New references.

+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

The "Accessibility" Link is a Lie: My Adventures in Weaponizing
Corporate Virtue Signaling
By Robert Kingett.
"In the corporate world, there's a special kind of lie…"
https://sightlessscribbles.com/posts/20250724/

How to Create Audio Description VTT Files for Free: No Fancy Tools Needed
By Meryl K. Evans.
"Creating captions is easy. Tools abound. But audio description? Not so much…"
https://meryl.net/audio-description-vtt-files/

A11y 101: 2.3.1 Three Flashes or Below Threshold
By Nat Tarnoff.
"You've seen the warnings before TV shows and movies. 'This show
contains flashing lights.' This warning on visual media also applies
web sites and apps. Guideline 2.3.1 addresses this by implementing a
requirement that reduces the potential for severe damage. Let's
discuss why…"
https://tarnoff.info/2025/07/28/a11y-101-2-3-1-three-flashes-or-below-threshold/

Testing Methods: Audio Control
By Dennis Deacon.
"WCAG 1.4.2 Audio Control is a Level A conformance level Success
Criterion. It ensures that when audio plays automatically for more
than 3 seconds on a web page, users must be able to either pause or
stop it, or adjust its volume separately from the system’s overall
volume…"
https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/testing-methods-audio-control/

Foundations: Types of Assistive Technology and Adaptive Strategies
By Demelza Feltham.
"This post provides an overview of common assistive technologies (AT)
used by people with seeing, hearing, moving, and thinking
disabilities. It also explains what adaptive strategies are, and how
these approaches work together to support accessibility and inclusive
experiences…"
https://tetralogical.com/blog/2025/07/28/foundations-types-of-assistive-technology-and-adaptive-strategies/

Looking Deeper After Automated Testing
By Joe Dolson.
"The seventh episode of The Accessibility Show is now out! This one
was an interesting change of pace. I was asked to take a look at the
site for another of Nathan's podcasts: The No Script Show, the brain
child of David Waumsley…"
https://www.joedolson.com/2025/07/accessibility-show-7-after-automated-testing/

From Today to Tomorrow: Navigating the Shifting Landscape of Digital
Access (Video)
By Knowbility.
"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be
changed until it is faced"-James Baldwin. Crystal Preston-Watson will
lead this Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) panel with
friends, colleagues, and AccessU attendees.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt_JdF9jFVY

Advancing Digital Accessibility with W3C WAI (Video)
By Shawn Lawton Henry and Kevin White.
"W3C's new tagline is: "Making the web work, for everyone".
Accessibility is a key aspect and you play a key role. This session
provides practical guidance on using W3C accessibility resources to
expand your skills and your effectiveness in advancing accessibility…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWOiKSLIn58

Reply to "Why I Don't Trust WCAG 2.2 and What I'm Hoping From 3.0"
By Adrian Roselli.
"I appreciate that you feel WCAG 2 doesn't go far enough, but I think
this post fails to recognize *when* WCAG 2 was written and *how*
consensus happens. It also assumes WCAG 3 will somehow achieve more
and avoid manipulation of its scoring model. To very briefly address
each of your complaints with WCAG 2…".
https://blog.logrocket.com/ux-design/wcag-3-vs-2-ux/#comment-49756

aria-label Does Not Translate (Update: 25 July 2025)
By Adrian Roselli.
"Callum McMenamin asked Do ARIA attributes get translated? and found
that aria-label (the topic of this post) does get translated. Based on
my own experience, the methodology seemed to miss a few points. So I
re-ran my own tests…"
https://adrianroselli.com/2019/11/aria-label-does-not-translate.html#Update07

Embedding Accessibility SMEs in Remote Teams
By Sheri Byrne-Haber.
"…Embedding accessibility resources into product teams can accelerate
progress when it's done intentionally…"
https://buttondown.com/access-ability/archive/embedding-accessibility-smes-in-remote-teams/

Accessibility and Friction
By Tommy Palmer.
"Minimum Viable Product means different things to different people.
Shipping a first version of a digital product is easy, but qualifying
what exactly is minimally viable is hard…"
https://www.tommyp.org/blog/accessibility-and-friction/

Disability Sparks Innovation (Video)
By Zuby Onwuta.
"Let's shine a spotlight on the extraordinary contributions of
disabled tech innovators. Society often overlooks the profound impact
these individuals have had on shaping our technological landscape.
Join us as we celebrate their groundbreaking achievements and ignite
inspiration for the innovators of tomorrow…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVK1PkUjhyw

The 2025 AccessU Legal Update (Video)
By Eve Hill.
"This class will offer the fundamentals of why accessibility is a
civil right of people with disabilities and share up-to-date
developments in the digital accessibility legal space relevant to the
public, private, and education sectors…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8n722yVIts

Preparation for the Update to ADA's Title II Series: Strategic
Planning & Prioritization
By Minnesota IT Services.
"Get some tips on strategies and tactics to prepare your organization…"
https://mn.gov/mnit/media/blog/?id=38-698989


