Original Source: https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/identity-branding-design-part-2/
Identity branding is an intergral part of business. After all, you have make sure that you can market yourself properly. It’s not always easy trying to come up with a design that suits your…
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Original Source: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/11/implications-blocks-blobs/
Implications Of Thinking In Blocks Instead Of Blobs
Implications Of Thinking In Blocks Instead Of Blobs
Leonardo Losoviz
2018-11-20T13:00:59+01:00
2018-11-20T16:58:08+00:00
Gutenberg is a JavaScript-based editor (more specifically, it is a React-based editor), which will soon transform the experience of creating content for WordPress and (on an upcoming stage when Gutenberg is transformed into a site builder) the experience of creating WordPress sites.
Gutenberg, the site builder, will demand a different way of thinking how to lay the foundations of a website. In what we can already call the “old” model, WordPress sites are created by giving structure through templates (header.php, index.php, sidebar.php, footer.php), and fetching the content on the page from a single blob of HTML code. In the new model, the page has (React) components placed all over the page, each of them controlling their own logic, loading their own data, and self-rendering.
To appreciate the upcoming change visually, WordPress is moving from this:
Currently pages are built through PHP templates. (Large preview)
…to this:
In the near future, pages will be built by placing self-rendering components in them. (Large preview)
I believe that switching from blobs of HTML code to components for building sites is nothing short of a paradigm shift. Gutenberg’s impact is much more than a switch from PHP to JavaScript: there are things that could be done in the past which will possibly not make sense anymore. Likewise, a new world of possibilities opens up, such as rich and powerful user interactions. Web developers will not go from creating their sites in one language to creating their sites in another language because the site will not be the same anymore; it will be a completely different site that will be built.
Recommended reading: The Complete Anatomy Of The Gutenberg WordPress Editor
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Gutenberg has not been fully embraced by the WordPress community yet, for many reasons. For one, the new architecture is based on a plethora of tools and technologies (React, NPM, Webpack, Redux, and so on) which is much more difficult to learn and master than the old PHP-based one. And while it may be worth learning a new stack that delivers new functionalities, not every mom&pop site needs these new, shiny features.
After all, it is no coincidence that 30% of all sites across the globe are WordPress sites: most of these are really simple sites such as blogs, not dynamic social networks like Facebook. For another, WordPress inclusivity means that anyone could build a simple website — even people without coding experience, such as designers, content marketers, and bloggers.
But the complexity of the new architecture will leave many people out (I don’t even want to think about debugging my site in minified JavaScript code). And for another, once Gutenberg goes live, Facebook-backed React will be added to as many as 30% of all websites in the world — overnight. Many folks are uncomfortable with giving so much power to any sort of JavaScript library, while many others are mistrustful of Facebook. To alleviate this concern, Gutenberg abstracts React to also enable coding in other frameworks or libraries; however, in practice, React will undoubtedly be the predominant JavaScript library.
And yet, the prospect of being offered a new world of possibilities is sweet indeed. In my case, I am excited. However, my excitement is not about the technology (React) or about the implementation (Gutenberg), but about the concept, which is to create sites using components as the building unit. In the future, the implementation may switch to another platform, such as Vue, but the concept will remain.
Foreseeing what new features we will be able to implement is not always easy. It takes time to adapt to a new paradigm, and we tend to use new tools the old way until it dawns upon us how to use the new tools to accomplish new objectives. Even PDF files (which are a representation of print, the predominant technology before the web was born) are still a common sight on the web, neglecting the advantages that the web has over print.
“Imitating paper on a computer screen is like tearing the wings off a 747 and using it as a bus on the highway.”
— Ted Nelson
In this article, I will analyze several implications of building sites through a component-based architecture (as the concept) and through Gutenberg (as the implementation), including what new functionalities it can deliver, how much better it can integrate with current website development trends, and what it means to the future of WordPress.
Extended Versatility And Availability Of Content
A very important side effect of treating all content as blocks is that it allows to target chunks of HTML individually and use them for different outputs. Whereas content inserted in the HTML blob is accessible only through the webpage, as chunks it can be accessed through an API, and its metadata is readily available. Take media elements — such as videos, audio or images. As a standalone block, the video can be played in an app, the audio can be played as a podcast, and the images can be attached to the email when sending a digest — all of this without having to parse the HTML code.
Likewise, content from blocks can be adapted for different mediums: from the tiniest screen to the biggest ones, touchscreen or desktop, commanded by voice or by touch, 2D/AR/VR, or who knows what the future might bring. For instance, an audio block allows the audio to be played on an Apple Watch, commanded by voice through the In-car system or an AWS Echo, or as a floating item in our virtual world when using a VR headset. Blocks can also make it easier to set-up a single source of truth for content to be published in different outputs, such as a responsive website, AMP, mobile app, email, or any other, as was done by NPR through their Create Once, Publish Everywhere (COPE) approach.
Note: For more info on these topics, I suggest watching Karen McGrane’s Content in a Zombie Apocalypse talk.
Blocks can improve the user experience too. If browsing the site through 3G, blocks can self-render in a slow-connection mode to display low-quality images and skip loading videos. Or it can enhance the layout, such as offering to show an image gallery with one click at any point of the webpage, and not just at the place where it was embedded in the article.
These experiences can be attained by separating content from form, which implies that the presentation and the meaning of the content are decoupled, and only the meaning is saved on the database, making presentation data secondary and saving it on another place. Semantic HTML is an expression of this concept: we should always use <em> which implies meaning, instead of <i> which is a form of presentation (to make the character be displayed in italics), because then this content will be available to other mediums, such as voice (Alexa can’t read in italics, but she can add emphasis to the sentence).
Obtaining a thorough separation of content from form is very difficult since presentation code will often be added inside the block, through HTML markup (adding class “pull-right” already implies presentation). However, architecting the site using blocks already helps attain some level of separation at the layout level. In addition, blocks created to do just one thing, and do it very well, can make use of proper semantic HTML, have a good separation of concerns in its own architecture concerning HTML, JS, and CSS (so that porting them to other platforms may require only a minimum effort,) and be accessible, at least at the component-level.
Note: A general rule of thumb: The more inclusive a component is, the more prepared it is for mediums yet to be invented.
