Web Design Update: May 27, 2025

[Laura Carlson]

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 25, Issue, May 28, 2025.

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

++ISSUE 48 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.
05: EVALUATION & TESTING.
04: EVENTS.
05: HTML.
06: JAVASCRIPT.
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.

My Request to Google on Accessibility
By Adrian Roselli.
"I'm asking this massive company to stop releasing features & products
& ideas that are obvious barriers. And I want them to stop expecting
free labor from the community. It's tiring, frustrating, and
disrespectful."
https://adrianroselli.com/2025/05/my-request-to-google-on-accessibility.html

Testing Methods: Prerecorded Extended Audio Description
By Dennis Deacon.
"WCAG 1.2.7 Extended Audio Description (Prerecorded) is a Level AAA
success criterion, requiring videos to include extended spoken
descriptions of visual content…"
https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/testing-methods-prerecorded-extended-audio-description/

How to Write Alt Text for Complex Images: A Guide to Clarity and Accessibility
By Michael Beck.
"…In this post, we'll break down the best practices for writing clear,
concise, and useful alt text for complex images, ensuring that your
content is accessible to everyone…"
https://afixt.com/how-to-write-alt-text-for-complex-images-a-guide-to-clarity-and-accessibility/

Finding the Joy in Alt Text
By Bryn Newell.
"…My belief is that we should begin to care a little more deeply about
alt text, not because it is mandatory or useful, but because it is a
joyful little creation of the internet in its own right…"
https://bryn.codes/writing/the-joy-in-alt-text/

The Role of Captions and Transcripts in Accessibility
By Michael Beck.
"…In this post, we'll explore why captions and transcripts are
critical for accessibility, how they align with legal requirements
like WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and ADA (Americans
with Disabilities Act), and best practices for implementing them
effectively…"
https://afixt.com/the-role-of-captions-and-transcripts-in-accessibility/

Deploying Accessibility at Scale: Strategy, Tactics, and Battle Stories (Video)
By Intopia.
"We celebrated Global Accessibility Awareness Day with a webinar
exploring what it takes to scale accessibility in different
organisations, industries, and environments. …"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqcxaUpGJb0

From Risk to Resilience: Bridging Legal Compliance and Technical
Execution in Accessibility
By James Thurston and Ken Nakata.
"…Start where you are. Build capacity. Set goals. And partner with
experts who know how to help. Together, we can build a more inclusive
digital future."
https://atos.net/en/blog/from-risk-to-resilience-bridging-legal-compliance-and-technical-execution-in-accessibility

A Deep Dive into the Websites and Software Applications Accessibility
Act of 2025
By Karl Groves.
"…I've been given an advanced look at the eventual long-form content
of this bill. Let's take a detailed look into what the bill proposes,
why it matters, and what potential challenges and opportunities it
presents…"
https://karlgroves.com/a-deep-dive-into-the-websites-and-software-applications-accessibility-act-of-2025/

Colorado OIT Amends Accessibility Rule
By Ken Nakata.
"…This blog post goes line-by-line through the changes and some of the
things I like and don't like about it…"
https://convergeaccessibility.com/2025/05/21/news_colorado_oit_amends_oit_rule/


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

You Can Style Alt Text Like Any Other Text
By Andy Bell.
"…The alt text is surfaced on the page when an image fails to load.
It's yet another reason to write good alt text and really hone your
skills in creating a user-focused experience by being descriptive. The
demo doesn't look great though, does it? I suppose the fact we're
rolling default user agent styles isn't helping, so let's introduce
the styles from Some simple ways to make content look good…"
https://piccalil.li/blog/you-can-style-alt-text-like-any-other-text/

Masonry, Item Flow, and… GULP?
By Eric A. Meyer.
"There's a layout type that web designers have been using for a long
time now, and yet can't be easily done with CSS: 'masonry' layout,
sometimes called 'you know, like Pinterest does it' layout…"
https://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2025/05/21/masonry-item-flow-and-gulp/

The Height Enigma
By Josh W. Comeau.
"Unraveling the mystery of percentage-based heights in CSS…"
https://www.joshwcomeau.com/css/height-enigma/


+03: EVALUATION & TESTING.

