. Date: Sat, 4 Sep 2010 02:21:30 -0500 From: Laura Carlson <lcarlson@xxxxxxxxx> To: webdev <webdev@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [webdev] Web Design Update: September 4, 2010 +++ WEB DESIGN UPDATE. - Volume 9, Issue 10, September 4, 2010. An email newsletter to distribute news and information about web design and development. ++ISSUE 10 CONTENTS. SECTION ONE: New references. What's new at the Web Design Reference site? http://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: JAVASCRIPT. 07: NAVIGATION. 08: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. 09: TOOLS. SECTION TWO: 10: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? [Contents ends.] ++ SECTION ONE: New references. +01: ACCESSIBILITY. Giz Explains: How Blind People See the Internet By John Herrman. "Your eyes are absorbing this webpage. They're passing over this, this, then this word, right now. That's how reading works, online: you take this for granted. But what if you couldn't?" http://gizmodo.com/5620079/giz-explains-how-blind-people-see-the-internet Screen Reader Support for HTML Tables By Leonie Watson. Screen reader support for tables is something of a curiosity. Although tables are among the most common of HTML elements, they're often misused and poorly coded. To some extent this has influenced screen reader support, but even so the variations in screen reader behaviour are quite remarkable. http://tink.co.uk/2010/08/screen-reader-support-for-html-tables/ PowerPoint Accessibility By WebAIM. "Microsoft PowerPoint is one of the most popular tools for creating slide show presentations. It is often used to organize thoughts for a meeting or lesson, to present key points in a live presentation, and even to create handouts. This article outlines how to can make PowerPoint files more accessible on the web..." http://webaim.org/techniques/powerpoint/ Accessibility in Online Teaching By Accredited Online College Degrees. "Accessibility means being able to obtain or use something with minimal inconvenience..." http://www.accredited-online-college-degrees.com/teaching.htm Report Finds Five U.S. State Benefits' Websites Inaccessible By Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology. "The report, "The Closed Digital Door: State Public Benefits Agencies' Failure to Make Websites Accessible to People with Disabilities and Usable for Everyone," discusses the findings from web accessibility research of agency web sites in California, Florida, Michigan, New York, and Texas. " http://www.coataccess.org/node/9811 +02: CASCADING STYLE SHEETS. Styling HTML Lists with CSS: Resetting Padding and Margins By Alejandro Gervasio. "In this first part of the series on styling HTML lists with CSS I explain how to reset their padding and margins..." http://www.devarticles.com/c/a/Web-Style-Sheets/Styling-HTML-Lists-with-CSS-Resetting-Padding-and-Margins/ Styling HTML Lists with CSS: Manipulating Padding and Margins at the Same Time By Alejandro Gervasio. "...I demonstrate how easy it is to manipulate simultaneously the padding and margins of an HTML list with CSS. In fact, the process is so simple that you shouldn't have major trouble replicating it when designing your own web pages..." http://www.devarticles.com/c/a/Web-Style-Sheets/Styling-HTML-Lists-with-CSS-Manipulating-Padding-and-Margins-at-the-Same-Time/ Writing Clean CSS3 Code By Tom Kenny. "One of the main problems with writing CSS3 code are the vendor prefixes. These are the -moz- or -webkit- you see before properties such as border-radius or text-shadow. They're a necessary evil at worst and you'll have to use them to get the most out of what CSS3 currently has to offer..." http://inspectelement.com/articles/writing-clean-css3-code/ Highly Maintainable, Efficient, and Optimized CSS By Zoe Gillenwater. "Earlier today, I gave a presentation at Think Vitamin's HTML & CSS Online Conference..." http://zomigi.com/blog/maintainable-efficient-css/ CSS Gallery By Geoffrey Stonham. Online gallery http://CSSGallery.com +03: COLOR. Accessibility Problem in Word: Don't Rely on Color By Rachel McAlpine. "...many WCAG 2.0 accessibility guidelines have much wider applications. Bear them in mind also whenever you're writing any electronic documents." http://contented.com/contented/2010/accessibility-problem-in-word-dont-rely-on-colo +04: EVALUATION & TESTING. 6 Things You Didn't Know About Heuristic Evaluations By Jeff Sauro. "Maybe you already use Heuristics Evaluations. Here are six things you might NOT know about this popular usability method." http://www.measuringusability.com/blog/he.php +05: EVENTS. Web Developers Conference October 27, 2010. Bristol, United Kingdom. http://webdevconf.com/ +06: JAVASCRIPT. YUI Theater - Douglas Crockford: 'Crockford on JavaScript - Scene 6: Loopage' (52 min.) By Eric Miraglia. "Douglas Crockford's latest installment in the 'Crockford on JavaScript' series, a talk in which he covers the role of event loops and the importance of server-side JavaScript, is now available on video..." http://www.yuiblog.com/blog/2010/08/30/yui-theater-douglas-crockford-crockford-on-javascript-scene-6-loopage-52-min/ Accessible ARIA Tabs By Jason Kiss. "The WAI-ARIA specification remains unfinished and its implementation incomplete. All the same, some of it, e.g., landmark roles, can be used right now to improve the accessibility of web content and applications without causing a detrimental effect in older browsers or assistive technologies. I'm a big fan of WAI-ARIA, and think it is already a very useful collection of techniques with which to improve accessibility..." http://www.accessibleculture.org/research/aria-tabs/ +07: NAVIGATION. Finding Your Way By Joshua Brewer. "Have you ever found yourself staring at something that is supposed to be helping you understand where you are and where you are going? Have you ever stood there long enough to finally realize that you won't be able to decipher the unidentifiable cluster of lines, shapes and letters on the map without the aid of another human being. It's frustrating, somewhat humiliating, and above all, makes you wonder if the person who designed it ever had to use their own creation to find their way..." http://52weeksofux.com/post/1049250085/finding-your-way +08: STANDARDS, GUIDELINES & PATTERNS. Using Microformats in HTML5 By Scott Gilbertson. "With all the attention being paid to HTML5's <video> tag, few have clued in to what is perhaps the most useful magical pixie dust hidden inside the web's next markup language: the new semantic tags..." http://www.webmonkey.com/2010/09/using-microformats-in-html5/ +09: TOOLS. Ten Tools to Ensure Website Accessibility By Webmaster Format. With the web changing day to day, it can be a challenge to find current web accessibility tools. This list highlights the most up to date tools available to check all aspects of web accessibility, from color schemes to closed captions. http://webmasterformat.com/blog/top-ten-accessibility-analysis-tools [Section one ends.] ++ SECTION TWO: +10: What Can You Find at the Web Design Reference Site? Accessibility Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/accessibility.html Association Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/associations.html Book Listings. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/books.html Cascading Style Sheets Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/css.html Color Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/color.html Dreamweaver Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/dreamweaver.html Evaluation & Testing Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/testing.html Event Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/events.html Flash Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/flash.html Information Architecture Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/architecture.html JavaScript Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/javascript.html Miscellaneous Web Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/misc.html Navigation Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/navigation.html PHP Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/php.html Sites & Blogs Listing. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/sites.html Standards, Guidelines & Pattern Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/standards.html Tool Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/tools.html Typography Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/type.html Usability Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/usability.html XML Information. http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/xml.html [Section two ends.] ++END NOTES. + SUBSCRIPTION INFO. WEB DESIGN UPDATE is available by subscription. For information on how to subscribe and unsubscribe please visit: http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/training/online/webdesign/webdev_listserv.html The Web Design Reference Site also has a RSS 2.0 feed for site updates. + 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: http://www.headstar.com/ten + 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:lcarlson@xxxxxxxxx [Issue ends.]