Unfortunately, Gutenberg was not designed with this purpose in mind, so blocks contain plenty of HTML markup for presentation too. For instance, an image block from an external image has, as its meaning, only the URL for the image, the alt description, and the caption (and possibly also the width and height); after creating an image block, the following chunk of code was saved in the DB (class aligncenter is for presentation, and the markup <div class="wp-block-image" /> would be completely redundant if storing only meaning):
<!– wp:image {“align”:”center”} –>
<div class=”wp-block-image”>
<figure class=”aligncenter”>
<img src=”https://cldup.com/cXyG__fTLN.jpg” alt=”Beautiful landscape”/>
<figcaption>If your theme supports it, you’ll see the “wide” button on
the image toolbar. Give it a try.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<!– /wp:image –>
In addition, blocks are saved inside the post’s content (which is a big HTML blob) instead of each having an entry of its own in the database. Reusable blocks (also called global blocks) do have their own entry though, which makes me fear that developers may convert standard blocks to reusable blocks just for a quick hack to access them straight in the DB.
Similarly, I am worried that, if not properly designed, blocks can even cause havoc in our sites. For instance, unaware developers may ignore the rule of least power, using JavaScript not just for functionality but also for CSS and markup. In addition, Gutenberg’s server-side rendering (SSR) functionality is not isomorphic (i.e. it does not allow a single codebase to produce the output for both client and server-side code), hence dynamic blocks must implement the function to generate the HTML code also as PHP as to offer progressive enhancement (without which the site is unaccessible while being initially loaded).
In summary, blocks are a step in the right direction towards making WordPress content available on any format and for any medium, but they are not a definitive solution, so much work still needs to be done.
Performance
Performance matters. Faster sites lead to happier users, which leads to better conversion rates. The team at Etsy, for instance, shelves new features, as cool as they may be, if these make their site loading time go over a critical threshold (I recommend watching Allison McKnight’s talk on Building Performance for the Long Term and slides), while the team at Twitter re-architected their site several years ago to support server-side rendering in order to show content as soon as possible, and continually implements plenty of small changes that add up to deliver a fast user experience.
JavaScript being so attractive to developers, they experience no constraint on their use of it, which is a real problem: JavaScript is very expensive concerning performance, and it should be used very carefully.
As it stands now, Gutenberg is far from optimal: whereas creating a post with the old editor (for which we need to install the Classic Editor) requires loading around 1.4 MB of JavaScript, Gutenberg loads around 3.5 MB of JavaScript, just for its basic experience (that is, without installing any additional block):
Loading scripts for Gutenberg. (Large preview)
That means that, as it stands now, 3.5 MB is the baseline, and loading size will only increase from there as the site admin installs more blocks. As was seen in a recent article on Smashing Magazine, creating a testimonials block required 150KB of minified JavaScript. How many blocks will a standard site require? How many MB of JavaScript will the average site need to download?
The implications are several: for one, a heavy site is out of reach to the next billion users, who have access mainly on slow connections, and who buy data plans which represent a significant chunk of their wage. For them, every MB of data makes a difference: sending Whatsapp messages is affordable, downloading several MBs of scripts just to load one site is not.
It is true that the user of the website will not need to interact with Gutenberg, since Gutenberg is simply for building the site, not for using it: Gutenberg is a back-end editor, not a front-end editor (and it may never be — at least as part of WordPress core). However, content creators will be penalized, and they are already a sizable target. In addition (as I argued earlier), users may end up being penalized too through dynamic blocks, which may create their markup through client-side JavaScript instead of server-side PHP.
There is also the issue of bloat from duplicated functionality added by 3rd party plugins. In the old days, a WordPress site may have loaded several versions of jQuery, which was relatively easy to fix. Nowadays, there is a huge array of open source libraries to choose from for implementing a needed functionality (drag and drop, calendars, multi-select components, carousels, etc.,) so more likely than not a site with dozens of 3rd party blocks will have the same functionality implemented by different libraries, creating unnecessary bloat. In addition, there is a bit of bloat added to Gutenberg itself: because blocks are registered in the frontend, unregistering an already-registered block is done by loading an additional script. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest challenges for the Gutenberg contributors: to put in place a streamlined process that allows anyone (not just developers experienced with Webpack) to remove undesired libraries and package only the minimal set of resources needed for the application.
Finally, I mention again that Gutenberg supports server-side rendering, but because it may not be easy to maintain, developers may be tempted to not rely on it. In this case, there is the cost of additional roundtrips needed to get the data from the REST endpoints, just to render the layout, during which time the user will be waiting.
In my opinion, performance will be one of the major challenges for Gutenberg, the one that could make or break in terms of widespread adoption, and there is still plenty of work that should be done, mainly targeting the next stage when Gutenberg becomes a site builder.
Web Standards
As mentioned earlier, Gutenberg abstracts React to provide a framework-agnostic approach to building blocks which, if implemented properly, can avoid WordPress being locked to React. The WordPress community is cautious when merging any JavaScript framework into WordPress core, in great part because Backbone.js, not long after being added to WordPress core, saw a sharp decline in popularity, and other than powering the Media Manager not many features were accomplished with it. Even if React is the most popular JavaScript library right now, there is no reason to believe that this will always be the case (as jQuery’s unraveling can attest), and WordPress must be prepared for when that day finally arrives (which, given the fast pace of technology, may happen sooner than expected).
The best way to avoid being locked to any library is through web standards and, more specifically in this case, the implementation of blocks through web components. Web components are strongly encapsulated components which operate with the browser APIs, so they don’t require any JavaScript library to work with. However, they can be implemented through any client-side JavaScript framework.
Even though React doesn’t provide a seamless integration with web components yet, it eventually (or rather hopefully) will. As it is explained in React’s documentation, web components and React components can work alongside:
“React and Web Components are built to solve different problems. Web Components provide strong encapsulation for reusable components, while React provides a declarative library that keeps the DOM in sync with your data. The two goals are complementary. As a developer, you are free to use React in your Web Components, or to use Web Components in React, or both.”
As of today, prospects of this situation taking place are not looking very promising: I haven’t been able to find any tutorial for building blocks with web components. I believe the community should focus some effort towards this cause, encouraging developers to start building blocks using web components, and the sooner the better, since Gutenberg forces us to learn new technologies anyway, right now. It is an opportunity to establish a strong foundation with web standards, from the very beginning.
Interoperability Between Sites, Homogenization Of Sites
A block is a smaller entity than a theme or a plugin, so eventually blocks will be accessible on their own, and acquired through newly created block markets. Most likely there will initially be a Cambrian explosion of blocks as many players in the ecosystem rush to be the first to market their solutions, leading on the medium and long-term towards consolidation of the most successful ones.
