Web Design Update: April 15, 2025

[Laura Carlson]

+++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE.
- Volume 25, Issue, April 15, 2025.

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

++ISSUE 42 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: MISCELLANEOUS.
06: NAVIGATION.
07: TOOLS.
08: TYPOGRAPHY.
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.

Digital Accessibility Resource Guide
By Office for Accessibility, University of Minnesota.
"This Resource Guide provides step-by-step guidance on how to create
digital content that meets new accessibility requirements and can be
equitably accessed by disabled community members…"
https://docs.google.com/document/d/186tC1DNCltOGQLC5CraoU9jnPf_Z0_Lc5jNHTJ53lEc/

Automated WCAG Testing Is Grrreat!
By Adrian Roselli.
"I'm a big fan of using automation in WCAG testing. I use
bookmarklets, dev tools, browser features & reporting, and a pile of
third-party products from assorted vendors. These save me time and
effort, letting me focus on more tricky cases…"
https://adrianroselli.com/2025/04/automated-wcag-testing-is-grrreat.html

Automated Accessibility Testing: Strengths and Limits
By Callum McMenamin.
"…At its core, the discussion on manual vs. automated testing has been
muddied by a false dichotomy - you don't have to pick between
automated or manual, you can, and should, do both…"
https://www.openaccess.nz/blog/automated-accessibility-testing-strengths-and-limits/

Testing Methods: Prerecorded Audio-only and Video-only
By Dennis Deacon.
"WCAG 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded) is a Level A
conformance level Success Criterion. For prerecorded audio-only or
video-only content, providing an alternative (e.g., a transcript for
audio-only, or an audio description/text alternative for video-only
content) is required…"
https://www.dennisdeacon.com/web/accessibility/testing-methods-prerecorded-audio-only-and-video-only/

Website Accessibility Testing Methods That Work
By Caitlin de Rooij.
"Learn proven website accessibility testing methods, from automated
tools to manual checks. Get actionable steps for WCAG compliance…"
https://www.a11y-collective.com/blog/how-to-check-web-accessibility/

A11y 101: 1.4.5 Images of Text
By Nat Tarnoff.
"I've been in developing websites for over twenty years. When I
started in the industry, we had to create images of text if we wanted
to use a specific font. This was necessary to make things work the way
we wanted visually…"
https://tarnoff.info/2025/04/14/a11y-101-1-4-5-images-of-text/

WebAIM Million Results Show That Shopping Sites Have Worst Accessibility
By Bogdan Cerovac.
"Next time you as a e-commerce stakeholder invest money into
advertising - consider how many people actually land on your pages
just to leave the site, even if they wanted to do business with you.
But as your site was not accessible and usable they gave up and spent
their money with a competitor that recognize accessibility as one of
the key pillars of modern business…"
https://cerovac.com/a11y/2025/04/webaim-million-results-show-that-shopping-sites-have-worst-accessibility/

What It Means to Shift Left on Accessibility and How to Do It Right
By Matt Robison.
Shifting left on accessibility means building inclusivity into every
phase of a project-from strategy to QA-saving time, reducing risk, and
creating better user experiences.
https://www.lullabot.com/articles/what-it-means-shift-left-accessibility-and-how-do-it-right

AI and Accessibility: Opportunities and Challenges for Content Creators
By Josh Crawford.
"Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how marketing and
communications professionals create and distribute content. For those
working in these fields, the intersection of AI adoption and
accessibility responsibility presents both exciting opportunities and
significant challenges…"
https://www.digitalaccesstraining.com/pages/articles?p=ai-and-accessibility-opportunities-and-challenges-for-content-creators

What Disabled People Have to Give Up in the Name of Accessibility
By Lucy Greco.
"…The use of access technology often compromises privacy for disabled
individuals. Detecting such technology can reveal personal health
information, limit access to services, and result in data being sold
to third parties. Text-only versions of websites and apps that require
personal information for functionality are inadequate solutions.
Advocacy is needed to protect the privacy rights of disabled people
while ensuring equal access to technology and services."
https://accessaces.com/what-disabled-people-have-to-give-up-in-the-name-of-accessibility/


+02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS.

#8 Miriam Suzanne (OddBird) - For a Better Web (Podcast)
By Bruce Lawson.
"Bruce chats with Miriam Suzanne, a CSS expert and independent
contributor to the CSS Working Group, to talk about all things CSS.
They geek out over the latest and greatest features like Cascade
Layers, @Scope, Mixins, and Container Queries, exploring how these
features impact web design…"
https://vivaldi.com/blog/8-miriam-suzanne-oddbird-for-a-better-web/

Color in CSS: How I Learned to Disrespect Tennis (Video)
By Manuel Matuzović.
"Everybody's talking about container queries, nesting, scroll-driven
animation, and view transitions. In all the excitement for these new
modules, one topic is a bit overlooked: color in CSS. Manuel Matuzović
summarizes all the new things we can do in CSS with color to create
flexible, scalable, accessible, and user-friendly design systems…"
https://2025.stateofthebrowser.com/speaker/manuel-matuzovic/

Default Styles for h1 Elements Are Changing
By Simon Pieters.
"…Do not rely on default browser styles for conveying a heading
hierarchy. Explicitly define your document hierarchy using <h2> for
second-level headings, <h3> for third-level, etc.
Always define your own font-size and margin for <h1> elements…"
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/blog/h1-element-styles/

Never Lose a Z-Index Battle Again
By Manuel Matuzović.
"Recently, I learned about numeric keywords…"
https://www.matuzo.at/blog/2025/never-lose-a-z-index-battle-again


+03: EVALUATION & TESTING.

