In this week’s web design and development news roundup, you’ll learn about providing clarity in the content you design, find a disability etiquette meetup event, discover strategies for semantic HTML copywriting, 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
“We don’t always succeed in what we try—certainly not by the world standards—but I think you’ll find it’s the willingness to keep trying that matters most.“
— MisterRogersQuotes (@MisterRogersSay) November 18, 2020
User Experience
- A good reminder that you’re aren’t your users, always be evaluating your design decisions. My friend Nick DeNardis shares a recent suggestion for Wayne State University posts/pages, where their testing showed conclusively an improved user experience.
- This week I was able to attend some of Interact Amsterdam Virtual Festival on user experience, design, and accessibility. Great insights and tips to help me with my projects. From Amber Polley’s “How we research with vulnerable people” session:
Some tips from @Ambobley on managing time when running research sessions, particularly with vulnerable people 👇
✅ Plan to take longer than usual
✅ Plan in your debrief time, add extra
✅ Do less per day#ux #userresearch pic.twitter.com/3H0TVJm5p6— Nomensa (@we_are_Nomensa) November 19, 2020
- If you missed this week’s “Discover the journey, Design the journey, and Deliver the journey” webinar presented by Kerry Bodine, she graciously answered a lot of the questions in Q&A From My CXPA Webinar: From Journey Mapping To Journey Management. Helpful info, though I disagree with her definition of the difference between customer experience and user experience. Your thoughts?
- Providing clarity is crucial in making content easier to understand. In Just enough detail: how we designed content for the COVID Alert app, Kate Wilhelm explains how they avoided information overload with onboarding of Canada’s COVID Alert app.
But choosing the right level of detail and density of meaning helps people understand and trust how the app works.
Accessibility
- The History of the Web is an ongoing series I’ve been reading for the past few years, chronicling the entire history of the web. Written by Jay Hoffman, this month’s post, Everyone Should Have Access to the Web, focuses on its openness and goals for providing safe and affordable access to all.
- We don’t always have opportunities to build accessibility in from the start of our projects. Celebrate wins.
Never too late to improve accessibility. Have to thank the stakeholders that approved my short- and long-term strategies (based on the amazing W3C resources).
— Bogdan Cerovac (@CerovacBogdan) November 19, 2020
- Join the A11yPrinceton Accessibility Meetup on November 24, 2020 for Disability Etiquette, a presentation focusing on techniques and best practices for communicating or working with a person with disabilities. The event is free and will be hosted online on Zoom.
- My own home state of Michigan Department of Natural Resources debuted their 90-minute presentation on accessible recreation this week. I’m proud of the many ways our state has provided more recreational opportunities for people of all abilities, with track chairs, all-access canoes and kayak launches, and boardwalks. Glad to see their video is not only captioned, but includes sign language interpretation.
WordPress
- The first WordPress 5.6 release candidate is available for download and testing. The version is scheduled for release on December 8, 2020.
- Carlo Daniele takes a closer look at the Twenty Twenty-One theme, the default theme for the upcoming WordPress 5.6 version. Based on the Seedlet theme, Twenty Twenty-One uses a system font stack, has a minimal color palette, and supports nine post formats.
- Your thoughts? Should WordPress notify users when plugin ownership changes? Personally, I think it’s a good recommendation.
The more transparency that exists in the ecosystem, the healthier it is for all.
- I was happy when I learned about Microsoft Clarity, a new free analytics tool that focuses on user experience. Learn how to install Microsoft Clarity on your WordPress site.
CSS and HTML
- In volume one of UI and UX tips, Marc Andrew shares 34 tips to improve your designs and user interfaces. One of my favorites: choose a suitable line length for your body text and improve readability.
- Are you familiar with strategies you can use with semantic HTML for copyediting? Using tags like
delandmarkcan help you track edits, - Always good practice to test in more than one browser.
Having different tools in different browsers is great! It means folk have to open more than one browser, test work in it in order to use the tools if nothing else. They are a great place for browsers to innovate and add value for developers.
— Rachel Andrew (@rachelandrew) November 19, 2020
- Slow websites are frustrating for users. Implementing five tips to make your website faster will lead to a faster loading website and potentially, more conversions.
Test your site to see exactly what is slowing it down and make a checklist.
What I Found Interesting
- Have you tried Google’s Chimera Painter web application to create doodles? It uses artificial intelligence to transform your doodles, applying textures, lines, and colors to bring your doodles to life. Free, it works in any browser and you can use your mouse, finger, or external drawing device to create your doodle.
- That old bike tire you tossed in the trash? It could be used to create other items, like this travel bag by Green Guru that breathes a second life into old gear.
- Does this mean the end of preferential treatment for Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)? Google announced last week they will pull back benefit to news sites who use AMP.
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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.