Once the dust has settled, a few blocks will stand out and become the winners, obtaining most of the market on their specific categories. If/when that happens will be a cause of both concern and jubilation: concern about a new wave of homogenization of the web taking place (as it happened with Bootstrap), as sites using the same components may end up with the same look and feel, an jubilation about an increased interoperability between sites from relying on the same components and the same APIs, which can open the gates to new opportunities.
I am particularly excited about expanding interoperability between sites. It is an area that could, in the long term, undo kingdoms such as Facebook’s: instead of relying on a monopolistic gateway for sharing information, sites with different communities can easily share data among themselves, directly. This is not a new concept: the IndieWeb movement has long been working towards enabling anyone to own their own data on their own servers, by having websites talk to each other through microformats. For instance, their Webmention web standard allows two sites to have a conversation, in which each comment and response is stored in both of them, and Micro.blog offers a Twitter-of-sorts but based on the open web, in which the posts on the user’s timeline are gathered from RSS and JSON feeds from subscribed sites. These endeavors are wonderful, but still very small in impact, since there is some level of tech-savviness required to be part of them. Gutenberg’s component-based architecture can potentially produce a much broader impact: Popular blocks can enable scores of WordPress sites to talk to each other, eventually allowing up to 30% of all sites on the web to be part of a decentralized, loosely-coupled network.
This area will need plenty of work though, before being viable. I do not think the default REST endpoints are the best communication interface since they were not conceived for this purpose (the folks from micro.blog have proposed a better solution through their JSON interface, which is based on the RSS specification). In addition, REST is itself being made obsolete by GraphQL, so I wouldn’t place high hopes on it for the long term. I am also involved in finding a better way, for which I am currently working on a different type of API, which can retrieve all the required data in only one request, and supports extensibility through a component-based architecture.
I also expect integration with cloud services to be more prominent, since providers can release their own blocks to interact with their own services. Because a component is a standalone unit, just by drag-and-dropping the block into the page already does all the work from the user’s perspective, making it very easy to build powerful websites with little or no knowledge. For instance, an image storage provider like Cloudinary could release a block that automatically crops the image according to the viewport of the device, or requests the image as WebP if supported, or other use cases.
In summary, consolidation of the block market may bring homogenization of the way in how it looks and feels, which would be a regrettable event and should be avoided, and powerful capabilities concerning interoperability and data-sharing between sites and integration with cloud services.
Integration With Pattern Libraries
A pattern library is a collection of user interface design elements, each of them often composed by snippets of HTML, JS, and CSS. A block is an autonomous component, often made up of bits of HTML, JS, and CSS. So blocks are evidently well-suited to be documented/built with pattern libraries. Having blocks ship their pattern libraries would be a great deal since it could enable teams not to start implementing the site’s pattern library only at the site level, but as an aggregation and refinement of the mini-pattern libraries from all the required blocks.
I believe something similar to the streamlining process for producing bloatless JavaScript packages that I mentioned earlier happens in this case, but concerning UI/UX/Documentation. It would be both a challenge and an opportunity for Gutenberg contributors to put in place a process that makes it easy for block developers to create pattern libraries for their blocks which, when aggregated all together, can result in a coherent pattern library for the site. Well implemented, such feature could drive down the costs of building sites from a documentation/maintenance perspective.
What Will Become Of WordPress?
Gutenberg will certainly make websites more attractive, even though at the cost of a required level of expertise that not everyone will be able to handle. In the longer term, this may lead to higher quality, lower quantity. Coming from the WordPress maxim of “Democratizing Publishing,” this may become a problem.
I am enthusiastic about Gutenberg, but more as the concept of a component-based architecture, than the React-based implementation. In general terms, I do agree with what Matt Mullenweg said during WordCamp Europe 2018 to justify Gutenberg:
“The foundation of WordPress that is now served us well for fifteen years will not last for the next fifteen.”
However, I also believe that the WordPress of fifteen years into the future may end up being completely different than the one we know today. I wonder if WordPress will end up primarily being the client-based editor, and not much more: the initiative to integrate Gutenberg into Drupal, with the aim of making Gutenberg become the editor of the open web, will officialize WordPress as a headless CMS operating through REST endpoints. This is a good development by itself, but it will make WordPress the back-end dispensable: if any other back-end platform provides better features, there is no reason to stick to the WordPress back-end anymore. After all, client-side Gutenberg will be able to work with any of them, while the simplicity of creating a site with WordPress will be lost, leveling the playing field with all other platforms.
In particular, I would not be surprised if developers feel that maintaining two codebases (one in JavaScript and one in PHP) for rendering dynamic blocks is too taxing, and decide to shift towards platforms which support isomorphic server-side rendering. If this scenario actually happens, would Matt decide to shift the WordPress backend to Node.js?
It is mainly because of this issue that I dare to say that the WordPress from 15 years from now may be a very different entity than what it is nowadays. Who knows what will happen?
Conclusion
By making components the new unit for building sites, the introduction of Gutenberg will be transformational to WordPress. And as with any paradigm shift, there will be winners and losers. Different stakeholders will consider Gutenberg a positive or negative development depending on their own situation: while the quality of a website will go up, the price of building such a site from hiring developers who can handle its complexity will also go up, making it less affordable and less popular.
These are exciting times, but also pivotal times. From now on, WordPress may slowly start being a different entity from what we are used to, and we may eventually need to think about what WordPress is, and what it represents, all over again.
(rb, ra, yk, il)
Original Source: https://www.sitepoint.com/build-wordpress-theme-from-scratch-basics/
In this tutorial, we’ll explore WordPress theme file structure in depth, and learn how to create a basic WordPress theme from scratch.
In the first part of this series, we introduced WordPress theming, and the fundamental terminology relating to WordPress theme development. We covered templates, partials, template hierarchy, WordPress post types, the style.css stylesheet, WordPress filter and action hooks, WordPress loop, conditional tags, and we briefly took a look at a typical simple WordPress theme file structure.
Creating the Bare Minimum Theme
The first thing we’ll do is install a plugin that will enable us to batch create WordPress posts and other content. This way, we’ll be able to quickly populate our development website without losing too much time. One plugin that serves this purpose is FakerPress by Gustavo Bordoni, available in the WordPress plugin repository.
We quickly install and activate the plugin via WP-CLI.
Now, when we log in to the admin dashboard, we’ll see that FakerPress is installed, and we can create all sorts of content in batch, including any custom post types we have.