6 Dimensions for Assessing Usability Data in Analysis
By Maria Rosala and Feifei Liu.
"Analyze usability findings for authenticity, consistency, repetition,
spontaneity, appropriateness, and confounding factors to separate
surface impressions from real insights."
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-data-in-analysis/

User Testing vs A/B Testing. Which Should You Choose?
By Joy Anderson.
"…software testing in general is a pretty wide concept so we won't be
able to cover all its pits and bits, however as of now you will get to
learn about Usability testing and A/B testing, what are they, how are
they beneficial and which one is a better option here. So without any
delay, let us get started with both concepts…"
https://www.loop11.com/user-testing-vs-a-b-testing-which-should-you-choose/

How to Select a UX Metric
By Jeff Sauro and Jim Lewis.
"…Metrics aren't perfect, but despite their issues, they are critical
in quantitative UX practice. In this article, we showed how to use an
infographic to guide UX practitioners along five steps for picking the
right UX metric: define the need, find a match, prefer popular
metrics, prefer easier metrics, and prefer benchmarked metrics. The
last three steps are used when multiple metrics match a defined
research need. These steps do not determine which metric to use.
Instead, they help guide UX practitioners to select an appropriate
metric for their specific research context."
https://measuringu.com/how-to-select-a-ux-metric/


+04: EVENTS.

Cascading Layouts with Miriam Suzanne
April 28-30, 2025.
Online
https://www.oddbird.net/workshops/cascading-layouts/

Organizational Scaffolding for Accessible Design and Content with Rob Carr
April 29, 2025.
Online
https://a11ytalks.com/posts/2025-apr

Accessibility Training with Karl Groves
May 20-21, 2025: Accessibility Basics
June 2-5, 2025: Accessible Web Development
Online
https://afixt.com/training/

UX Virtual Training
July 8-15, 2025.
Online
https://www.nngroup.com/training/july-asia-au/

Accessibility Camp CDA
July 30-31, 2025.
Coeur d'Alene Idaho, U.S.A.
https://www.nic.edu/a11y-camp/

Paris Web 2025
September 25-26, 2025.
Paris, France
https://appel.paris-web.fr/


+05: MISCELLANEOUS.

History of the Web: Chris Lilley (Video)
By Brian Kardell.
"Igalia's Brian Kardell chats with Chris Lilley, Technical Director at
the W3C, about his long history with the Web and the W3C, ranging from
line-mode browsers to CSS to SVG and more."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptXY45HlQ6U

Ladybird: Building a New Browser From Scratch (Video)
By Andreas Kling.
"What does it take to build a web browser from scratch in 2025? In
this talk, I'll introduce Ladybird, a truly independent browser being
built for the modern web…"
https://2025.stateofthebrowser.com/speaker/andreas-kling/

Is 'Ethical AI' an Oxymoron?
By Hidde de Vries.
"It depends on who you ask. But the current wave of generative AI has
unpleasant side effects that are hard to ignore: large-scale copyright
infringements, environmental impact and bias…"
https://hidde.blog/ethical-ai/

Aqua Is Back, Baby: Run Early Mac OS X Right in Your Browser
By Simon Sterne.
"Your browser just became a time machine. With Infinite Mac you can
run classic Mac operating systems-from the original 1984 System 1.0
all the way to early Mac OS X-right in your browser, no installs or
vintage hardware required…"
https://webdesignerdepot.com/aqua-is-back-baby-run-early-mac-os-x-right-in-your-browser/


+06: NAVIGATION.

Overengineered Anchor Links
By Mats Erdkamp.
"Anchor links are deceptively simple at first glance: click a button,
scroll to the heading, and done. But if you ever had to implement
them, you might have encountered the 'active anchor problem'…"
https://thirty-five.com/overengineered-anchoring


+07: TOOLS.

Contrast Report
By Adam Chaboryk.
"A straightforward colour contrast checker with Picture-in-picture (PiP) mode."
https://contrast.report


+08: TYPOGRAPHY.

Thin Fonts Are a Usability Nightmare-And Finally, Designers Are Waking Up
By Noah Davis.
"Thin fonts may look sleek, but they're a usability nightmare-hard to
read, inaccessible, and especially frustrating on mobile. Thankfully,
some brands and websites are finally ditching them in favor of
thicker, more readable typography that actually puts users first…"
https://webdesignerdepot.com/thin-fonts-are-a-usability-nightmare-and-finally-designers-are-waking-up/


+09: USABILITY.

Neobrutalism: Definition and Best Practices
By Hayat Sheikh.
"As a UI design style, neobrutalism focuses on raw, unrefined elements
like bold colors, simple shapes, and intentionally "unfinished"
aesthetics."
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/neobrutalism/

Comparison Tables: 5 Scenarios When Not to Use Them (Video)
By Taylor Dykes.
"Comparison tables are most effective when they're used in the right
context. Prevent unnecessary confusion by making sure a comparison
table will help decision-making on your site."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POsaV2YzRr8


+10: WEBWASTE & SUSTAINABILITY.

The Future of Government Is Green: Five Ways to Make a Sustainable
Difference Today
By Hidde de Vries.
"Today, the ICT sector accounts for about 1-2% of global greenhouse
gas emissions. That's more than aviation, and the number is growing.
These statistics may be unnerving, but they do mean that we can make a
lot of impact at work…"
https://hidde.blog/five-ways-green/


[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.]