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Fundamentals of Graphic Communication. 3.5 Accessible Design. Overview. What is accessibility? Why is it important? Design guidelines Types of disabilities Accessibility testing. What is accessibility?.
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Fundamentals of Graphic Communication 3.5 Accessible Design
Overview • What is accessibility? • Why is it important? • Design guidelines • Types of disabilities • Accessibility testing
What is accessibility? • Accessibility is the degree to which technology is usable by people with disabilities • Universal access is the philosophy of designing technology and information to be usable by all people without specialized adaptations
Accessible technology • Assistive hardware • Allow disabled users to interact with the computer • Examples • Specialized keyboards • Head trackers • Braille terminals Matias Corporation
Accessible technology • Accessibility software • Designed to provide an accessible interface between other software and the user • Examples • Voice recognition • Speech synthesis • Screen readers • Mouse / keyboard helpers • We want software to be accessible; that is, to work transparently with accessible technology without sacrificing quality
Why’s it important? • There are millions of disabled people in the US • Non-accessible products limit your audience • It’s the law • Section 508 requires government-funded websites to meet accessibility guidelines • It’s a nice thing to do • Share your creations with the world • Accessible design often results in good design • Easy-to-use products benefit everyone
Good Grips • Accessible design requires making products easier to use for everyone • Who doesn’t like that? Good Grips
Fred and Ginger • Accessible technology often requires creative technical solutions • Mainstream products may benefit from these solutions DEKA
Design principles (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0) • Perceivable Ensure that all content can be presented in form(s) that can be perceived by any user - except those aspects of the content that cannot be expressed in words. • Operable Ensure that the interface elements in the content are operable by any user. • Orientation/Navigation Facilitate content orientation and navigation • Comprehendible Make it as easy as possible to understand the content and controls. • Technology Robust Use Web technologies that maximize the ability of the content to work with current and future accessibility technologies and user agents.
More principles • Present information in a clear and straightforward manner • Limit large amounts of text • Structure documents clearly • Express ideas in multiple media when possible • ALT text for HTML images • Transcripts for audio/video content • You don’t need to sacrifice visual style for accessibility
Types of disabilities • Visual • Blindness • Low vision • Color blindness • Hearing • Motor skills • Cognitive disability • Reading disorders • Attention disorders • Memory impairments
Blindness • User cannot see visual content • Pictures, diagrams, animations, etc. • May use a screen reader to get information • Cannot scan a page quickly • Must navigate linearly through text • Solutions • Provide structure to text for easy navigation • Add text or audio descriptions to images/video • Follow standards for maximum compatibility with screen readers
Low vision • Many types • Poor vision quality • Partially occluded vision • Very common in seniors • Low-contrast text difficult to read • Solutions • Allow font resizing • Allow color schemes to be changed • Add text or audio descriptions to images/video
Low vision • Many types • Poor vision quality • Partially occluded vision • Very common in seniors • Low-contrast text difficult to read • Solutions • Allow font resizing • Allow color schemes to be changed • Add text or audio descriptions to images/video
Color blindness • Inability to distinguish between certain colors • Affects 10% of males • Often have problems with red and green • Solutions • Allow color schemes to be changed • Don’t differentiate on hue alone • Saturation • Value • Shape
Color blindness What you see What color-blind users see visibone.com
Is this accessible? Big Fish Games
Better PopCap Games
Hearing impairment • User cannot hear audio content • This one is easy to test for • Turn off your speakers! • Solution • Provide captioning for all audio content
Impaired motor skills • Difficulty using mouse and keyboard • Inaccuracy while clicking • Slow input • May use specialized input device • Solution • Do not require precise clicking • Allow alternate input methods • Keyboard • Mouse • Voice
Color blindness tools • Will send these out later
Resources • Dive Into Accessibility • http://diveintoaccessibility.org/ • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 • http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG20/WD-WCAG20-20020424.html • How People with Disabilities Use the Web • http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/Drafts/PWD-Use-Web/ • UMass Disability Services • http://www.umass.edu/disability/ • Assistive Technologies Center • http://www-pcco.oit.umass.edu/assistive/assistive.html