Now, using this plugin, we’ll create some fake content. This is the result, using the default TwentySeventeen WordPress theme:
Now, we quickly dive in and set up a bare minimum theme that consists of the catch-all index.php file, and style.css, which we need for the WordPress templating system to recognize the theme:
/*
Theme Name: Botega Simple Theme
Theme URI: https://botega.co.uk
Author: Tonino Jankov
Author URI: https://botega.co.uk
Description: Basic WordPress theme for Sitepoint theme building tutorial
Text Domain: bsimple
Version: 1.0.0
License: GNU General Public License v2 or later
*/
This is the style.css, which consists only of meta CSS comments for now. These comments are required.
This is the index.php file. It will catch all the requests for now:
<?php
/**
*
* @package Botega_Scratch_Theme
*/
?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html <?php language_attributes(); ?>>
<head>
<title><?php bloginfo(‘name’); ?></title>
<link rel=”stylesheet” href=”<?php bloginfo(‘stylesheet_url’); ?>”>
<?php wp_head(); ?>
</head>
<body>
<header>
<h1><?php bloginfo(‘name’); ?></h1>
<h3><?php bloginfo(‘description’); ?></h3>
</header>
<?php
if ( have_posts() ) :
/* Start the Loop */
while ( have_posts() ) :
the_post();
endwhile;
endif;
?>
</body>
We now upload and activate the minimal theme we have. I activate it using WP-CLI:
The theme is now visible to WordPress, and is active:
We haven’t provided a screenshot, so the display in the backend is basic.
If we visit our website now in the browser, this is what we’ll see:
Obviously, we have work to do.
If we view the source code of the home page, we’ll see that the wp_head() function has outputted a lot of default WordPress tags in the <head>, like CSS, JavaScript, link and meta tags.
The bloginfo() function is used to output website information.
Our home page is empty, because we aren’t outputting anything inside the Loop — a pattern that WordPress uses in all of its templates to output content.
The Codex page about the Loop goes deep into details about it. A typical structure for the loop — which is based on PHP while control structure — looks like this:
<?php
if ( have_posts() ) {
while ( have_posts() ) {
the_post();
//
// Post Content here
//
} // end while
} // end if
?>
We need to fill that while loop with content — or with content-outputting WordPress tags.
If we change our loop, by adding the_title(), the_excerpt(), and we add HTML markup and the_ID(), to look like this:
<?php
if ( have_posts() ) : while ( have_posts() ): the_post(); ?>
<div id=”post-<?php the_ID(); ?>”>
<h2><?php the_title(); ?></h2>
<div class=”post-excerpt”><?php the_excerpt(); ?></div>
</div>
<?php endwhile;
endif;
?>
We’ll now get a list of posts on our home page, with no style applied:
WordPress shows A blog page — an archive page for all the blog posts — by default.
If we now visit single post URL — something like http://my-website.com/2018/11/14/sapiente-ad-facilis-quo-repellat-quos/ — we’ll see something like this:
Our loop, albeit very crude, actually works.
The post How to Build a WordPress Theme from Scratch: the Basics appeared first on SitePoint.
Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreativeBloq/~3/9jkhng0vyTo/apple-black-friday-and-cyber-monday-deals
It's that time of year already. Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2018 are just a few short days away now, and many deals have now been leaked or are live, which is great for those looking to nab a Black Friday bargain. For those looking more specifically for an Apple Black Friday deal, the news is mixed. While some retailers have announced discounts on products such as the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, Apple Watch Series 3, MacBook Air and iPad Mini 4 – more on that below – others have been quiet on the Apple Black Friday front.
What does this mean for those looking to snag an Apple Black Friday 2018 discount? Should you wait for the big day before you grab a bargain or act now while the iron's – or the deal's – hot? Read on to find out.
Black Friday deals: Quick links
The best Microsoft Black Friday dealsThe best Adobe Black Friday dealsWacom Black Friday: the best dealsThe best Amazon Black Friday deals
Does Apple give Black Friday discounts?
From Apple itself, Black Friday discounts don't usually come in the form of money off products, so you're unlikely to get a cheap Apple laptop directly from the Apple Store. Instead, in 2017, the tech giant offered money off further Apple spending, with gift cards given on purchases made over Black Friday.
Last year, if you bought a MacBook or an iMac, you got the maximum gift card of £120/$150, if you bought smaller Apple products, such as a Apple Watch Series 1 or iPhone SE, you got a £20/$25 gift card. We expect Apple to offer a similar deal this year, and while this could be a great way to save if you're an Apple super-fan, there are plenty of other ways to grab yourself an Apple Black Friday discount that may be more satisfying for your bargain-hunting instincts and your purse strings.
Also note that the newest products didn't come with any gift cards, so if you're after the latest iPad Pro 2018, MacBook Air or Mac mini, you're unlikely to get any money off from Apple – or much off from anyone at all, if we're honest.
However, Apple's latest product announcements do mean you could be more likely than ever to get a good deal on older Apple products.
Apple Black Friday and Cyber Monday: the best deals
While we expect the Apple Black Friday sale in 2018 to look similar to last year, with gift cards offered for some products, such as the MacBook (2017) and iPhone 8 (but not the latest ones like the iPhone XS), other retailers such as Amazon, Target, Currys, Costco, Sam's Club and John Lewis are likely to slash their Apple prices over Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Some of them have already announced they'll be doing so, and some have even started offering early Black Friday deals. Here's more on what we know so far.
Apple Watch Black Friday US deals
Since the Apple Watch 4 landed we've been seeing discounts on the older Apple Watch models, such as the Watch Series 3, and we expect to see prices drop even further this Black Friday. Keep an eye on the prices of the Watch you're interested in. If you see a price increase over the next few weeks, it's likely that price will then drop down on Black Friday. So be vigilant!
Below is the best deal we're seeing on the Apple Watch Series 3, with more deals expected soon. Note that all deals are available while stocks last so get in there quick.
Apple Watch Black Friday UK deals
Apple AirPods Black Friday
Despite the rumours, at Apple's latest launch event in New York, there was no announcement of an AirPod update, leaving it uncertain whether they'll get a makeover before the end of the year. That is good news, however, for those coveting the original AirPods, as we are more likely to see discounts on them this Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
In the US, we've only seen one Apple Airpods Black Friday deal so far and it was an early one from Sam's Club, which had various discounts on 10 November. There was $30 off Apple Airpods, and that's about the best we expect you'll be able to see. Keep checking back here as we'll post more deals when they become live.
