Writing Journal 11/4: Accessibility
Design Accessibility and Accessibility Guidelines for UX Designers really brought to my attention to the importance of designing accessible products. I believe many people who are not handicapped don't realize the struggles that others may face when it comes to interacting with many of the tools we use today in many of our digital cultures. These struggles could be as simple as someone who is colorblind not seeing the text box highlighted with color stating that they may have inputted their password wrong. It can also go as far as those who have motor impairments that have a hard time or are incapable of using a mouse to navigate a site. These problems can easily be solved by taking a more creative approach to the design constraints that these disabilities can impose while generating an online product. These constraints can be solved with several solutions and it all depends on the creativity of the designer. The solutions can also be fairly simple to implement such as adding symbols/text to indicate an error opposed to a slight color change or even making the website more compatible with voice recognition software such as Dragon to allow accessibility with those that have difficulty with a mouse or keyboard. These designs are not just for those that are permanently disabled but also those who may have a temporary disability such as a broken arm. Overall I believe these designs are useful for all users, disabled or not, due to the allowance of easier navigation and use of a product which ultimately can increase a user's experience. (Hausler, 2015; Kaur, 2018)
This topic is extremely important to those in computer science. When designing programs it is extremely important to make it easier to use. This positively affects the userās experience and will most likely cause them to use the product again. By being accessible it allows the product to reach many people and allows those who have disabilities to use the product as easily as those who are more fortunate.
I used a linguistic approach of text to summarize the topics of design accessibility and the importance of accessibility. I also used a visual approach of a GIF to reinforce the idea that accessibility is not just for those that have permanent disabilities but also those who can have difficulty with the design due to an injury.Ā Ā














