January 28, 2022: Weekly Roundup of Web Design and Development News

In this week’s web design and development news roundup, you’ll learn about software administration user experience, find a helpful overview of accessibility testing in DevTools, discover how to get started with CSS Cascade Layers, 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

The writing advice to draft fast and sloppy is pervasive, and it works for some people, but other people draft slower and cleaner, and that’s valid too. The first draft takes as long as it takes. Whatever road gets you to “the end” is the right one.

— Saint (S.T.) Gibson IS OPEN TO QUERIES (@s_t_gibson) January 26, 2022

User Experience

• When designing software administration user experience, Shell Zhu and Adrian Jones recommend creating a product that offers administrators a well-guided streamlined experience. Avoid flashy dials and graphs.
• From Hilary Marsh’s 15 content strategy affirmations, do you follow this affirmation?
  

  Before planning new content, I make sure that my organization hasn’t already published similar content on this same topic.

• When you’re considering a redesign of an app and when to do it, one of the first questions you need to answer is: what is the reason for the redesign?
• Doug Collins’ tweet this week had the user experience community talking. Your thoughts?
  

  Eight skills every #UX #design professional must have to some degree:

  1. Research
  2. Visual Design
  3. Interaction Design
  4. Information Architecture
  5. Usability Testing
  6. UX Writing
  7. Accessibility Design
  8. Ethical Design

  We need to stop focusing on just #1 and #2.

  — Doug Collins (@DougCollinsUX) January 26, 2022

Accessibility

• The new online Accessibility Beyond Compliance Playbook from Ad Hoc is for government agencies and other civic organizations looking to approach accessibility from the perspective of benefits to people rather than compliance and legal ramifications.
  
• In their Overview of accessibility testing using DevTools, Microsoft Docs provides an explanation of different features in DevTools used to detect accessibility issues and discusses how to fix them.
• Join Paul Grossman for a half-hour webinar to learn why the Los Angeles Community College District case going to the Supreme Court is so important. Disability rights are at risk and you can help webinar is January 31, 2022 at 1:30pm Eastern Time. (convert to your time zone).
• If you missed it last week when it launched, the entire Harvard University home page is dedicated to accessibility.
  

  An accessible world is a better world for everyone.

• One of the first steps for organizing an accessible virtual conference: include your audience in the design. Thanks to Minnesota IT Services Accessibility Office for compiling helpful advice from their digital accessibility coordinators.

WordPress

• Launched this week, WordPress 5.9 (named Josephine in honor of jazz singer Josephine Baker) brings the long-awaited full site editing feature. In addition, you’ll find the new Twenty Twenty-Two theme, the new Navigation block, better block controls, and more.
• With the release of WordPress 5.9, many people are asking should you update? Or wait. It’s a major update, which often leads people to wait for the .1 version to be released. Watch Ferdy Korpershoek’s seven-minute video as he updates his five websites (note: he made sure he had a site backup before he updated.)
• With the ability for users to modify every aspect of the website using the block editor in WordPress 5.9, WordPress freelancers are left wondering: What does full site editing mean for my business? Depending on whether you create themes from scratch, use third-party themes, or use page builders, you have every reason to be concerned. But, as Eric Karkovic says, you may see this as an opportunity to experiment, learn something new, and consider how full site editing fits within your business.
• Not surprised the first paid plugins available to purchase directly on WordPress.com (for Business and eCommerce plans) are six WooCommerce plugins. I’m curious what process WordPress.com will use to add new paid plugins (that aren’t owned by Automattic).
• The WordPress Community Team updated COVID-19 safety guidelines to relieve volunteers of enforcement burden. More safety measures were introduced, including offloading enforcement of safety guidelines to venues. Sounds like a good plan to me.

CSS and HTML

• Nice! Manuel Matuzovic for his CSS specificity demo, an interactive demo that allows you use buttons to add or remove selectors and see how the background color changes.
• The new user interface for WebPageTest launched this week, with updates to make it easier for you to instantly text your site’s performance in browsers, devices, and locations around the world.
• Woohoo! The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) won an Emmy for the Standardization of Font Technology for Custom Downloadable Fonts and Typography for Web and TV Devices.
• They’ll be rolling out to browsers soon, so take the time to read Stephanie Eckles Getting started with CSS Cascade Layers post on Smashing Magazine. You’ll be able to control the specificity and order of rule sets across stylesheets.
• Happy birthday to XHTML1.0 which celebrated its birthday on January 26th. I’ve been working on the web so long, I remember when it launched.

What I Found Interesting

• The newest stamp in the Black Heritage Series from the U.S. Postal Service salutes sculptor Edmonia Lewis. In Boston in the 1860’s, Lewis sculpted clay, plaster, and medallion portraits of famous men and women. After settling in Rome, Italy, she continued her walk, creating marble neoclassical sculptures that incorporated African American and Native American subjects.
• There may be a better way.
  

  Remember you have options.

  Not just the ones you’ve thought of but the ones you’ve never considered before. We get so attached to how we think things should go, that we remove the possibility of there being a better way.

  The destination can remain even if the route changes.

  — Ariel Lopez (@ArielLopez__) January 26, 2022

• A common theme when I’m out birding is seeing other people play songs and calls to find or get better photos of birds. Learn why photographers should reconsider using playback in the field. And why the Audubon Photography Awards will exclude photos or videos of a bird taken with the aid of a playback.
• Next month’s major Windows 11 update brings taskbar improvements and Android apps running in Windows. You’ll also find redesigns for Notepad and Media Player apps.

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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.