In the UK, there aren't really any Black Friday Apple Airpod deals worth shouting about yet. In the meantime, here's today's best deals on Airpods.
Apple 4K TV Black Friday
If you'd like to turn your TV into a smart device with gorgeous imagery and Dolby Vision support, then the Apple 4K TV is the way to go. If you don't need all of that, but just want your TV to become 'smart', then older generation models such as the Apple TV 3rd generation may suit you better, and these are the ones most likely to be discounted over Black Friday. We have yet to hear any announcements about discounts on Apple 4K TVs on Black Friday, but here are the best deals right now.
Apple iPad Black Friday US deals
Those who are after an iPad are in luck. Following the recent announcement of the new iPad Pro 2018, which comes with either an 11-inch or a 12.9-inch screen, and the updated Apple Pencil, it's likely that older iPads will be on sale over Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Last year we saw discounts on even the newest iPads, including the iPad 9.7-inch 32GB, which was down to around £300 from £339, and the iPad Pro 10.5, which had £50 off on Amazon. We aren't so optimistic as to expect an Apple Black Friday sale on the latest range of iPads, but we can dream…
This year, we expect the older models to have their prices slashed further, and we're already seeing some fantastic US deals on a range of Apple iPads: we've listed our favourites below.
Apple iPad Black Friday UK deals
If you're not sure whether you want the very latest Apple iPad product, or just want to check what all the fuss is about, then see our review of the new new iPad Pro 2018 here. Also check out our post on Black Friday iPad deals for more info.
Apple MacBook Black Friday
Apple's latest event included the news that the MacBook Air is receiving a welcome update, with a Retina display seemingly aimed at creative pros, and even the MacBook Pro got a refresh with the announcement of new AMD graphics options. What does the mean for Apple Black Friday deals in 2018? It's unlikely to be good news in terms of price if you're after the very latest tech, but if you're happy to get an earlier MacBook model, you should see some discounts.
Apple MacBook Black Friday US deals
Apple MacBook Black Friday UK deals
Last year, John Lewis offered between £50 and £200 off selected MacBooks and iMacs, and we're already seeing some MacBooks on offer this year. Get them while they're still available.
To get the best deal, It's worth tracking the price of the model you're interested in from now on, so you'll know when you're getting an Apple Black Friday discount that's truly worth it. See our post on Black Friday and Cyber Monday MacBook deals this year for more info and deals.
iPhone X Black Friday
In 2017, there were discounts on the iPhone X over Black Friday even though it had only just been released, so this year, we expect big discounts on this smartphone. Seeing as the iPhone X is also being discontinued due to the arrival of the new iPhone XS Max, iPhone XS and iPhone XR, that means retailers will be wanting to shift their stock.
iPhone X Black Friday US deals
As predicted, we're already seeing deals on the iPhone X and iPhone XR, although Target is following Apple's lead and offering gift cards instead of money off.
iPhone X Black Friday UK deals
Where to find the best Apple Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals
As we said previously, the Apple Store isn't usually the best place to grab a bargain in the Apple Black Friday sale. Keep an eye on retailers such as Currys, Amazon, Target, Best Buy, Walmart and John Lewis, and don't forget to check back here, as we'll be curating the best deals as they come in.
How to get the best Apple Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals
To get the best deal possible, it's best to have a product and a price in mind. This will keep you from being overwhelmed by the options and becoming unable to make a decision (or making the wrong decision).
Once you've decided on the product you're after, you can start tracking its price on various retailers – or even simpler, bookmark this page and keep checking it. You could also set up a Google Alert for the prices you're after. Here are some more tips here on how to make the most of Black Friday.
3 Apple products to look out for on Black Friday
Not sure what to go for after looking at all of Apple's great products? Our money is on the best discounts being on the MacBook Pro 15-inch, Apple Watch 3 and the iPad Pro 12.9.
And you may also find now's a good time to pick up an older MacBook Air.
Apple Store on Black Friday 2018: opening hours
Will you have to queue up round the block to get the best Apple Black Friday deals? This seems unlikely, because as far as we know, most Apple Stores will operate their usual opening hours across this period. You can check your local Apple Store opening times here.
As mentioned, however, the Apple Store may not be the best place to bag yourself Apple Black Friday deals, so you may be better off going to another retailer or shopping online. Don't forget that we'll be reporting on deals as they come in, so you can keep checking this page to bag yourself an Apple Black Friday bargain.
Read more:
Microsoft Black Friday: what to expectAmazon Black Friday and Cyber Monday: what to expectAdobe Black Friday: the deals we expect to see
Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abduzeedo/~3/PS7Zzjfd5zw/3d-typography-jonathan-ortiz
3D Typography by Jonathan Ortiz
abduzeedo
Nov 19, 2018
Jonathan Ortiz shared a beautiful collection of calligraphy and typography compositions. They are super colorful and stylish. There are some clever ideas on some of them, like a anagram style animation. One of my favorite pieces is the Pinterest one, it has a bit of a paintbrush feel but with a lot of depth. It feels that is was done in 3D. Actually most of the work that Jonathan shared takes a advantage of the clever use of shadows to add depth and movement. Super cool!
For more information about Jonathan make sure to check out his Behance profile at https://www.behance.net/joins
3D Typography
Typography
Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tympanus/~3/tUbRJxmfgp4/
Inspirational Website of the Week: Mathieu Lévesque
A portfolio with nice typographic effects and interesting details. Our pick this week.
Get inspired
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Northwestern’s Online MS in Information Design & Strategy
Build skills to translate data into compelling visuals and narratives and learn how research and analytics can drive communication strategies and tactics.
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Web.dev (beta)
A new site by the Chrome Developers team that aims to help developers learn and apply the web’s modern capabilities to their own sites and apps.
Check it out
Web High Level Shading Language
WebKit introduces a new graphics shading language for the Web inspired by HLSL. Follow the interesting discussion on HN about this.
Read it
Squoosh
This great web app by Google lets you optimize images and reduce their size dramatically by editing the advanced options of various image compressors.
Check it out
A Brief History of Flickering Spinners
An interesting article by Mikael Ainalem on the troublesome case of too quickly ending loading animations.
Read it
Inlining or Caching? Both Please!
Scott Jehl explores caching inlined files and shows a proof of concept.
Check it out
VisBug
Make any webpage feel like an artboard with this browser extension by Google. Watch the video.
