+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 25, Issue, February 11, 2025.
An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development.
++ISSUE 33 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.
09: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.
SECTION TWO:
10: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site?
[Contents ends.]
++ SECTION ONE: New references.
+01: ACCESSIBILITY.
How to Set Up an Accessible Page Structure and Navigation
By Whitney Lewis.
"All websites have web pages. These web pages have a page structure that includes navigation, an area for content, maybe a sidebar, and a footer…"
https://blog.pope.tech/2023/01/31/how-to-set-up-an-accessible-page-structure-and-navigation/
How to Declare Your Page's Language
By Whitney Lewis.
"The page's language is the language the majority of the page's content is in…"
https://blog.pope.tech/2025/02/05/how-to-declare-your-pages-language/
10 Digital Accessibility Mistakes to Avoid
By Kelly Clarkson.
"…This post highlights 10 digital accessibility mistakes to avoid, along with simple workarounds to ensure your digital content is inclusive for as many users as possible…"
https://accessibility.blog.gov.uk/2025/02/04/10-digital-accessibility-mistakes-to-avoid/
A11y 101: 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence
By Nat Tarnoff.
"The order of consumption of media affects its meaning…"
https://tarnoff.info/2025/02/10/a11y-101-1-3-2-meaningful-sequence/
The Problem With PDF
By Lucy Greco.
"The one accessibility area I don't like and avoid working on is PDF files. I frankly find the process people have to go through to make a PDF accessible is far too complex and far too antiquated…"
https://accessaces.com/the-problem-with-pdf/
Why Do Some People Think of Screen Readers When They Think of Accessibility?
By Bogdan Cerovac.
"People starting with accessibility can often get a bit biased perception and focus mainly on screen readers. I believe it has to do with the guidelines…"
https://cerovac.com/a11y/2025/02/why-do-some-people-think-of-screen-readers-when-they-think-of-accessibility/
Accessible Rating Stars
By Jan Deppisch.
"In a recent project, we needed to implement a rating star component…"
https://netzartist.de/notes/accessible-rating-stars/
Alt Text Accessibility: Balancing AI and Human Oversight
By Thomas Logan and Ken Nakata.
This episode of Accessibility Insights unpacks the challenges of ensuring alt text quality, the nuances of workflows prioritizing accessibility, and the potential legal and reputational risks of overlooking this vital aspect of digital media…"
https://equalentry.com/alt-text-accessibility-ai/
Which VoiceOver?
By Adrian Roselli.
"…VoiceOver on macOS is different than VoiceOver on iOS. Maybe even different than VoiceOver on iPadOS, or any other iDevice platform. That's for you to test…"
https://adrianroselli.com/2025/02/which-voiceover.html
What Makes a Good Accessibility Designer?
By David Kennedy.
"…Here’s what I came up with that covers both designers and accessibility designers. Each skill builds on the previous one…"
https://davidakennedy.com/blog/what-makes-a-good-accessibility-designer/
How I Learned to Code With My Voice
By Salma Alam-Naylor.
"Struggling with severe hand pain, I learned to code by voice…"
https://whitep4nth3r.com/blog/how-i-learned-to-code-with-my-voice/
Did the US Government Cancel Accessibility?
By A11y Quest.
"We need to talk about recent executive orders and memorandums regarding accessibility…"
https://www.a11yquest.com/blog/2025-01-27-did-the-us-government-cancel-accessibility
Why State and Local Governments are Failing at Digital Accessibility
By Ken Nakata.
"…This blog post reviews some of the challenges causing state and local governments to fail at digital accessibility and what they should consider when looking for digital accessibility services…"
https://convergeaccessibility.com/2025/02/10/why-state-and-local-governments-are-failing-at-digital-accessibility/
+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.
Using Padding to Space an Input and Label
By Darin Senneff.
"Something I started doing lately is using the padding of a <label> element to create the space between it and an <input> instead of a margin or grid/flexbox gap. I'm sure a bunch of people already do this, but it's something that only recently dawned on me…"
https://www.darins.page/articles/using-padding-to-space-an-input-and-label
Live CSS Colors: What You Can Safely Use
By Jared White.
"…as you wade into defining live colors using variables and/or currentColor, I would recommend seeing if you can go with color-mix as a starting point. If that doesn't work, you can try Relative Color but bear in mind that if you need more than just CSS variable support, aka currentColor, browser support isn't quite there yet…"
https://thathtml.blog/2025/02/live-colors-what-you-can-safely-use/
A Content List With Bulk Actions Using Ancient HTML and Modern CSS
By Tyler Sticka.
"Here's a pretty common pattern we see while designing responsive experiences or modernizing legacy applications…"
https://cloudfour.com/thinks/a-content-list-with-bulk-actions-using-ancient-html-and-modern-css/
+03: EVALUATION & TESTING.
How to Weight Means
By Jim Lewis and Jeff Sauro.
