I want to discuss accessibility because it is the most important thing to make websites. Other A separate list articles provide you with innovation and knowledge. This article will give you homework. These are just my personal opinions, but they are pretty good.
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I want to start with a couple of statements and you will agree:
- Designers are good people. I’ve never heard a designer say, “I don’t care if someone can’t read this text,” “It’s not my fault if someone can’t use this device,” or “Who cares if this is confusing?”
- Some designs exclude people. You’ve seen people who can’t read the text on a website or app someone designed. You’ve seen people unable to use a physical device that someone designed. You’ve seen people completely fooled when trying to use a service that someone designed.
The first question is: “Is this a matter of life and death?” The answer is “Yes.” In my favorite essay, This is all there is, Balkan Aral points out that virtually everything we design can affect the events of life and death. Aral gives the example of how even a simple bus schedule app can affect life or death events if we design it poorly:
- someone might miss a life event, like their daughter’s fifth birthday party; either
- Someone might miss a death-related event, such as the opportunity to say goodbye to a dying grandmother.
The next (and frustrating) question is: “Why do some designs still exclude people?” After all, we know that:
- not everyone can see perfectly;
- not everyone can hear perfectly;
- not everyone thinks the same; and
- Not everyone moves the same way.
I think the answer is that there is too much to remember. Consider, as it were, the wide variety of topics that A separate list article cover. Designers are expected to remember all of that guidance, plus all of the accessibility guidance and much more. It’s too much.
Recognize accessibility issues during design#section3
I would like to point out a possible solution, starting with Jacob Nielsen‘s Ten usability heuristics for user interface design. These are from the mid-1990s, and although you, gentle reader, are most likely much younger, bear with me.
Since the problem is that there is too much to remember, I want to look at heuristics. № 6, “Recognition instead of remembrance.” Jakob Nielsen said that for users, the information needed to use the design should be visible or easily retrievable when needed. I suggest we modify that to make life easier for designers. Let’s say that the information required to produce The design must be visible or easily retrievable when necessary. In other words, Let’s make it easier to recognize accessibility issues while we are designing.
How are we going to do that? I really like the book A Web for everyone: designing accessible user experiences by Sara Horton and Whitney Quesenbery. I really like this book not only because it includes a quote from me (actually two quotes, but I don’t like to brag), but because it includes characters who are perfect for helping us recognize accessibility issues. That’s the good news. The best news is that these characters are now available for free on the book’s companion website. What every engineer should know about digital accessibilityagain by Sarah Horton, with David Sloan this time.
I’m going to introduce these people to you now:
- Vishnu, an engineer and global citizen with low vision says, “I want to be on the same level as everyone else,” “If I can adjust my screen, I can read comfortably,” and “Translating in your head is easier with simpler sentences.”
- Trevor, a high school student with autismsays, “I like consistent, familiar places on the Web,” “When I can learn the pattern, I can find my way,” and “Reading is hard for me.”
- Steven, a deaf graphic artist and American Sign Language speaker.says: “My only disadvantage is that not everyone signs” and “Without subtitles, it doesn’t make sense to me.”
- María, a bilingual community health workersays, “I love this. It’s all here…when I can find it,” “When a site is confusing, I just leave it” (that’s fair, Maria!), and “When I hear and see it, the health information makes more sense.”
- Lea, an editor who lives with fatigue and painsays, “No one understands that this is really a disability,” “Don’t make me work so hard” (please don’t bombard this lady with drop-down lists), and “The links at the top of the page make it easy for me to navigate.”
- Jacob, a blind and slightly geeky paralegalsays, “The right technology allows me to do anything” and “This makes it possible to do my job.”
- Emily, who has cerebral palsy and lives independently.says, “I want to do everything myself,” “Simpler screens are easier screens” (hell yeah, Emily!) and “Tell me what I need ahead of time.”
- Carol, a grandmother with macular degeneration affecting his vision, he says, “My grandchildren are dragging me into the world of technology,” “I don’t understand what the screen says,” and “Why can’t the text be a little bigger?”
I want to introduce you to one more person now, because, well, A separate list The readers have great performance. One of my favorite authors, Cennydd Bowles—who literally wrote the book on Future ethics—says create Non Grata Persons. In other words, every time we design something, we have to think about what a bad guy could do with it and who it could affect.
To really use these personas while designing, I like what they Eric Meyer and Sara Wachter-Boettcher in Design for real life call the designated dissident– For every project you work on, one of your teams should be responsible for asking, “Will this work for Vishnu?”, “How will Trevor do with this?”, etc.
Then, once you’ve used personas to recognize accessibility issues, you can look up the guidelines for whatever platform you’re designing for:
Your mission, if you decide to accept it#section5
I told you in the introduction of this article that I would give you homework. You thought I was joking. So here is your task: I want you to grab the people at the Know About Accessibility websiteand use them in every design project to help you recognize accessibility issues as you work and bring design back to life for everyone.
NOTE: This article is based on “Recognize”, my five-minute presentation of Interaction Design Association (IxDA) Dublin‘s Defuse (Design for Use) event in 2025.
