Welcome to another edition of SmartQA Digest, the Second of TWO part theme on “Accessibility”. Listen to Anuradha Biswas’s video on “the HOW of accessibility”. The featured article is also on “HOW to validate accessibility”.
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Evaluating accessibility by using only able-bodied people(testers) or by enabling accessibility only via use of checklists are not useful. The simplest tests to ensure a complex application is well covered via ‘only testing using the keyboard’, ‘relying on the spoken word to navigate’, ‘using high contrast mode of display’ & ‘disabling certain options in the browser’ (for web apps). This article is the curated from four interesting articles.
Summary This article is a collection of interesting aspects on accessibility curated form a set of SIX articles covering “What is accessibility”, “Six steps to create accessible designs”, “Ethical design”, “Dos and don’ts on designing for accessibility”, “Ten tips for making website accessible” and “How to create interfaces that benefit all”.
(1) From Accessibility in Design What is accessibility? Accessibility describes how many people can use the interface. This usually involves designing for people with various types of disabilities, such as vision, hearing, mobility, cognitive, etc.
There are many obstacles in designing for accessibility, and the only real tool for finding solutions is empathy. Understand people’s needs as much as possible. Make yourself open to worlds unlike your own. It’ll make your product more accessible, but also more human.
(2) From How to Create Interfaces that Benefit All: Accessibility Testing and Inclusive Design Principles Smart designs aren’t created to impress your peers. Smart designs (and smart designers!) use design elements like colour, placement, and interaction in very intentional ways to help site visitors accomplish their goals — while giving the user the most enjoyable experience possible.
Six tips to create accessible designs 1.Start with wireframes that includes people who are colour blind, or have poor vision, those with hearing impairments, or cognitive limitations, older users, younger users, power users, and those who just want a great experience. 2. Ensure accessible layouts by: – avoiding“staggered” layout of images and text – display most important information first – consider screen size especially small monitors – think about menus especially when convert to hamburger 3. Design for keyboard accessibility 4. Test your colours and fonts are for readability 5. Create accessible forms 6. Learn how major sites work for keyboard or assistive technology users
(3) From “Ethical design and accessibility” “If your design is providing a benefit to one group of people at the detriment of another, it may not be ethical.”
Design is not about expressing yourself. Design is not about following your dream. Design is not about becoming a creative. Design is about keeping people from doing terrible things to other people — Mike Monteiro
Ethical design means thinking about your product in the context of its users and their environment. Designers need to learn how to think about ethical issues, and ask themselves: – What are the issues facing the users I am designing for? – Is there a social or environmental cost to my approach? – How do I keep my product from discriminating against its users?
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