In this week’s web design and development news roundup, you’ll learn about remote moderated usability testing, find out how WebFlow is focusing on accessibility, discover how to play a dinosaur game in the WordPress Block Editor, and more.
If you’re new to my blog, each Friday I publish a post highlighting my favorite user experience, accessibility, WordPress, CSS, and HTML posts I’ve read in the past week.
Hope you find the resources helpful in your work or projects!
Want more resources like these on a daily basis? Follow me @redcrew on Twitter.
Tweet of the Week
Twitter is a fun distraction but not everybody uses it. Nothing will put a smile on older relatives faces when they’re stuck indoors more than a cheery phone call from you. Give it a try!
— Bryony Burrell (@lifeofbryony) April 17, 2020
User Experience
- Your design needs to fit the content of your site, says Paul Boag. Use the wrong layout, and people will get confused says Boag as he highlights ten of the best website layout examples & ideas.
- With many user experience researchers working from home, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, it’s no surprise that teams are transitioning to remote moderated usability testing.
Acting under the (correct) assumption that any user data is better than no data, many teams are turning to remote usability testing.
- Start with low-fidelity design sketches.
One of my worst moves as a designer is attempting to do a design in high fidelity before I’ve figured it out via sketching in a notebook or on a whiteboard. Always ends in disaster.
— Dan Saffer (@odannyboy) April 15, 2020
- In a follow-up post to their March 2020 article, Kristen Berman and Dr. June Park John shared their behavioral design approach to product design.
Accessibility
- Wonderful to learn how WebFlow is focusing on accessibility in their product. I asked them about their accessibility roadmap in October 2019, was told they were in the early stages.
- Unless your horizontal rule is a semantic break in content, you’ll want to take steps to hide it.
#TIL that a horizontal rule (<hr>) is announced by screen readers (announced “horizontal splitter” in VoiceOver), so unless it is a _semantic_ thematic break between paragraphs of content (i.e. not just visual decoration), u’ll want to hide it using `aria-hidden = “true”`#a11y
— Sara Soueidan (@SaraSoueidan) April 17, 2020
- Thanks to the Chicago Digital Accessibility & Inclusive Design Meetup for livestreaming Eric Bailey’s If It’s Interactive, It Needs a Focus Style presentation. I watched via YouTube, though it was also available on Zoom.
- If you prefer, here’s my recap of Eric’s presentation of “If It’s Interactive, It Needs a Focus Style.
- For anyone teaching online and looking for tips, Deque Systems is hosting a free webinar on April 21, 2020 from 2pm to 3pm Eastern Time, Intro to Accessible Online Learning.
WordPress
- Have you played the T-Rex game in the Block Editor? I have to admit, this is the first I’ve heard of the side-scrolling dinosaur game.
- To simplify your WordPress development, you must first list your project requirements. Follow up by searching for existing solutions before you reinvent the wheel.
- Our Metro Detroit WordPress group held its first virtual meetup this week, where we answered questions from attendees. Here’s my recap of the meetup, with helpful resources we recommended and discussed.
- If you’re looking to improve your WordPress knowledge this weekend, check out the online 2018 Santa Clarita WordCamp happening Saturday, April 18, 2020.
- Wondering whether you should use a Gutenberg-optimized theme. As Erick Karkovack explains, choose carefully. It’s a long-term investment.
CSS and HTML
- Returning for another year, the full-day single-track livestreamed All Day Hey front-end conference is Thursday, May 7, 2020. Shoutout to the website team that provided a handy time converter for seven time zones around the world.
- Learn HTML.
We don’t have an accessibility problem.
We have a lack of basic HTML knowledge problem.
The *vast* majority of accessibility issues found during audits come down bad HTML markup.#a11y
— Nicolas Steenhout (@vavroom) April 14, 2020
- Have you used a no-class CSS framework? Chris Coyier highlights Water.css and shares more than a dozen more no-class CSS frameworks.
- To answer Suzanne Scacca’s question, what are web standards and do we really need them, my answer is yes. We need them. Web standards are the basis of all websites.
What I Found Interesting
- In Backyard Bird Science, the work of Margaret Morse Nice reminds us you don’t need to have a doctorate degree to contribute to the understanding of birds.
- For my birdwatching friends and everyone who enjoys jokes.
FUN FACT: apparently, ravens have 17 pinion feathers while a crow only has 16, so really the difference between a crow and a raven is a matter of a pinion
— Jes Layton (@AGeekwithaHat) April 14, 2020
- As a longtime gardener, it’s no surprise to me to learn urban farms are thriving amid the pandemic. As I write this post, the snow is falling on my spring pea plants in the garden.
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Did I miss some resources you found this week? I’d love to see them! Post them in the comments below.
