Web Design Update: February 17, 2026

[Laura Carlson]

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 26, Issue 34, February 17, 2026.

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

++ISSUE 34 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: EVENTS.
03: HTML.
04: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE.
05: JAVASCRIPT.
06: MISCELLANEOUS.
07: NAVIGATION.
08: USABILITY.

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

[Contents ends.]


+01: ACCESSIBILITY.

Why WebAIM's Report Only Found 6 Issues on a Million Pages (Video)
By Ross Mullen.
"Over a million homepages on the web are failing basic accessibility checks, in the same few ways over and over again. But it's not because accessibility is too hard…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anX0zWoQiXk

Two Common Heading Accessibility Errors (Video)
By Pope Tech.
"Most screen reader users use headings to navigate your page. Make sure your heading structure is logical, so more people can easily use your content…"
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fkW5NcPOA-o

User Impact of Inaccessible Word Documents (Video)
By Pope Tech.
"Learn how Word accessibility issues like missing headers affect users with disabilities…"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pqFo-rYFSU

Why It's Important to Manually Test for Accessibility
By Ilknur Eren.
"…Many automated tools flag accessibility issues within websites. While these automated tools are great at catching many accessibility issues, developers must still run a manual test and audit their website for accessibility…"
https://www.sitepoint.com/manually-test-for-accessibility/

Wishcessibility
By Nic Chan.
"…Accessibility is really similar to recycling in certain ways…"
https://www.nicchan.me/blog/wishcessibility/

Understanding WCAG 1.2.6: Sign Language (Prerecorded) for WordPress
By Amber Hinds.
"…In this post, we'll break down what WCAG 1.2.6 requires…"
https://equalizedigital.com/understanding-wcag-1-2-6-sign-language-prerecorded-for-wordpress/

The Accessibility Manager Moment No One Warns You About
By Sheri Byrne-Haber.
"…Most senior accessibility professionals can name at least one demand letter or litigation disaster…"
https://www.sheribyrnehaber.com/the-accessibility-manager-moment-no-one-warns-you-about/

Everyone Loses When Paying Fines Becomes a Business Strategy
By Sheri Byrne-Haber.
"…When harm becomes a line item rather than a failure to prevent harm…"
https://www.sheribyrnehaber.com/everyone-loses-when-paying-fines-becomes-a-business-strategy/


+02: EVENTS.

Designing Together: How Design and Development Built Accessible Multi-brand Experiences 
February 25, 2026. 
Online 
https://a11ytalks.com/posts/2026-feb

Accessibility & AI Survival 
February 26, 2026. 
London, England, United Kingdom 
https://www.meetup.com/london-wordpress/events/313109847/

Global Accessibility Awareness Day 
May 21, 2026. 
Global 
https://accessibility.day/

Practical Steps for Document Accessibility 
May 21, 2026. 
Online 
https://events.gcc.teams.microsoft.com/event/148be5cf-c613-47c9-9371-3e8d7f59c84a@50f8fcc4-94d8-4f07-84eb-36ed57c7c8a2

Open Source North 
May 28, 2026. 
Saint Paul Minnesota, U.S.A. 
https://www.opensourcenorth.com/


+03: HTML.

Mastering Dialog Accessibility 
By Rajat Kumar. 
"Dialogs are a fundamental component of modern web interfaces…" 
https://vispero.com/resources/mastering-dialog-accessibility/

You Might Not Need role="presentation" 
By Steve Frenzel. 
"…In my experience, there's only a few real use cases…" 
https://piccalil.li/blog/you-might-not-need-rolepresentation/


+04: INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE.

Affinity Diagramming in Workshops (Video) 
By Nielsen Norman Group. 
"Affinity diagramming reveals hidden patterns…" 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L49s5ZYbVa8


+05: JAVASCRIPT.

ARIA Live Regions 
By Sonja Weckenmann. 
"…For people who use a screen reader, such updates …" 
https://tollwerk.de/projekte/tipps-techniken-inklusiv-barrierefrei/aria-live-regionen


+06: MISCELLANEOUS.

Talking with Heydon Pickering 1 
By Steve Faulkner. 
"Heydon and I first started talking early 2010's…" 
https://html5accessibility.com/stuff/2026/02/12/talking-with-heydon-pickering/


+07: NAVIGATION.

Does Your Navigation Need an ARIA Menu? Probably Not.
By Elle Smith.
"…In this post, we'll explain what a true menu actually is, how it differs from traditional website navigation, and why that difference matters for people using keyboards and assistive technologies…"
https://blog.pope.tech/2026/02/10/does-your-navigation-need-an-aria-menu-probably-not/

Why Your Website Navigation Doesn't Need an ARIA Menu (Video)
By Elle Smith.
"In this video, we'll learn the critical differences between ARIA menus and standard website navigation, and why using ARIA roles on a typical nav bar often creates a confusing 'guessing game' for keyboard and screen reader users."
https://blog.pope.tech/2026/02/10/why-your-website-navigation-doesnt-need-an-aria-menu-video/

Are a Menu and Website Navigation the Same? (Video)
By Pope Tech.
"ARIA role="menu" is often added to website navigations, but it isn't needed. Here's the difference between menus and website navigations and how to keep your navigations more accessible…"
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IZYziIgfMjg

Does Your Website Navigation Need ARIA role="menu"? (Video)
By Pope Tech.
"Long story short, your website navigation probably doesn't need ARIA role='menu'…"
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DXkzWbLZMRo


+07: USABILITY.

If You're Struggling to Write the Content, You Probably Have an Interaction Problem 
By Adam Silver.
"…I was so focused on content that I missed the opportunity…" 
https://adamsilver.io/blog/if-youre-struggling-to-design-the-content-you-probably-have-an-interaction-problem/

[Section one ends.]


++ SECTION TWO:

+17: 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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+ 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:
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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.]

Laura L. Carlson
Information Technology Systems and Services
University of Minnesota Duluth
Duluth, MN U.S.A. 55812-3009
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/

W3C Invited Expert
Accessibility Guidelines Working Group
https://www.w3.org/groups/wg/ag/participants

Pronouns: she/her/hers