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

Designing for User Font-size and Zoom
By Miriam Suzanne.
"Using modern CSS units and math functions…"
https://www.oddbird.net/2025/07/22/size-preferences/

Setting Line Length in CSS (and Fitting Text to a Container)
By Daniel Schwarz.
"First, what is line length? Line length is the length of a container
that holds a body of multi-line text. 'Multi-line' is the key part
here, because text becomes less readable if the beginning of a line of
text is too far away from the end of the prior line of text. This
causes users to reread lines by mistake, and generally get lost while
reading…"
https://css-tricks.com/setting-line-length-in-css-and-fitting-text-to-a-container/

A Handy Use of Subgrid to Enhance a Simple Layout
By Andy Bell.
"We've got this pattern on the Set Studio website. It's three
summaries with headings that render in a three column grid which as
the viewport reduces in space, automatically stack…"
https://piccalil.li/blog/a-handy-use-of-subgrid-to-enhance-a-simple-layout/


+03: COLOR.

Testing Methods: Use of Color
By Dennis Deacon.
"WCAG 1.4.1 Use of Color is a Level A conformance level Success
Criterion. It requires that color alone must not be used to convey
information. In other words, if you're using color to indicate
meaning, state, or action, like red text to indicate an error or green
to show success, you must provide another visual cue as well…"
https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/testing-methods-use-of-color/


+04: EVALUATION & TESTING.

How to Get Comfortable with Quantitative UX Research
By Jeff Sauro and Jim Lewis.
"…We can't solve all your math problems, but we hope we can get you
more comfortable with quantitative research. Here are five ways… "
https://measuringu.com/how-to-get-comfortable-with-quantitative-ux-research/

Mixed-Methods Research: Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Data
By Rachel Banawa.
"Mixed-methods research combines qualitative and quantitative methods
to explore a single research question."
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/mixed-methods-research/


+05: EVENTS.

ADA Title II Compliance: Strategies, Solutions, and Best Practices
August 5, 2025.
Online
https://accessibility.deque.com/ada-title-ii-compliance-strategies-solutions-and-best-practices

Introduction to Digital Accessibility
October 2, 2025.
Online
https://abilitynet.org.uk/training/introduction-digital-accessibility-free

UX Virtual Training
October 6-10, 2025.
Online
https://www.nngroup.com/training/october/


+06: HTML.

State of HTML
"The annual developer survey about the web platform…"
https://stateofhtml.com/en-US


+07: JAVASCRIPT.

How Semantics and ARIA Attributes Support Accessible Design
By Melissa Morse.
"Most accessibility issues aren't related to flashy visual content.
Instead, they start with missing meaning…"
https://www.tpgi.com/how-semantics-aria-attributes-support-accessible-design/


+08: MISCELLANEOUS.

What Do We Have That AI Doesn't?
By Tom Greenwood.
"Thoughts on the evolutionary advantages of being human…"
https://tomgreenwood.substack.com/p/what-do-we-have-that-ai-doesnt?


+09: USABILITY.

UX Strategies for Complex-Application Design
By Kate Kaplan.
"UX in complex, specialized domains requires adapting familiar methods
across the design lifecycle to address domain constraints and
expert-user needs…"
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/strategies-complex-application-design/


+10: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.

Reimagining the Browser for a Green Web
By Michelle Thorne and Dietrich Ayala.
"…we wanted to survey the current browser landscape, its possibilities
and constraints, and see what threads might be interesting to follow.
Come along this exploration of what sustainable browsing could look
like…"
https://branch.climateaction.tech/issues/issue-9/reimagining-the-browser-for-a-green-web/

Imposing AI: Deceptive Design Patterns Against Sustainability (PDF)
By Anaëlle Beignon, Thomas Thibault, and Nolwenn Maudet.
"Generative AI is being massively deployed in digital services, at a
scale that will result in significant environmental harm. We document
how tech companies are transforming established user interfaces to
impose AI use and show how and to what extent these strategies fit
within established deceptive pattern categories. We identify two main
design strategies that are implemented to impose AI use in both
personal and professional contexts: imposing AI features in interfaces
at the expense of existing non-AI features and promoting narratives
about AI that make it harder to resist using it. We discuss
opportunities for regulating the imposed adoption of AI features,
which would inevitably lead to negative environmental effects…"
https://computingwithinlimits.org/2025/papers/limits2025-beigon-imposing-ai.pdf
Rehersal Talk Video:
https://vimeo.com/1103486136


+11: XML.

A Friendly Introduction to SVG
By Josh W. Comeau.
"SVGs are one of the most exciting technologies we have access to
in-browser. We can do so many cool things with SVG. It's an absolutely
critical part of my toolkit…"
https://www.joshwcomeau.com/svg/friendly-introduction-to-svg/


[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.


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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.]