Accessibility has become a very HOT topic in recent years with the design community. Websites, because of their nature, are very high on the watch list when it comes to accessibility. The internet is open for all and because of that, should be useable by all. Wendy Chisholm, author of “Universal Design for Web Applications”, was recently featured on a podcast that discussed this very topic.
It seems that technology is not designed to fit everyone – the general masses yes, but a significant portion no. In 1999 Wendy Chisholm wrote the book “Universal Design for Web Applications”. This book was soon adopted by most of the world as a set of guidelines for how to design with accessibility in mind. During the podcast, Wendy Chisholm mentions three things that needs to happen for all design to be universal:
- Technology needs to have accessibility built in.
- A cultural shift need to take place.
- People with disabilities need to be involved in the development.
A very interesting point that was brought up was that by applying accessibility principles to web design, then the different search engines would pick up more of you tags. Wendy Chisholm said to think of “Google as a blind deaf user”.
But web design is not the only discipline that needs rules of accessibility. Some interested points have come up in regards to the print industry and accessibility. Different steps can be taken to both improve readability and accessibility. In some research, I came across two different presentations that spoke to print documents and how to improve the design:
Cover page from CNIB Clear Print Guide Presentation
Clear Print Accessibility Guidelines (http://www.cnib.ca/en/services/accessibilities/resources/clearprint/CNIB%20Clear%20Print%20Guide.pdf) and Easier Than You Think by Barbara Skoglund (http://www.mnaging.org/odyssey/ppt/Skoglund_EasierThanUThink.ppt). Both presentations highlight different actions designers can take to improve a document. Some of the obvious ones are larger fonts, fonts that are clear and concise, spacing between letters and lines of text. The most interesting thing mentioned in these two presentations was when Barbara Skoglund mentioned Styles and Formatting in MS Office software.
I have always been a firm believer in using Styles and Formatting in Word Documents. They allow for clean, easy to use and edit documents. The few minutes it takes to set up Styles is well worth it in the end. Barbara Skoglund’s presentation mentioned that the screen reader does not read formatting in a document. However, with structured documents using Word’s Styles and Formatting window, the text is tagged with more information that the screen reader can use during read back.
One type of impairment that seems to be skipped is color blindness. Color blindness affects many different people and if not taken in consideration during the design process can have a great impact. As designers we use color in ways to help organize, produce structure, provide interest, etc. For someone who is color blind these elements can be missed entirely. As designers, it is important that we create our designs with the intention that they be used by everyone. One important thing I remember from my last quarter of classes is that if you design for the extremes, you design for everyone. Looking at providing more education in design schools about accessibility and the different areas to be watchful of is one way we can start to improve accessibility issues. As designers, clients rely on us to provide the technical expertise and knowhow. If we don’t know how to design for the most people, how can we expect our client will.
We must stay educated and knowledgeable in all areas of accessibilities. Everyone will benefit from universal design. As Wendy Chisholm says, before there can be complete change three things need to happen: 1 Technology needs to have accessibility built in. 2 A cultural shift need to take place. 3 People with disabilities need to be involved in the development. If these happen, then the world will be a better place.
