In this week’s web design and development news roundup, you’ll learn how to design for the smallest thing possible, find out what Section 508 is all about, discover how to add recurring payments to your WordPress site, 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
Integrity is not something that should be for sale as it is more valuable than any price tag.
— Tara Michener (@Taramichener) November 6, 2020
User Experience
- In an agile environment with short deadlines, designers can feel pressured to produce quickly. But skipping research and going from idea to execution can result in a poor user experience. Laura Klein recommends shifting our mindset and designing the smallest thing possible.
- Have you taken UserZoom’s State of UX Survey? Share your feedback on how user experience impacts business goals at your organization and what initiatives are used to deliver on those goals. The survey only takes 15 minutes.
- Learning through play is essential to innovation and design, says Wolf Goerlich in a pilot is purposeful play.
The purpose of a pilot is to improve our understanding of how things work, and to build underlying skills for what we’ll build next.
- Think carefully of the microcopy you use on your buttons. In this case, the phrase “Duplicate this Webinar” could have been used. But may have created an event with the same time and date, not the outcome expected by the user.
Does anyone know why this button on @zoom_us doesn’t just say “Duplicate This Webinar” …#uxwriting #ux #uxdesign pic.twitter.com/Tn68zxhcb0
— Sarah Doody (@sarahdoody) November 6, 2020
Accessibility
- Do you have a proposal for innovations in artificial intelligence that would make transportation safer and more accessible? The Microsoft AI for Accessibility program call for proposals is open until December 15, 2020.
- The W3C Cognitive and Learning Disabilities Accessibility Task Force is looking for help creating images for an upcoming publication. Their focus is to improve the inclusion of the needs of people with cognitive disabilities. Submission deadline for the images is November 13, 2020.
- There’s work to be done. I’ve lost count of the dozens of times in the past couple years I’ve asked media outlets about creating accessible graphics and charts.
Media outlets we need to have a long overdue discussion about making interactive graphics and charts somewhat accessible on mobile devices. Especially before the 2022 mid-term elections#a11y
— Crystal Preston-Watson (@ScopicEngineer) November 6, 2020
- In what is Section 508 and why does it matter?, Allen Hoffman explains what Section 508 is, how it’s enforced, its impact on the federal government, and what was included in the Section 508 Refresh in 2017.
WordPress
- WordPress 5.6. beta 3 is available for download and testing. The WordPress 5.6 release is scheduled for release on December 8, 2020.
- You’re invited to join the Philly Burbs WordPress Meetup group on Monday, November 9, 2020 for Content Generation and Online Sharing for Self-Promotion, an informal panel discussion on Zoom with Maddy Osman, Jason Coleman, and Eric Karkovack.
- Automattic releases Spearhead, a Seedlet child theme aimed at podcasters and content creators. Features include dark mode and custom block patterns including Podcast Links and Podcast Links List .
- Looking to accept recurring payments on your WordPress site? Check out the four methods in WP Beginner’s latest post. Note: you’ll need to set up a payment processor like Stripe for accepting payments online.
CSS and HTML
- Launched this week by Heydon Pickering, Webbed Briefs are short videos about the web, its technologies, and what you can do to make the most out of them. The first video about Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) is eight minutes long. Give it a whirl, it’s fun to watch!
- Helpful info, thank you, Ross. I didn’t know you could stop Twitter from tracking on embedded tweets.
TIL, while digging around trying to find out if I really need cookie consent when adding embedded Tweets, that you can add a header to your web pages that stops Twitter tracking and using cookies!
<meta name=”twitter:dnt” content=”on”>https://t.co/VfkLoreKVs
— Ross Wintle (@magicroundabout) November 6, 2020
- If you’re not familiar, a skeleton screen is a design method used to display the outline (or skeleton) of content. Usually with gray boxes or lines. If you want skeleton screens to be effective, manage user expectations, says Tim Kadlec. Do the research to discover whether skeleton screens are the best approach.
- What do you do with your unused designs for clients? Suzanne Scacca highlights some options for using your rejected or unused designs. My favorite: use them as a case study.
Check your contract for the ownership and copyright rules before you do anything with your unused designs.
What I Found Interesting
- The largest bird in the world, the Wandering Albatross, has a wingspan of 11 1/2 feet. Not close to the 21 foot wingspan of extinct giant seabirds.
- Did you know Wednesday of this week celebrated National Stress Awareness Day? Timely for anyone watching the U.S. elections, my post shares some tips and advice for managing and reducing stress in your life.
- To end the roundup on a positive note, the flamingo chicks and panda cub at the U.S. National Zoo are thriving.
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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.
