UsefulLinks Archives - Page 12 of 69

Useful links: Figure/figcaption, a main element?

HTML5 Figure and Figure Caption Elements is an excellent tutorial with good code examples.

A couple of people are talking about the proposed ‘main’ element in HTML5 in On HTML5 and the proposed main element and The ‘main’ Element. Here’s the proposed ‘main’ element spec, by Steve Faulkner, that prompted the discussion. To contribute my opinion to the discussion of the proposed new element, I think it would be a valuable addition to HTML5. There is so much confusion as to the proper tag for the main content area of a page – should it be a div? A section? Something else? A new element with the semantic name and purpose ‘main’ is perfectly clear as to purpose and use.

Useful links: Adaptive content, troubleshoot WordPress, design principles

Notes from Karen McCrane’s talk about Adaptive Web Content at the latest An Event Apart. Luke Wroblewski took excellent notes.

Interesting tips for troubleshooting a WordPress site from Kristarella.

Design Principles for gov.uk. Unlike WCAG or some set of principles from the W3C, this document only contains 10 easily readable principles. They are,

Start with needs*
Do less
Design with data
Do the hard work to make it simple
Iterate. Then iterate again.
Build for inclusion
Understand context
Build digital services, not websites
Be consistent, not uniform
Make things open: it makes things better

Useful links: display:none, mobile input, touchscreens

display: none; Or The things you think are common knowledge but really they aren’t. Worth your time, especially if you are using responsive design and display:none; figures into what you’re doing.

Mobile Input Methods. Here’s another post that will teach you a lot about what you thought you already knew, but don’t.

Even Microsoft has given in to the touchscreen trend. As people scramble madly to come to terms with Windows 8, global moxie declares, New Rule: Every Desktop Design Has to Go Finger Friendly.

Useful links: GitHub, Retina display, UX, Circuit Boards

Want a Date? Try GitHub. I just love this. It’s funny and real. And the only way to appreciate it is to already know what GitHub is for.

10 Tools for Optimizing for Retina Display by Craig Grannell a .net magazine.

University Websites: What Users Want Vs. What they Get. The results of this survey remind me of a university redesign program I attended a few months back that really improved user interaction: Getting in Bed with Your Users.

A quick video about how we may reduce the mounds of electronic waste currently polluting the earth. The secret? Really hot water.

Useful links: WCAG, NOT selector, touchscreen thinking

Making Your Website Accessible, Part 1: Understanding WCAG is an interesting look at WCAG. In addition to explaining the basics of using WCAG, the author also discusses some of the drawbacks and problems.

Here’s a video of Russ Weakley explaining the CSS NOT selector.

IA in the touchscreen era. This is a long post, but I promise you’ll never be bored reading it.

Useful links: CSS Layouts, Ray, iPad Mini

The Future of CSS Layouts slide deck and other materials are from a presentation at the Future of Web Design

A new smartphone called Ray has been created for the blind and visually impaired. As with all progress made in the area of accessibility, this technology may have far reaching effects on all smart phone technology.

The iPad Mini announcement yesterday means we finally have the much rumored iPad Mini. What was your opinion of the pricing? I was a bit disappointed that it was so much higher than the competition in the small tablet field, but then again, competing on price has never been Apple’s thing. With Google marketing a $250 laptop and the Kindle Fire HD doing much of what an iPad does, I was hoping (in vain) for something more affordable in an iPad Mini.