"In this article, we cover how to weight means in the basic case of matching against a single reference variable…"
https://measuringu.com/how-to-weight-means/
SWOT Analysis
By Therese Fessenden.
"A SWOT analysis helps teams understand how well a product, service, or organization is positioned in the market to serve its customers."
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/swot-analysis/
+04: EVENTS.
Free Tools for Accessibility Testing with Malin Hammarberg, Funka Foundation
February 14, 2025.
Online
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bGERSho4TT-d7JPMXGKMNg#/registration
Techniques for Accessible PDF: An Introduction
February 20, 2025.
Online
https://pdfa.org/event/webinar-techniques-for-accessible-pdf-an-introduction/
The Evolution of Assistive Technology in the AI-Era
February 20, 2025.
Online
https://www.tpgi.com/the-state-of-accessibility-episode-6/
Alt Text and AI with Mike Gifford
February 28, 2025.
Online
https://a11ytalks.com/posts/2025-feb
Global Accessibility Awareness Day
May 15, 2025.
Global
https://accessibility.day/
WomenTech Global Conference 2024
May 20-22, 2025.
Online and in Person
https://www.womentech.net/en-us/women-tech-conference
Web Summit Vancouver
May 27-30, 2025.
Vancouver, Canada
https://vancouver.websummit.com/
Open Source North
May 29, 2025.
Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A.
https://opensourcenorth.com/
CSS Day
June 5-6, 2025.
Amsterdam, Netherlands
https://cssday.nl
+05: HTML.
Tip: <a href="..."> is a Link
By Steve Faulkner.
"…<a> is not a link. <a role="link"> is exposed as a link to screen readers, but you have to add the link behaviour…"
https://mastodon.social/@SteveFaulkner/113957414647040415
+06: JAVASCRIPT.
Getting a Date in the Current User's Timezone With JavaScript
By Chris Ferdinandi.
"…Today, I wanted to show you the solution I whipped up…"
https://gomakethings.com/getting-a-date-in-the-current-users-timezone-with-javascript/
TypeScript: the satisfies operator
By Axel Rauschmayer.
"TypeScript's satisfies operator lets us check the type of a value (mostly) without influencing it. In this blog post, we examine how exactly it works and where it's useful…"
https://2ality.com/2025/02/satisfies-operator.html
Node.js: The Documentary - An Origin Story (Video)
By Honeypot.
"Back in 2008, most people thought of JavaScript as just a client-side language. But when Google's V8 appeared, young developer Ryan Dahl made the connection between non-blocking servers, V8, and JavaScript. It was by combining these key elements that he was able to create the now hugely popular Node.js…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB8KwiiUGy0
+07: MISCELLANEOUS.
6 Questions for Eric Eggert
By Jens Oliver Meiert.
"Eric Eggert is a long-time specialist in web accessibility…"
https://frontenddogma.com/posts/2025/6-questions-for-eric-eggert/
Ed Summers, Head of Accessibility, GitHub (Video)
By Accessibility and Gen AI.
"Hosts Eamon McErlean and Joe Devon interview Ed Summers, Head of Accessibility at GitHub. They discuss how Ed began working in accessibility, some of the latest developments at GitHub, how sonification is used in accessibility, and more.…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBQdpJfWBCA
Can You Have Accessibility Without DEI?
By Sheri Byrne-Haber.
"…Accessibility, Yes. Good Accessibility, No…"
https://buttondown.com/access-ability/archive/can-you-have-accessibility-without-dei/
Signed Away
By Sara Nović.
"Against the commodification of deaf communication…"
https://thebaffler.com/outbursts/signed-away-novic
+08: USABILITY.
User Journey vs. User Flow: Differences and Their Importance for UX
By Syed Balkhi.
"…The concepts may seem similar, but each one holds its significance…"
https://www.loop11.com/user-journey-vs-user-flow-differences-and-their-importance-for-ux/
How to Fix Form Errors Before They Happen (Video)
By Christian Hoist.
"Unexpected error messages during form submission can frustrate users and lead to abandoned checkouts. But what if you could catch errors before they happen?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSRubc7WpdA
The Cost of Delays - When and Where to Invest in Usability
By Nomensa.
"…By prioritising usability throughout every stage of the development cycle, designers can explore and test solutions in a cost-effective manner…"
https://www.nomensa.com/blog/the-cost-of-delays-when-and-where-to-invest-in-usability/
+09: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.
Sustainability - Getting Started - Drupal Wiki
By Mike Gifford.
"A place to document sustainability efforts in Drupal. Some are focused on environmental sustainability, and some on economic sustainability…"
https://www.drupal.org/docs/getting-started/sustainability
Recommendation L.1420 (02/12)
By International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
"Methodology for energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions impact assessment of information and communication technologies in organizations…"
https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-L.1420-201202-I/enA
[Section one ends.]
++ SECTION TWO:
+10: 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.]