In this week’s web design and development news roundup, you’ll learn about taking advantage of extending reality, find seven ways to test for website accessibility, discover a front-end performance checklist , 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
IT IS OUR 20TH BIRTHDAY! 🎂
Wikipedia started as an ambitious idea. Over 20 years, people like you have made it possible. If you are a Wikipedia reader, contributor, donor, or fan — today is for you.
Join the celebration: http://20.wikipedia.org #Wikipedia20 pic.twitter.com/UiyLcjF1sG
— Wikipedia (@Wikipedia) January 15, 2021
User Experience
- To take advantage of extending reality, brands must offer augmented and virtual reality user experiences that add value and are easy-to-use.
- Do better, designers.
Good morning to everyone except the UX/devs who did this: Yesterday my grandmother was trying to sign up online for a vaccine waitlist in TX. She had to click back BY MONTH 78 yrs from today in the DOB input (~930 clicks). No way to type it in. WHY.
— Melinda McClure Haughey (@MelindaMcClure) January 13, 2021
- Creating applications and websites that make sense to users requires you to maintain consistency and adhere to standards, Jakob Nielsen’s fourth usability heuristic.
- Like many other users, I’ve never been a fan of popups. They get in the way of what I want to do. In this three-minute video, Anna Kaley from Nielsen Norman Group highlights some of the worst popup UX problems.
…common problem: asking for an email address before the user has interacted with the website.
Accessibility
- Engadget senior editor Cherlynn Low talks with Brian Kemler, product manager at Android Accessibility and Jenny Lay-Flurrie, chief accessibility officer at Microsoft in this 30-minute video from CES 2021 about accessibility in technology.
- Bookmark this post from Christian Heilmann explaining seven ways to test for accessibility of your website with browser Developer Tools. He discusses and provides examples of the built-in tools in Chrome and Microsoft Edge.
- Hire people with disabilities for your design team.
“There’s no more creative problem-solving group in the world than people with disabilities. When you involve them in the design process, you’re going to end up with a better product.” – @ByrneHaber #DreamlandXR #CES2021 #a11y #XR
— Diamond (@DWSLA) January 14, 2021
- In part 1 of the Accessibility for Marketers series, Marissa Sapega gives an overview of accessibility as she shares foundational practices marketers can quickly implement to create accessible digital content.
WordPress
- Images can capture your readers’ attention, but not if they slow your web page to a crawl. Use these 5 tips to speed up image loading on your website. First step: choose the correct file format.
- With this week’s launch of GenerateBlocks Pro, Tom Usborne and his GeneratePress team have provided another reason for you to leave your page builders behind for a lightweight, more performant solution. Read Brian Jackson’s review of GenerateBlocks highlighting the new Pro version.
- Have you registered for WordFest Live 2021? The free 24-hour online event features 48 sessions about WordPress, remote working, and mental health. Did I mention it’s free?
- Let the user decide, says Eric Karkovack as he discusses the recent issue of a popular WordPress plugin that enabled automatic updates without notifying users. Karkovack says, without user consent, it’s an ethical dilemma for WordPress plugin developers.
CSS and HTML
- I agree with Scott Jehl, HTML video sources should be responsive. Why can’t we deliver video responsively and easily?
- Looking for tools to test the websites you create? From free to paid tools, these six tools for rapid cross-device testing will help you check sites look and behave as you expect on different devices.
- What a fun collection to look through, the 100 most hearted (liked) CodePens of 2020.
- Thanks to Smashing Magazine for publishing their updated front-ed performance checklist for 2021, a useful overview of what to consider to improve web performance. Available online and in PDF or Word format.
What I Found Interesting
- In Harvard Business Review’s good leadership is about asking good questions, John Hagel III recommends leaders ask broad question that invite collaboration. Questions that are not asked in closed stakeholder or leadership meetings.
It’s not just you posting a question to your people, it’s your brand reaching out to learn from it’s consumers.
- Glad to see another business removing user tracking on their website. With Safari revealing individual trackers on a website, more people are aware they’re being tracked across the web. Those notices are distracting, leading to a negative user experience.
- Need some ideas for your blog posts? Get inspired with Ann Smarty’s 10 types of content to fill your content calendar for your future blog posts.
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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.