Check it out
Turtletoy
Turtletoy allows you to create generative art using a minimalistic JavaScript Turtle graphics API. By Reinder Nijhoff
Check it out
Why using ‘tabindex’ values greater than “0” is bad
Karl Groves lists the reasons why defining a number for tabindex should be avoided.
Read it
Developer page concept (digital design)
Dulov Evgeniy’s delightful developer page concept.
Check it out
State of Houdini — Director’s Cut (aka. Honest Edition)
The uncensored version of a great Chrome Dev Summit 2018 talk by Surma.
Watch it
Why Facebook’s api starts with a for loop
A very interesting article by Antony Garand on the JSON hijacking vulnerability.
Read it
Free Font: Wanderlust
A unique looking slab serif font designed by Jan Henkel.
Check it out
Head: Free header starter kit (Sketch)
A nice set of hero starter templates by Stefano Peschiera.
Get it
#codevember 7/2018
A lovely jellyfish demo by Noel Delgado.
Check it out
The Writable Files API: Simplifying local file access
Pete LePage explains what the idea of the Writable Files API is and what you could do with it.
Read it
Emojious Free Icons
More than a hundred free icons from the adorable Emojious icon set.
Get it
Icons 8 Beta
An update of the useful icon web app with thousands of free icons.
Check it out
What is First Input Delay?
Ire Aderinokun’s summary on the First Input Delay (FID) metric.
Read it
The 1.1.1.1 App
Private internet by Cloudflare now as a mobile app.
Check it out
My journey had lasted seven hours
Gerard Ferrandez created this demo of randomly and recursively generated trees.
Check it out
From Our Blog
Page Flip Layout
A template with a two-sided, magazine-like layout and a flat page flip animation. The layout is powered by CSS Grid.
Check it out
Collective #468 was written by Pedro Botelho and published on Codrops.
Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abduzeedo/~3/AEhGnGL3n0U/motion-design-seat-arona-global-launch
Motion Design for SEAT Arona Global Launch
abduzeedo
Nov 16, 2018
Marco Salemi and Romina Giarrizzo shared a super stylish motion design project titled SEAT – Arona Global Launch. It features a lot of elements that made graphic design really awesome to me. I am talking about simple elements, textures and typography. There’s definitely a 90’s feeling too if you pay close attention. Some spray textures and style alongside with a lot of black and white. So enough said, check out below and I hope you get as inspired as I got.
Graphic and Motion Design
Credits
Work done for NERDO
Graphic Designer: Romina Giarrizzo, Marco Salemi
Motion Designer: Marco Salemi
motion design
Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Designrfix/~3/DMuxUfs3X3Q/easy-ux-tactics-to-improve-your-content-strategy
Content without context is meaningless. In a similar manner, your site’s content strategy becomes obsolete if your site’s User Experience is not on point. This is so because if your website isn’t capable enough of keeping the visitors looped, how will it be able to deliver them the content. Content can only be delivered […]
The post Easy UX Tactics to Improve Your Content Strategy appeared first on designrfix.com.
Original Source: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/11/inclusive-design-accessible-presentations/
Inclusive Design For Accessible Presentations
Inclusive Design For Accessible Presentations
Allison Ravenhall
2018-11-15T13:45:14+01:00
2018-11-15T17:08:15+00:00
To all the presenters of conferences, workshops, and meetups: I truly enjoy hearing your anecdotes and learning things from you. I like laughing at your jokes, especially the puns. Unfortunately, some people in your audience aren’t getting as much out of your session as me. They may not be able to see your slides, or hear you speak, or make out the details on the screen.
A few tweaks will make your presentation more inclusive. Here are some tips so next time you’re on stage, everyone in the crowd can laugh at your bad jokes.
1. Create Accessible Slides
Make Your Text Big. No, Bigger.
The back row of your presentation room is a long way from the projector screen. It’s much further than the distance between you and your laptop screen as you create your slides.
Small text in the middle of a large slide. (Large preview)
People up the back will appreciate every extra pixel you add to your font size. People with vision impairments will appreciate the larger text too — they’ve got a better chance of being able to read it.
Go big or go home. This goes for all text, even “less important” stuff like data labels, graph axes and legends, image captions, footnotes, URLs, and references.
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Check the table of contents ↬
Is Your Slide Font Readable?
I love fonts; they can really set the tone of a talk. However, before you jump into the craziest corners of Google Fonts, think of your audience members with reading difficulties. Using handwriting or script fonts, particularly ones whose letters link together, makes text much harder to read. Using uppercase reduces scannability by removing ascenders and descenders, as well as being shouty.
There’s more scope to experiment with fonts on slides than web pages due to the larger text size, but here are some best practices:
Sans serif is typically the most readable.
Be generous with spacing (between letters, words, and lines).
Use bold for emphasis — underline and italic change the letter shapes, making them less identifiable.
Use mixed case, not all caps.
(Reference: British Dyslexia Association Style Guide 2018)
Does It Make Sense In Greyscale?
Do a print preview of your slides in black and white. Does it all still make sense without the color? If you send out your slides post-talk, some people may not have access to a color printer.
There’s also a good chance that someone at your talk is color-blind. If you’ve used red text for negative items and green text for positive items mixed together in a single list, they may not be able to tell them apart. If the datasets in your graphs only use color to differentiate, think about using patterns or labels to tell each bar, line or pie segment apart.
Don’t rely on color only to tell your story — enhance color with labels, icons, or other visual markers.
Recommended reading: Getting Started In Public Speaking
It’s A Slide, Not A Novel
Every time a new slide goes up, you lose the crowd while they scan the new content. If the slide is full of text, it’s going to take a long time for their attention to come back to what you’re saying.
People with attention deficiencies will struggle to read your slides and listen to what you’re saying at the same time. Audience members with reading difficulties may not finish reading text-heavy slides before you move on, and never mind what you said while they were concentrating on the screen.
Slides aren’t speaker notes. If you need prompts, write up some cards or use your slide program’s notes function. Use keywords and short phrases in your slides, not whole sentences or paragraphs, to share the essential ideas of your talk. Write and refer to a long-form companion piece if you want to share loads of detail that doesn’t translate well to slides.
Animated Slide Transitions? Really?
My high-school self-loved slide transitions — the zanier, the better. Look, my slide is swirling down a plughole! It’s swinging back and forth like a leaf on the breeze! Fades, swipes, shutters, I was all for it.
