In this week’s web design and development news roundup, you’ll learn about automating recruitment for user research panels, find out how to configure settings on your WordPress site, discover a fun Tic Tac Toe game designed in HTML and CSS, 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
Over the last few (15+) years, I’ve been learning how to build things on the web. It’s kinda fun actually, once you get the basics. But I wonder if it gets any easier? There’s still so much to learn!
— Mia (not her best work) (@TerribleMia) June 9, 2022
User Experience
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Tanner Christensen reminds us that keeping a work journal is an excellent way to create case studies.
In design, case studies are powerful storytelling devices that help others understand how you work and what you can do as a design partner or contributor
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In the latest post of their Women in UX series, UXtweak chats with Eugenia Jongewaard about developing UX maturity. Jongewaard shares her UX journey from being part of a startup to working at Nestle, one of the largest food companies in the world.
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Peter Veto describes the basic steps involved with automating recruitment for user research panels, including developing a list of recruitment triggers and recruitment actions.
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I attended 24 Hours of UX this week, the 24-hour online conference focused on local UX practitioners around the world. A fun conference to attend! Check out my recap of Rula Ince’s why and how of user research for global audiences presentation.
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Who hasn’t become annoyed with a frustrating multi-step digital process? In his In the details: too many clicks post, Jack Moffett explains how viewing his online solar energy statement could be reduced from eight steps to three steps. If only the interaction had been designed with the specific goal to view his statement.
Accessibility
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Join Knowbility on June 16th for their Be A Digital Ally: Visual Information free webinar. Learn how to add visual descriptions to the images and GIFs you share, so those who are blind or have low vision can access your content.
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Wish more people were aware of the impact of adding alternative text to images. I’ve been tweeting and publishing blog posts about alt text for years. It’s important to be inclusive.
Yes, blind people are on Twitter. But most sighted people don’t add alt text to images, excluding us from conversations. For years I’ve used alt text knowing the sweetness of full inclusion. Now, I’m able to partner w/ @MicrosoftEdge to show #AltTextAddsMore #MicrosoftPartner pic.twitter.com/oPkP36VXcN
— Haben Girma👩🏿🦯 (@HabenGirma) June 9, 2022 -
They’re related, but they have little to do with each other. Eric Eggert explains confusion as well as the relationships and how to test for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Resize Text and Reflow success criteria.
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With the average web page having over 50 accessibility issues and the number of digital accessibility lawsuits increasing in recent years, what’s not clicking, asks Preety Kumar. Her recommendation: reconsider your strategy and stop ignoring digital accessibility at your job. Bring awareness about improving digital accessibility by considering risk and compliance, diversity, equity and inclusion principles, and improving usability for everyone.
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If you’ve received inaccessible medical billing, Kaiser Health News wants to hear from you. Take their 12-question survey to help Kaiser better understand the scope of the problem and guide their reporting.
WordPress
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Among the features planned for the upcoming WordPress 6.1 release is refining full-site editing and making site navigation a smoother experience. In addition, another goal is to improve the global styles interface.
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Looking to move away from Google Analytics on your WordPress site? Whether it’s due to privacy, user experience, or another reason, there are plenty of analytics options to consider. Check out this review of 14 Google Analytics alternatives from WP-content. (Personally, I’m a fan of Koko Analytics.)
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It’s a question that comes up frequently: how secure is WordPress? Will Morris explains what you need to know about top WordPress security concerns and security measures to keep your site safe.
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My friend Eric Karkovack offers good advice on choosing the right WordPress block plugin. His recommendation to add WordPress blocks thoughtfully is spot on. Quality can be an issue for many plugins.
The flexibility they provide, along with their ability to house custom solutions, can help to transform any website.
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Configuring your WordPress site is a lot easier with this helpful guide to WordPress settings and configuration. Did you know the Reading setting is what determines whether a list of your articles or your home page displays?
CSS and HTML
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Is it time to reconsider the mobile-first CSS strategy? In his latest A List Apart article, Patrick Clancey questions the common design pattern and discusses the benefits and disadvantages of mobile-first CSS development.
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I feel the same way.
I always wish I were more proficient with design tools like Figma. But then I realize i’m too impatient — I’d much rather move to the browser as soon as possible.
— Sara Soueidan (@SaraSoueidan) June 9, 2022
The experience of realizing a design in the browser is just… different. -
Have you considered adding WebMentions to your site? The steps aren’t simple, as Miriam Suzanne explains her frustrations and attempts in am I on the IndieWeb yet? Changes to HTML and JavaScript as well as setting up several online services were some of the steps Suzanne took, only to discover yet another set of instructions.
What I would like to see is a tool that helps bring the entire system together in one place.
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Get inspired with this Tic Tac Toe game by Jhey Tompkins, written in CSS.
See the Pen Pure CSS/SVG Tic Tac Toe 😎 by Jhey (@jh3y) on CodePen.
What I Found Interesting
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Princeton University named a building in honor of the late Laura Wooten, who worked at University Campus Dining, and volunteered for 79 years as a United States election poll worker.
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Need a reminder?
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How does NASA decide which programs are scheduled for the James Webb Space Telescope? Thaddeus Cesarri explains the complicated process to decide which observations happen on which day.
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We all need some uplifting story and this one had me smiling. Learn about the husband who honored his wife of 71 years with a dedicated page, sharing their happy marriage and love for each other.
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