How to make your mobile app accessible by Kath Moonan

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Accessibility Experience

How to tackle accessibility in your app

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Hello!

• @ladymoonan

• Accessibility Lead, Vodafone Group UE

• 10 years experience

• Senior consultant at AbilityNet

• UPA UK accessibility chair

• User centered design approach

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Smart access #vsa2011Accessibility #a11y

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How to tackle accessibility in your own app

1. Talk to people with access needs

2. Plan from the beginning

3. Follow guidelines

4. Accessibility isn’t just about screen reader users!

5. Test with people with access needs

6. V1.0 may be a work in progress

7. You don’t have to be perfect to be accessible

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HOLISTIC APPROACH

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Approximately 136 million people experience moderate or minor disability or have an access need

19 markets (total population 1.76 billion)

Approx. 30 million people have a severe disability

Everyone has access needs

at some point

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1. Talk to smartphone users with access needs

• If you’re talking to people you are probably doing this – Mild vision impairment, dyslexia, colour blindness, older users

• Contact disability organisations / adult groups / charities– Self organised, grass roots groups as well as charities– Ensure the people with access needs are from your target

audiences!

• Interest groups:– www.blindtechsupport.net– http://www.nida.org.uk/ (Northern Ireland Dyslexia assoc.)

• Use social media #disability #dyslexia

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Just Ask

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Inclusive design toolkit

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2. Plan from the beginning

Requirements DeploymentDevelopment

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Accessibility

Project time line

Cost

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3. Follow guidelines

• Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0Best practices for mobile web design and development

• WCAG 2.0Technology agnostic guidelines from W3C

• BS8878Web accessibility: Code of practice

• Barriers Common to Mobile Device Users and People with Disabilities Who is affected and what challenges they face

• Designing for accessibilityBy and for Android developers

• Android accessibilityfrom the Google Eyes Free project

• http://www.iheni.com/mobile-accessibility-guidelines/

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Key points

• Follow common design patterns

• Don’t break built in accessibility

• Simplicity is accessibility

• Reduced functionality helps

• Android: Poor access for partially sighted / low vision– Provide display options – text size, colour

• Follow web standards

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4. Accessibility isn’t just about blind people!

• Arthritis is the most common condition for which people receive Disability Living Allowance (DLA)1

• 1in 30 people in the UK experience sight loss2

– The majority of vision impaired people are partially sighted

• 1 in 7 people in the UK with a hearing impairment3

• 1 in 10 are affected by dyslexia4

• 974,000 people with a learning disability in England5

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Key points on mobile usage

• “If I can do it on my phone I will” (Partially sighted user)

• Users may have a limited amount of time using phone / app

• Users don’t know how to use their device

• May be using older versions

• Users don’t want different products – mainstream accessibility

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5. Test with people with access needs

• See step 1!

• Include a percentage of users with access needs in every sample

• Use personas and walkthroughs

• Use simulators (with caution)

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6. V1.0 may be a work in progress

“If your product demonstrates enough of its unique selling points (USPs) and no more than that, you’ve achieved your minimal viable product, and you should get it out there right now.” Jonathan Hassell, Chair of BS 88788 committee

This doesn’t mean don’t address the issues at a later stage!

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Upgrades

• Be careful not to degrade accessibility during upgrades

• Don’t keep changing the UI and not informing users (Facebook)

• Tell users about accessibility features

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7. You don’t have to be perfect to be accessible

“We may not end up with a perfect 10 for accessibility. I’m enough of a realist to know that few websites launch in a perfect state, irrespective of accessibility or not.”

Accessibility expert Leonié Watson on Government Digital Service (GDS)

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Final word to Leonié

“Design like you give a damn!”

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Thanks

@ladymoonan

[email protected]

Designing an accessible mobile app