"Accessibility makes user interfaces perceivable, operable, and understandable by people with a wide range of abilities, and people in a wide range of circumstances, environments, and conditions."
- Shawn Lawton Henry
The above statement by accessibility expert Shawn Lawton Henry indicates accessibility is an extensive area of study and work for web design and development.
In May 2008, I was invited to attend a 2 day web accessibility workshop organized by the Inclusive New Media Design team. The INMD is a research project that aims to investigate best practices of accessible web design methods for people with learning disabilities.
The workshop participants were first introduced to the different types of intellectual disabilities, after that we looked at assistive technologies followed by testing with a group of users with learning disabilities.
Here are some of my observations and thoughts at the end of day 2 as we sat down to discuss our experiences.
- Disabled people feel connected using the web & technology. They feel they can be independent to a certain degree.
- The web can be a useful alternative channel for users with learning disabilities to attain information/news, entertainment, learn, and socialize.
- Many disabled participants who were testers had mobile phones, digital cameras, and email accounts.
- We generally think that web users with learning disabilities might seem like a minority group – think again! There are nearly 30million (14%) of UK population with a registered disability.
- There are varied types of learning disabilities, and there are different degrees of disabilities.
- Users with learning disabilities use technology the same way all other users do – in individually adapted ways. Users with same disability might use different modes & methods of access.
- Carrying out user testing with the target audience reveals invaluable insight to their real needs!
- Users with no access to the technology you design for, think about what other methods or channels you can reach them with?
- Web accessibility knowledge should be much more widely shared & practiced, not only within the web design & development circle, also to a wider public.
The audiences INMD look at in their research are a rather specific user group (with varied levels of learning disability – mild, moderate, severe, profound). When designing with these users in mind, we have to consider the below:
- Assistive technologies that users would employ to browse
- screen readers, screen magnifiers, switches, concept keyboards, specialised pointing devices
- screen readers, screen magnifiers, switches, concept keyboards, specialised pointing devices
- Structure & Navigation
- different navigational methods for varying levels of disability – e.g. simplified, reduced nesting structure; 2 item choice based structure; linear structure
- different navigational methods for varying levels of disability – e.g. simplified, reduced nesting structure; 2 item choice based structure; linear structure
- Content
- use of clear, simple, concise language
- use of visuals/symbols as alternative to text
- use clear concise headings
- group text into blocks under each heading
- use lists where appropriate
- use descriptive link text
- front load content
- use of clear, simple, concise language
- Images
- only use image where it is adding value to the content
- alternative attributes should succinctly describe content of the image
- if images are for decorative purposes, they should be coded in the cascading style sheets
- only use image where it is adding value to the content
- User testing
- it is crucial when developing a website, as it makes a better web product when you are testing with real audience
- it is crucial when developing a website, as it makes a better web product when you are testing with real audience
You might be thinking... "what if I’m not designing for people with intellectual disabilities alone?". When designing for a wider audience, the accessibility concerns will need to cover the above considerations and also general user needs. The BBC websites have accessibility as their core design principal. Perhaps we can take a closer look and discuss in another post.
It would be good practice to have accessibility in mind when setting out planning a web project. It will make project planning a much thorough exercise, maximizing the usability outcome, and minimizing the possibility of usability failures during launch, thus giving it a better ROI.
June
No comments:
Post a Comment