Microsoft PowerPoint contains 48 (!) animated slide transition options. (Large preview)
I have since discovered that slide transitions are overrated. More seriously, they can make the audience feel sick. Slide transitions and other animation such as parallax scrolling can trigger nausea, headaches and dizziness in people with vestibular (inner ear) disorders.
Make your audience groan with your punny jokes, not because they feel ill.
Readability Applies To Slide Text, Too
If you’re presenting, you probably know a decent amount about your topic. You likely use specialist words and phrases and assume a minimum level of audience knowledge.
Be mindful of using jargon and acronyms, even if you think they’re well-known. Explain them, don’t assume everyone knows them. Better still, use plain language for everything.
Don’t mistake using simpler words and shorter phrases for “dumbing it down”. Slides are for clear and concise ideas, not showing off your vocabulary. Save your fancy words for your next crossword puzzle.
GIFs Aren’t Always Funny
Animated GIFs are used in lots of presentations — usually as a killer quip or a laugh out loud punchline. They’re an easy way to add fun to dry tech talks but use with care — and I’m not talking about your bad sense of humor.
If the GIF content strobes or flashes rapidly, it may trigger seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy. It’s happened: in 2016, disgruntled Trump supporters caused a Newsweek writer with epilepsy to have a seizure by deliberately tweeting flashing images to him.
While a GIF is looping on the screen, I’m half-listening to the presenter at best. It’s so distracting. If there’s an animation on screen while you relate an anecdote, I’m going to miss the story.
When you create an animated GIF, you can configure the number of times it loops. This is a good compromise — have some fun with your audience, then they can focus on what you’re saying without distraction.
How Good Is Your Color Contrast?
The word ‘Binary’ on the bottom-left of this slide is presented in a large, readable font, but the color contrast is very poor. (Large preview)
There are recommended color contrast values for text on the web. The idea is to ensure text is visible even if you have a vision impairment or color-blindness.
Color contrast is important for slide content too. You probably won’t have much control over the environment, so it’s a good idea to use color combinations that go beyond recommended contrast ratios. I guarantee it won’t look as clear on the projector as it does on your computer.
Don’t be subtle with your color palette. Use bold colors that make your text stand out clearly from the background. Be careful about laying text over images — do it, just make sure the contrast is good. Use a color contrast checker and aim for a ratio of at least 4.5 : 1.
(Before you flame me about the big text minimum ratio being 3 : 1 for WCAG 2.0 AA, I figure it’s big up close, but it’s smaller from the audience’s perspective. They’re not likely to complain that it’s too high contrast, are they?)
Downloadable color contrast checker by the Paciello Group (for Windows & Mac)
Online color contrast checker by Lea Verou
If you know the setup in advance, light-colored text on a dark background is more audience-friendly in a darkened room; a white background can be dazzling. Some people have even resorted to wearing sunglasses when they were blinded by too much glare!
Enable Your Audience To Follow Along
If you plan to share your slides or you have complementary materials, include links to these on your first slide, and mention it in your intro. This enables your audience to follow along or adapt the presentation on their own devices. People with low vision can zoom in on visual content, and blind audience members can follow along on Braille displays or with a screen reader and earbuds.
Keep Your Links Short
If there’s a web link in your slide, there are two reasons to keep it as short as possible:
Readability: Long URLs will wrap onto multiple lines, which is hard to read.
Say-ability: You should say your URL out loud for people who can’t see the screen. A long URL is very hard to say correctly, particularly if it contains strings of random characters. It’s also very hard for listeners to understand and record in real time.
Use a URL shortener to create short links that point to the destination. If you can, maximize readability by customizing the short link to contain related word or two rather than a random string.
Does Your Presentation Contain Multimedia?
Video and audio clips are a great way of presenting events, interviews, and edited content that doesn’t work in real time.
If you’re playing video, think about audience members who can’t see the screen — is the audio descriptive enough by itself? Can a blind or low-vision person get a sense of what’s going on, or who’s speaking, purely from the soundtrack? You may need to introduce or summarise the vision yourself to add context.
If your video has an audio track or you’re playing a separate sound clip, are the visuals enough for someone who is deaf or hard of hearing? You should provide captions of decent size and contrast. Given an audio clip doesn’t have a visual component, you could display equivalent text or graphics while the audio is playing.
Don’t Put The Punchline At The Bottom Of Your Slide
This is more of a general usability tip. Don’t bottom-align slide text unless you know that the bottom of the screen is located well above the audience, or the audience seating is tiered. If the bottom of the projector screen is at or below the audiences’ head-height, and the floor is flat, people seated beyond the first few rows will likely not see what you wrote at the bottom of the slide.
Recommended reading: How To Transform Your Next Conference Takeaways Into Real-Life Results
2. Presenting Tips
Have A Clear Beginning, Middle, And End
It can be tempting to structure your talk towards a big reveal. This is a great device for building interest, but you run the risk of losing people with attention deficit disorders. More generally, if you find yourself running out of time, you may have to rush or cut short your final grand flourish!
Set expectations upfront. Start with a quick “Today I’ll be covering…” statement. You don’t have to give the whole game away, just tantalize the crowd with an outline. They can then decide if they want to commit their brain power to focus on your talk. Let the audience know that it’s OK for them to go if they wish.
Don’t be offended if someone chooses not to stay. They may have a limited capacity for focused thought each day, so a conference of back-to-back presentations and loud breakout spaces is challenging. They must pick and choose what is most useful to them. Hopefully, they’ll come back to your talk if it’s shared later.
Give The Audience Time To Read Your Slides
Complex content like graphs with multiple datasets take time to read and understand. If your slide is a slab of text, your audience will get annoyed if you summarise it and skip onto the next topic before they’ve finished reading.
Consider how much time your audience needs to read and understand each slide, based on the amount and complexity of the content. Remember, they’re seeing it for the first time, and they don’t know as much about the topic as you. Structure your talk so complex slides stay up on the screen long enough to be read completely.
You worked hard on those slides, it’d be a shame if they weren’t appreciated!
Provide Captions And Foreign Language Translation
I’ve attended events that have provided sign language interpreters or live captions to translate or transcribe what the speakers say in real time. They’re invaluable for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. International events may also provide foreign-language translation.
If you present at an event that provides these services, send your slides or speaker notes to the interpreters and captioners in advance. They can then research and practice unfamiliar terms before the day.
Many events don’t provide captioning or translation. They’re beyond the budget of most conferences, being both specialized and labor-intensive. In this case, you can potentially provide your own captions.
