In this week’s web design and development news roundup, you’ll learn about the challenges of design systems, find out how to create a more inclusive workspace, take a closer look at CSS Grid containers, 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
…Make conversation with strangers. You never know what difference a random act of kindness may make in someone’s day.
— Chad Livengood (@ChadLivengood) January 1, 2020
User Experience
- With no standardized job titles in the user experience industry, and those titles we do use having different meanings, it doesn’t ultimately matter what your job title is, says Sarah Doody. But there is something that does matter and you want to pay attention to it.
- Have you submitted your proposal to speak at World IA (Information Architecture) Day in Ann Arbor? They’ve extended the call for proposals to January 5, 2020.
- Robin Rendle’s systems, mistakes, and the sea essay highlights the difficulties of design systems at scale. And why we need to admit our mistakes publicly.
The state of things was surely overwhelming but it was also an important lesson; it’s impossible to judge the quality of a design system from looking at the UI.
- In 2020, what are your expectations for changes in customer interactions? Here are 5 predictions how your day-to-day customer experience will change from Smarter CX.
Accessibility
- Accessibility NYC is kicking off 2020 with their Tuesday, January 7, 2020 meetup with guest speaker Zarina Mustapha talking about EdTech and HigherEd: Considerations for Digital Accessibility. I’ll be attending via the free livestream, won’t you join me?
- Wondering what steps your workplace can take to become more inclusive? Storm Smith offers three ways to build a workspace of accessibility and inclusion.
- Color, contrast, line height all affect how content is viewed.
When discussing web & social media accesibility, please remember that not every blind person uses screen-reading software. The way your content looks is just as important as the way your content sounds.
— Carys Llewellyn, live & direct. (@blindandb0ujee) January 3, 2020
- If you work in the health care space, you need to be aware of the impact of an inaccessible website. Get the latest info from the Level Access free webinar Inaccessible Healthcare Websites: The Risk of Litigation and Patients’ Health on January 16, 2020 at 2pm Eastern Time.
WordPress
- Troubleshooting an error message on your WordPress site can quickly consume your time. Here’s an excellent how-to on how to to fix your connection is not private error on your site.
- Changes in WP Tavern were announced this week in their building the community we deserve post. Personally, I like the idea of Ask the Bartender advice column, but I hope it’s a mix of user, designer, and developer questions that are addressed.
- They’ve been online for over 20 years and they’re still popular. What am I talking about? Forums and bulletin boards. They’re reliable, they work, and don’t require your readers to install anything. Here’s how to add a forum to your WordPress site using bbPress.
- Did you know the new alpha color picker for the customizer allows theme authors to include an advanced color control in the customizer?
CSS and HTML
- Nice timing! With the new year, lots of people are looking for new job opportunities. Ali Churcher walks you through the steps of creating a CSS grid-powered resume.
- In min and max width/height in CSS, Ahmad Shadeed explains the properties for width and height, along with use cases and tips. Useful!
- First in a new series of CSS Grid Layout, Rachel Andrew’s understanding CSS grid: creating a grid container takes a closer look at the grid container and detailing the properties you can apply to the container.
This series aims to take you from grid novice to expert — with lots of practical usage tips along the way.
- Have to admit, I’ve often wished there was a parent selector in CSS. Chris Coyier documented a use case for a parent selector. Your thoughts?
What I Found Interesting
- If you’re looking for new tools and services to make your 2020 work life easier, here’s an excellent post from Jane Friedman on digital media tools. (I attended Friedman’s webinar this week where she explained in more detail how and why she uses the tools.)
- Interesting read from EConsultancy about ecommerce, marketing, and consumers statistics. I fit into several of the findings they reported, including:
84% of consumers said they consider a company’s ethics and values before making a purchase
- Google is completely removing FTP (File Transfer Protocol) from Chrome. By the release of Chrome 82, expected in April 2020, Chrome will no longer support FTP.
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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.
