Articles, Links, and Tools From Online Together: Spring Summit

A compendium of articles, links, tools, and other resources shared by our speakers at Online Together: Spring Summit 2021.

“The State of the Web” (Jeremy Keith)

In this perspective-setting talk, we’ll go on a journey to the past, present, and future of web design and development. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and by the end, you’ll be ready to make the web better.

Apollo 8

Hypertext

The World Wide Web

NASA

“Frameworks: Do They Really? And For Whom?” (Scott Jehl)

Popular tools and frameworks exist to address these situations with smart, reliable patterns, but they come with their own costs. Where is the line at which we should use these tools, and how can we use them without compromising our performance, resilience, and accessibility?

“How to Understand CSS” (Rachel Andrew)

We do CSS and our own productivity a disservice if we continue to take a piecemeal approach to the language. By learning the key elements that underpin this system, you will find that the rest of CSS falls into place.

“Beyond Variables” (Miriam Suzanne)

In this session, Miriam will start with some simple experiments to demonstrate how CSS variables work, explore a wide range of practical use-cases, and then push them to the limit… and beyond.

Technical Details & Docs

Articles & Tutorials

More from Miriam

“HTML with Superpowers” (Dave Rupert)

The web has matured in the last 5 years and it might be time to start looking at how the Web’s native component system can give our HTML super powers.

“PWAs Five Years On” (Ire Aderinokun)

PWAs are truly installable, reliable, and capable. In this talk, we’ll look at how PWAs have matured over the years and just how capable they’ve become.

Talks

Capable

Reliable

Installable

“Modern Tools, Modern Layouts, Modern Web” (Morten Rand-Hendriksen)

From paper sketches to full-fledged web experiences, you’ll discover new ways of thinking about web layouts and new opportunities to do things previously thought impossible.

Live code samples

Documentation

Articles, videos, etc

Esoterica

“Inclusive Design Systems” (Derek Featherstone)

An accessible design system is the single most under-utilized leverage for creating accessible products. Incorporate accessibility really well into your design system and your product is primed for success.

“High-Impact User Research” (Cyd Harrell)

If you can show your stakeholders engaged users coping with challenges in real time, you can generate a whole new level of impact for UX.

“Habits of the Cross-Cultural Designer” (Senongo Akpem)

If we want to effectively design for modern, multicultural audiences, we have to be willing to challenge our usual strategies and processes. But what are the core actions of the cross-cultural practitioner?

“Broadening Your Design Vision: How DIBs Can Make You a Better Designer” (Sharon Steed)

In a time of global remote work, the tools learned from DIBs can be used for more than just better connecting with your teammates; they are also essential to you being more effective in creating, marketing and selling products.

“Semantics to Screen Readers” (Melanie Richards)

How does markup become something that screen readers (for example) can understand and interact with on behalf of the user? Together we’ll dive into how assistive tech integrates with the experiences that you create.

How This Works

Accessibility APIs
Accessibility API Mappings
Accessibility Tree
Text Interfaces
Events

Testing

Checkers and Linters
Manual Testing
Some Screen Reader Actions to Try
  • Read line by line
  • Read continuously from a point
  • Jump by headings, landmarks, and links
  • Search the page
  • Interact with tables using table commands
  • Jump by form field
  • Interact with all interactive elements
  • Testing any changes in content or context
Testing with Users

Bug Sleuthing

Mappings
Debugging Tools
Browser Dev Tools
Desktop OS API Debuggers
Where to Report Bugs

Miscellaneous

Browser Rendering Engine Documentation

Image Credits

“That’s Great, but How Do I Convince My Boss?” (David Dylan Thomas)

It’s one thing to know what your organization should be doing, but that’s not always enough to convince the people who sign the checks. How do you get them on board?

Websites

Books

Podcasts

Video

Slack