Inclusive User Research: Building Rapport
By Ela Gorla.
"…This post explores additional ways to build rapport with participants…"
https://tetralogical.com/blog/2025/05/23/inclusive-user-research-building-rapport/


+04: EVENTS.

A11yNYC Goes to Civic Hall: Celebrating 35 Years of People and Technology
June 3, 2025.
Online and New York, New York, U.S.A.
https://www.meetup.com/a11ynyc/events/307606966/

Managing Risk and Improving UX: How to Prioritize ADA Title II Digital
Accessibility Efforts with David Sloan
June 11, 2025.
https://www.tpgi.com/webinar-managing-risk-and-improving-ux-how-to-prioritize-ada-title-ii-digital-accessibility-efforts/

Summer of Access Webinar Series: Design with Accessibility in Mind
June 10-August 19, 2025.
Online
https://www.letoile-education.com/blog/summer-of-access-webinar-series-design-with-accessibility-in-mind

UX Virtual Training
July 21-25, 2025.
Online
https://www.nngroup.com/training/july/

A11y Camp
October 28-30, 2025.
Melbourne, Australia
https://a11ycamp.com.au/

UX Brighton
November 7, 2025.
Brighton, England, United Kingdom
https://uxbri.org/2025

Developer Summit
November 19-20, 2025.
Sydney, Australia
https://webdirections.org/dev-summit/


+05: HTML.

Are You Sure That Table Isn't a List?
By Martin Underhill.
"…The thing about a table is, it's rigid; necessarily so. All that
information needs to be exactly where it is in that two-dimensional
grid in order for the table to be useful for things like:
* Comparing data
* Finding patterns
* Looking for relationships
But that necessary rigidity comes at a cost; it makes things a bit
awkward on small screens…"
https://www.tempertemper.net/blog/are-you-sure-that-table-isnt-a-list


+06: JAVASCRIPT.

The Ultimate JavaScript Regex Guide
By Adebayo Adams.
"In this article, you will learn everything you need to know about
writing a JavaScript regex, and you can start using them efficiently
in your JavaScript code…"
https://www.honeybadger.io/blog/javascript-regular-expressions/

Make Screen Readers Talk With the ARIA Notify API
By Alexander Lehner.
"…Microsoft Edge has recently implemented the new API as a developer
and origin trial. So, I went ahead and created a demo project to test
the new functionality. Here's what I think…"
https://www.oidaisdes.org/aria-notify-first-look.en/


+07: MISCELLANEOUS.

Stop Saying That AI Is Just a Tool and It Only Matters How It Is Used
By Frank Elavsky.
"I'm tired of this phrase and this simple way of thinking about tools.
This blog post is a wandering train of thought on the topic of what
tools are and why it matters to be even slightly more mature in how we
think about them…"
https://www.frank.computer/blog/2025/05/just-a-tool.html

Tools
By Jeremy Keith.
"One persistent piece of slopaganda you'll hear is this: 'It's just a
tool. What matters is how you use it.'…"
https://adactio.com/journal/21926


+08: TOOLS.

Slackwave
By Karl Groves.
"A Slack app/ slash command for using the WAVE API to test websites
and get the results in Slack…"
https://github.com/karlgroves/slackwave


+09: USABILITY.

Designing for Serial Task Switching
By Megan Chan.
"Serial task switching, or rapidly shifting attention between tasks,
is a natural user behavior that lowers productivity and increases
stress and the chance of errors."
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/serial-task-switching/

Sorry, I Can't Read Your Visualization
By Nancy Organ.
"I'm very lucky to have excellent color vision and a laughably mild
glasses prescription. However, even as a visualization professional
with premium eyeballs, I struggle to read an alarming number of the
visualizations that I encounter in the media and online…"
https://www.trillianthealth.com/tech-blog/sorry-i-cant-read-your-visualization


+10: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.

WSG Facts
By Morgan Murrah.
Facts about some efforts into the Web Sustainability Guidelines (WSG)
to make the web work better for all people and the planet.
https://wsg-facts.netlify.app/

We Did he Math on AI's Energy Footprint. Here's the Story You Haven't Heard
By James O'Donnell and Casey Crownhart.
"The emissions from individual AI text, image, and video queries seem
small-until you add up what the industry isn't tracking and consider
where it's heading next.…"
https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116327/ai-energy-usage-climate-footprint-big-tech/

[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.]