In this week’s web design and development news roundup, you’ll learn about inclusive recruiting on UX research platforms, find out how to avoid feature creep in digital accessibility, discover why I stood up for my work, 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!
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Tweet of the Week
A reminder that Global Accessibility Awareness Day is on May 20th. It is an important day to raise awareness of accessibility issues worldwide.
But also please don’t celebrate and forget. Accessibility doesn’t get fixed in a day. Make accessibility part of your inclusivity.
— Steve Saylor (@stevesaylor) April 27, 2021
User Experience
- It’s time to relearn the basics, says Gerry McGovern, as he comments on the overwhelming amount of digital content created for websites. It’s not good for the environment and it’s not good for the people who have to create and publish it. His advice: publish the website you can maintain.
- While personas and journey maps are celebrated when they’re published, they’re often quickly abandoned. Andrew Schall offers practical advice for keeping personas and journeys engaging and relevant. Key steps: align user goals in journey maps and make personas more meaningful.
- Another comment on personas:
Personas don’t work as generalizations; they need specific context. This is because personas aren’t meant for overall uses — they’re meant for ideation and designing solutions within a specific scope that your organization is concerned with this month or quarter.
— Indi Young (@indiyoung) April 29, 2021
- Your product or service needs feedback from diverse and under-represented populations to make sure what you offer meets their needs. David Muñoz discusses inclusive recruiting on UX research platforms and points out the need for teams to take extra steps to make sure diverse participants are included.
Accessibility
- While having a product with more than one feature may improve user experience, it can get overwhelming quickly (do you know what all the buttons do on your universal remote control?). Marissa Sapega warns us to not succumb to feature creep for your digital accessibility needs.
- The Associated Press (AP) Stylebook editors are looking for feedback on their disabilities guidance, including new entries on specific disabilities. Share what changes you’d like to see in AP style.
- The word “normative” is used often in web specifications, in HTML, CSS, and others. Freelance developer Hidde de Vries explains what normative means in the context of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
- Good reminder from Eric Eggert:
Almost all accessibility people, and even companies offering accessibility services, I talk to undervalue themselves tremendously.
This is a real profession that takes a lot to learn and perfect. It makes the world better in a tangible way.
Don’t sell yourself short! #a11y
— Eric Eggert (@yatil) April 28, 2021
- Whether you’re planning an event for Global Accessibility Awareness Day on May 20, 2021 or want to improve your digital accessibility skills, check out the helpful free digital accessibility resources from the State of Minnesota. You’ll find videos, quick cards, training materials, and more.
WordPress
- With the acquisition announced on Matt Mullenweg’s blog this week, the Creative Common search engine will soon be part of WordPress.org. From Mullenweg’s post:
This is an important first step to provide a long-term, sustainable challenger to proprietary libraries like Unsplash.
- When I was told my How to Enable Classic Editor in WordPress.com post would be highlighted in a well-known WordPress newsletter, I was excited. But my excitement changed to frustration and dismay when the newsletter twice misinformed their readers about my post. Likely leading to loss of my reputation and credibility in the WordPress community. I set the record straight with my lessons learned as I stood up for my work.
- In their Getting Started with the Figma WordPress Design Library post, James Koster explains how to use Figma and the WordPress Design Library to design the user interface for a new block.
- If you’ve been holding off using WebP images in your website projects, this helpful WP Beginner tutorial will walk you through three different methods to use WebP images on your WordPress site.
CSS and HTML
- Published this week, the new Image Optimization book from Smashing Magazine is available for pre-release ordering. The 528-page book covers all things images, from performance, formats, and compression to delivery and maintenance. Congrats to everyone on the team that helped to make it happen!
- CodePen has rolled out new team management improvements for their PRO Teams plan, with new features including multiple Team owners, a new team admin role, and name filtering.
- Fascinating read about the fonts used on the top 1,000 websites. I was surprised to learn 14px was the median font size. Which is not easy to read on mobile devices. Did you know the majority of designers choose a larger font size rather than a heavier weight?
- For anyone who started working on the web 20+ years ago, you’ll remember creating image maps. I sure do. But it’s been years since I’ve used it. And somehow I didn’t realize it hasn’t been deprecated. In Day 27 of their #30DaysOfHTML series, Jen Kramer and Erika Lee explain how to use
mapandareato create an image map.
What I Found Interesting
- Which one do you prefer? Microsoft is changing the default Office font and wants your help to select one. My favorites? Tenorite and Seaford.
- I haven’t been a fan of Slack for years, but I know many organizations that rely on Slack for their communication. These Slack guidelines can be helpful for getting it set up for you and your organization.
- With lockdowns beginning to ease, businesses will be making decisions about whether to bring people back to the office or remain remote. Another option is a hybrid workplace, where some workers remain remote while others work in the office. Here are three best practices to consider for any business considering a hybrid workplace.
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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.
