Web Accessibility – Leveling the Playing Field
Kel Smith is a longtime advocate of user-centric web design. In his blog, he writes
The use of technology as a means to aid people with disabilities can sometimes occur in surprising contexts. As an example, consider a recent research project presented yesterday at the IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference in Baltimore. Rehabilitation therapists have re-purposed the popular Guitar Hero game into a tool for amputees to develop facility with prosthetic limbs.
Weeks ago I decided to contribute a post on web accessibility. As the research was piling up on my desk and in my head, I caught an episode of 60 Minutes which, like Kel Smith’s blog, made me think of accessibility not just in terms of web access. It made me think of web accessibility as one crucial component in our cultural resolve to use technology to bring us together.
In the 60 Minutes story, a brain researcher with ALS is trained to think letters which then appear on his computer screen; it is nascent research, but the locked-in syndrome which inevitably robs ALS patients of their ability to communicate may someday be trumped by this most exquisite interface—that of human intelligence to artificial intelligence.
The re-purposing of Guitar Hero from game to learning tool is likewise a means of effecting a ‘leveling the playing field’ outcome. The potential for amputees to ‘communicate’ with their prosthetic limbs is not unlike the brain researcher’s ability to ‘communicate’ with his computer. Both are engaged in activities that enable them to participate more fully in the global community. And in both cases, we are not only leveling the playing field from human to human, but leveling it in terms of user experience against astonishing and previously crippling odds.
We as designers and developers may not be involved with effecting such profound changes in our clients’ and end users’ lives, but we can and should approach our role as integral to a more robust user experience and the evolution of a more level playing field for everyone.
To that end, here is a brief primer on designing accessible sites.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the World Wide Web Consortium’s response to calls for improving and increasing web accessibility to people with disabilities. These guidelines are spelled out nicely, succinctly, by WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind) on its website. The principles are conceptual, not technical, in nature, but give us a solid foundation on which to think and build.
- First, a website must be Perceivable: Can your information be seen, heard, or, in some cases, touched? Can it be accessed by changing text into audio or Braille? Can audio files be read? A basic
tag can help blind users navigate your images. This “perceivability†is another fundamental argument for the use of CSS to separate form from content. Once all the bling is stripped away, can a user still extract meaning from your site? - Websites must also be Operable: Some users are not able to manipulate a mouse. Since most adaptive devices emulate the functionality of a keyboard, keyboard accessibility is critical. Tools such as site maps and “skip†directives (i.e. “skip to main content,†“skip navigationâ€) are helpful to the disabled user for whom access is already a time consuming and in some cases, physically painful undertaking. Following this thought: users with disabilities are sometimes up against impractical time limits when performing online tasks such as banking. Solutions to this problem are prickly, as they are bounded by security considerations, but we must seek them. Finally, when a user makes an error, particularly while using an e-commerce site, there must be a means of error recovery. We might think about making error recovery, confirmation screens, and “are you absolutely SURE?†systems more redundant.
- Sites must be Understandable: Write clearly and simply. Label all interactive elements clearly and simply.
- Sites must be Robust: Sites must function across different browsers and operating systems. This is obviously important for all users. But users with disabilities are more likely to experience economic strains related to their other challenges. They may not have current browser versions or they may be using older operating systems. Code validation is one of the easiest and fastest ways to check functionality. The W3 offers a free markup validation service; it might be wise to validate our code as part of our design protocols.
The W3C’s quick tips on accessibility and the book Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance have been valuable tools in my own fledgling pursuit of more accessible site design; Kel Smith reports regularly on his own enormously readable, insightful Aniktoblog. In short, there are a million ways to access accessibility. (You knew that was coming).
The push toward accessibility and usability is not strictly a function of altruism. It also makes for sound business practice: more usability equals more users. And other economic incentives may ultimately nudge the ship of commerce: the recent settlement of the Target class action suit brought by the National Federation of the Blind, will ensure that visitors to the Target website will be soon able to navigate it using adaptive technologies.
But, at heart, we simply need to design websites that all of our neighbors and all of our children can use. We can play an integral role in leveling the playing field. It’s the right thing to do.
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