Accessibility vs Design

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P R E S E N T E D B Y …

Designing for our future selves*Thoughts on accessibility

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Emma at 70?

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1994 2009 2020 2040 …and then?

Silver Surfers

Why care?

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60% of 50-64 year olds use social media. That's a tenfold increase in eight years.

• Over 65’s spend 42 hours a month online. That is 4 more hours than those aged between 18 and 24.

• These people also have the highest net monetary value in society.

• Approximately 20% of our population is living with some form of disability. That statistic is on the rise due to our aging population.

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“Design for special needs”Perhaps a patronizing way to describe design specifically for people with particular impairments?

Define

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“Assistive technology”Inappropriately puts emphasis on the technology?

Define

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“Design for disabilities”Not ideal because this could imply that no other design is?

Define

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“Mainstream design”Has the assumption that the target market entirely consists of nondisabled people?

Define

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“Inclusive design”“Universal design”Seeks to make mainstream design accessible to everyone?

Define

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“People are disabled by the society they live in, not directly by their impairment.”

- Design Meets Disability by Graham Pullin

“Design against disability”

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TensionDo flesh-coloured prostheses and miniaturized hearing aids send out tacit signals that impairment is something to hide?

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In contrastCorrective prescription…

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ToFashionable eyewear

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4 Considerations

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Rockin’ outDifficulty hearing sounds or separating sounds make listening difficult, especially on mobile devices.

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Reduced contrast, colour perception, and focus make it difficult to read webpages.

Sight

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The individual may have reduced dexterity or fine motor control, which makes it difficult to use a mouse or difficulty clicking on small link targets.

Mobility

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These symptoms may include short-term memory loss, unable to concentrate, easily distracted, and difficulty following navigation and finishing online tasks.

Cognition

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Designed to take

advantage?"We're looking into other industries as well in relation to drip pricing, but it's driven by what we perceive as the most egregious behaviour.” - Australian Competition and Consumer

Commission

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What can we do?There are vast amounts of information about accessibility standards online.

But, who wants to read all that?

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Think about these 8 things while you are designing…

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#1 Design for mobile

Sight• Adaptive interfaces such as ‘pin’ to start page for

quick use.• Easy to zoom with pinch touch.• Voice to text features and screen reading is

included in operating systems.• “It is easier to use the phone to read textbooks

than use JAWS on the desktop”. – Ann Marie @Atlantic University

• Not being able to access bits of information drives users to search for and create new apps to help.

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#2 Visual Design

Sight• Text size and font• Text colour and contrast• Layout• Hover, focus and active states• Consistent headers and labels• Recognition rather than recall

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#3 Alt Descriptions

Sight• Don’t leave it up the FED, they might not

understand the purpose of the image.• Consider putting image descriptions into

your build spec?• If users are adding images themselves,

enable a feature for them to add alt text.

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#4 Design for touch

Sight & Mobility• When someone has difficulty using a

keyboard and mouse, another alternative is a touch screen.

• Designing for touch means you will be naturally designing larger areas to focus on. Not only is this good for touch interaction, but it is great for someone with less dexterity to click an area with a mouse.

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Cognitive• With decreased ability to focus on

tasks, remembering how to navigate can be difficult.

• Let users know their status with breadcrumbs.

• With many devices available, there could be a steep learning curve for each operating system or design.

• Predictability in visual design and location of menus, links and icons.

#5 Consistency

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Cognitive#6 Human language• Older people can find it harder to understand

complex sentences, unusual words and technical jargon.

• Both language and visual cues e.g. icons should be understandable.

• Provide meaningful descriptions.• Have context-sensitive help available e.g.

tooltips

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Cognitive#7 Remove Distraction• While still maintaining consistency is it possible to

remove parts on the page?• Light boxes, new tabs opening and pop-ups can

cause confusion, so add a description of what will happen next.

• How should the site react when JavaScript is not working?

• Is there sufficient time given to read or submit information?

• Remove distraction from movement.• Remove error prone settings.

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#8 Consider before you leap in

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