In this week’s web design and development news roundup, you’ll learn about a free WordPress Accessibility online conference that launches today, find a call for submissions for the 2021 Information Architecture conference, discover how to create a semi-transparent overlay for images using 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
“The more you grow, the more care you can give. And the better you can feel about it.”
— MisterRogersQuotes (@MisterRogersSay) October 2, 2020
User Experience
- I remember learning in my first user experience course to avoid opening links in new browser windows and tabs. More than 15 years later, the web usability guideline still holds true, though there are a few exceptions.
- Biases can be easy to spot in others, but more difficult to spot your own. Koos Looijesteijn explains how you can design better by avoiding your cognitive biases.
Validate ideas with your users while they’re still sketches; don’t waste time adding details to a concept that’s wrong to begin with.
- Avoid setting up product teams to fail.
“You cannot hold a product team accountable for business outcomes when you hand them a list of features to build.”
– @cagan— 💀 Skull King About (They/Them) 🏳️🌈 (@Intentionaut) September 30, 2020
- Call for submissions for the 2021 Information Architecture Conference are now open. You don’t have to be an information architect to present. The theme is Emergence and the deadline for submissions is October 11, 2020.
Accessibility
- The inaugural WordPress Accessibility Day launches today for 24 hours of online sessions with speakers from around the world. The event is free and will be live-captioned. I’ll be attending several sessions, won’t you join me?
- Did you know this month marks the 75th anniversary of National Disability Employment Awareness Month? Jessica Rafuse, director of strategic programs and policy at Microsoft, reflects on the changes that have occurred over the past 75 years and the opportunities to increase access and employment in the future for people with disabilities.
- Looks like Accessibility New York City meetup group’s October event will be a great event, with accessibility specialist Marcy Sutton presenting 5 Things I Learned from the Accessibility Community. The event is free and will be livestreamed.
- A new feature in Chrome DevTools now allows you to emulate color vision deficiencies, which will help you better optimize the colors used in your designs.
WordPress
- The release candidate for WooCommerce 4.6.0 is available for download and testing. The version is scheduled for final release on October 13, 2020.
- Are you planning to attend the first Page Builder Summit that kicks off October 5, 2020 for five days of learning? The online conference is free and focuses on the different page builders for WordPress. I don’t want to miss the session by Tom Usborne, the createor of GeneratePress!
- I wasn’t surprised when WordPress was dropped from consideration by the World Wide Web Consortium’s web site vendor for their redesign. Accessibility is a priority, I agree with Joe Dolson’s summary and Amanda Rush’s comments about Gutenberg.
- Catch up on the latest WordPress news with this month in WordPress for September 2020 from the core WordPress team. This is one of my favorite monthly posts, where I can find recent news, features, and project announcements directly from people working on WordPress core.
CSS and HTML
- Have you seen the newly redesigned CodePen home page? You’ll find the trusty site search bar in the header, with a new layout with three tabs: Following, Trending, and Your Work (what was previously the Dashboard).
- If you used Blacklist to check what social media websites are using tracking technologies and it came up clean, there’s a two-part explanation. First reason: Blacklight tests for cookies that send data to other sites, not the website you’re scanning.
- In her latest Google Chrome Developers video, Una Kravets demonstrates how to use the “prefers-reduced-motion” media query to progressively enhance animation on your website, as well as show you how to build a simple “reduce animation” switch. [eight-minute video]
- I wish more people who display text over the hero images would use this technique. Thanks to Chris Ferdinandi for sharing how to make semi-transparent backgrounds without affecting the text using CSS.
What I Found Interesting
- We already have the skills to practice meditation, says Sharon Salzberg, as she shares three simple ways to pay attention.
Meditation gives anybody who pursues it an opportunity to look within for a sense of abundance, depth, and connection to life.
- Today is World Smile Day! Pass on an act of kindness to someone, bring some happiness to their day.
Join us in celebrating #WorldSmileDay which devotes this day each year to smiles and acts of kindness throughout the world. A perfect way to practice Being the Sun, this day encourages us to light others up and do as much good as we can.#BetheSunNottheSalt #BetheSun #BeHelio pic.twitter.com/tfEKXU6Cgg
— BeTheSunNotTheSalt (@BeTheSunNotSalt) October 2, 2020
- Know anyone who has a fear of getting into water to swim? Wonderful news to read, a floater wetsuit helps people overcome their fear of water.
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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.