MS PowerPoint has a free Presentation Translator plug-in to add real-time captions and foreign language translation. I saw a demo at A11y Camp Sydney last year:
A live demo of @Microsoft Translate as transcript by @mastersofdavid at #A11yCampSyd pic.twitter.com/DW3K4J7wfH
— Allison Ravenhall (@RavenAlly) September 13, 2017
Google recently added real-time captioning to its Slides product, too.
Mind Your Language
Your choice of words may be offending or excluding some of your audience, and you may not even know you’re doing it.
Not all people that work in technology are “guys.” When a speaker says “I talked to the guys about it,” I imagine a group of men. If they’d said “I talked to the developers about it,” then my imaginary group also contains women.
There’s also ableist language. Using words like retarded, insane, lame, and crazy incorrectly is degrading to those with mental and physical disorders. What’s a normal user? Are you making assumptions about gender, sexual orientation, race, family unit, technical knowledge, physical or mental abilities, or level of education?
Then there’s swearing, commonly used to get attention or add some spice. Be careful about deploying this weapon. If you’ve misjudged the room, you could put people offside. If you’re traveling, that fairly tame curse word you use at home could be deeply offensive elsewhere.
Stories Aren’t Universal
When I discussed color contrast at A11y Bytes 2017, I moaned about not being able to see my phone screen in bright sunlight. Attempting to relate, I asked “we’ve all been there, right?”, expecting a few nods and smiles.
The retort was lightning-fast: “Can’t say I’ve found it a problem!” Laughter rippled through the crowd as I realized I’d just been heckled by a blind woman. She graciously laughed off my hasty apology.
I still tell my sunlight story, but now I’m mindful that not everyone can relate to it directly. Learn from my mistake, don’t assume your audience has the same abilities and experiences as you.
Interests And Pop Culture References Aren’t Universal Either
My most recent presentations have been about WCAG 2.1, including the need to provide alternatives to motion-based inputs. I use three Nintendo Switch games as examples.
I don’t assume that the audience has used a Switch. I briefly explain the premise of each game and the motion input it uses before I move on to how it relates to the new success criteria. It’s a courtesy to those people who don’t share my interest in the Switch.
Similarly, much as I’d love to do a Star Wars-themed accessibility talk, I won’t because I’d be putting my own amusement ahead of informing my audience. Some people aren’t into Star Wars, just as I’m not a Trekkie or a Whovian. It’d be a shame for them to misunderstand me because they can’t translate my tenuous Star Wars associations — or worse — if they saw the themed talk title and skipped my session altogether.
Have some fun, by all means, include a pop culture reference or two, but don’t structure your entire talk around it. Make it work for someone who hasn’t watched that movie, or heard that band, or read that book, or seen that meme.
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand (Spoken) Words
Photos, graphics and drawings all add interest to your slides. You may have screenshots of a website you’ve built, or photos of people or places you’re talking about.
When your slide imagery is part of the story, remember to describe the pictures for those in the audience that can’t see it. Try not to say “As you can see here…” because someone may not be able to see there.
If you think it’s awkward to quickly rehash a sight gag, think how awkward you’d feel if you were in a room full of people that suddenly all laughed and you didn’t know why.
Slow Down, Breathe.
You’re nervous. You’ve never presented before. You’ve got a time limit and lots to share. You haven’t practiced. Your parents, friends, children, workmates, industry idols, and managers are all in the room.
Whatever the reason, you probably talk faster than usual when you present. This puts pressure on interpreters and captioners, particularly if your talk contains tech-speak. Your audience may struggle to keep up too. Note-takers mash their laptops in vain, live-tweeters’ thumbs cramp up, and sketchnoters leave a trail of half-drawn doodles in their wake. International visitors may get lost figuring out your accent. Cognitively, everyone is thinking furiously to keep up, and it’s hard work!
Practice. Slow down. No one knows your stuff as well as you; give everyone else time to take it in.
Respect The Code Of Conduct And Your Audience
Codes of conduct are found at most public speaking events, such as this one by UX Gatherings. They set the minimum behavior standard for speakers and attendees.
Read the code of conduct for every event you attend — they can differ broadly. Know the no-go zones and don’t go there.
If you are talking about sensitive topics that may upset some of your audience, give them plenty of notice so they can prepare or remove themselves from the discussion. A note in the event program, if possible. A mention on your lead slide, and during your opening remarks. Include contact details of support services if appropriate.
Make Your Code Demonstrations Accessible, Too
Well done if you have mastered the art of the live code demonstration. Few presenters can show off something meaningful that also works while providing a clear commentary.
You know what would take your code demo to the next level? Jacking up the font size. Your usual code editor font size is perfect when you’re sitting at your desk, but it’s not big enough for those sitting in the back row of your presentation.
Check your editor’s color settings too. A pure white background might be startlingly bright in a darkened room. Make sure your editor text colors have good contrast as well.
Don’t Drop The Mic
If there’s a microphone on offer, use it, even if it’s a small space.
Many public conference spaces have an audio induction (hearing) loop connected to their AV systems. The loop transmits the AV output directly to hearing aids and cochlear implants. People who are hard of hearing receive the target audio without background noise.
Recommended reading: Getting The Most Out Of Your Web Conference Experience
3. After The Presentation
Congratulations! You’ve done your talk. There are just a couple more things that’ll round this thing out nicely.
Distribute Accessible Slides
Lots of presenters publish their slides after the talk is done. If this is you, make them accessible! Correct semantics, meaningful read order, ALT text on images, enough color contrast, video captions, limited animation looping, reasonable slide transitions, all the good stuff.
Fill The Gaps With Notes, A Transcript Or An Article
Help people that need more time to take in your talk and need more detail than what’s on your slides. Publish your speaker notes or a companion piece that covers your topic(s). If the event is recorded, ask the organizers to include captions or a transcript (but perhaps don’t rely on YouTube’s auto-captioning).
Conclusion
Applying these tips will make a big difference to your whole audience. Your slide content, design, and how you present can all affect how well the crowd gets your message, if at all. This is particularly true for those with physical and cognitive conditions.
Making subtle changes to what you show and your script will help all attendees, not just those with disabilities, to get the most out of your hard work.
(ra, yk, il)
Original Source: https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/create-online-comics/
Contrary to popular belief, comics aren’t just for kids. They have the capability to tell a story in a visual way that is truly unique and an experience on its own. Generally, you can only…
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