Color Laboratory — AWARE Center — HTML Writers Guild Look for the link to the web page color filter for access to a tool currently under development that allows you to apply a filter to a page to see how it looks under different types of color blindness.
Expanded JavaScript for the World Wide Web
Just got my hands on the fourth edition of Tom Negrino and Dori Smith’s JavaScript for the World Wide Web, and yee-haw, this baby has some nice new sections! There’s now a chapter on CSS which leads nicely into a DHTML chapter and an interface design chapter with pull-down menu scripts, sliding menu scripts, tool tips scripts and other neat goodies. There’s a chapter on bookmarklets and one on working with visual tools such as GoLive and Dreamweaver. A good book gets better.
Jakob Nielsen on mistakes of 2002
Top Ten Web-Design Mistakes of 2002 (Alertbox Dec. 2002) Nielsen lists what he considers the main errors costing site owners business in 2002.
Yes, make the students think
Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug and Roger Black is a fast and easy look at Web usability with some excellent resources that can be adapted for classroom activities. The “trunk test” in chapter 6 is particularly appealing as a classroom activity. It gives you some common elements and common vocabulary to describe what user’s expect and need in Web usability. This information can be used to analyze the usability of student projects or favorite Internet sites.
New Accessibility Resource
Accessify.com – all the tools, links and resources you’ll ever need to make your web site accessible. This new site looks like a good addition to the must-bookmark accessibility resources.
Thinkmap of Words
Plumb Design Visual Thesaurus is just about the neatest thing I’ve seen in ages. Need a word? Look it up here and be wowed in the process.
Review: Mastering Mac OS X
Here’s a handbook of everything Mac OS X from Sybex. Mastering Mac OS X by Todd Stauffer is in its second edition, updated for OS X v10.2 (Jaguar). Whether you are new to Mac, upgrading from Mac OS 9, already familiar with Mac OS X but have a specific question, or a power user from the Unix world, this book has the answer.
Explanations are clear and understandable. Of course, the new features of Jaguar are covered, such as using Sherlock 3, QuickTime 6, iChat and Address Book. But the book also details how to use Classic applications in just as much detail.
Setting up printers, managing fonts, configuring the Apache server, using the Terminal with Darwin command lines and networking with Windows and Unix machines – it’s in there.
Making PDFs, using the Finder, creating users, using key caps, firewalls, networking – it’s in there.
AppleScript, Unix shell scripting, adding CGI scripts – it’s in there.
There are troubleshooting tips, hardware maintenance tips, tips for managing Classic, and installation tips. The 800+ pages of this book have something for anyone who uses a Mac. Something well written, easy to understand, and immediately useable.
The author, Todd Stauffer, has written over 25 books, many on Mac topics. He is a contributor to MacAddict and runs a Web site called Mac-Upgrade.