CS474: Human Computer Interaction - Accessibility
Activity Goals
The goals of this activity are:- To identify and utilize best practices for accessible design for users with disabilities or impairments
- To utilize best practices to improve web page accessibility
Supplemental Reading
Feel free to visit these resources for supplemental background reading material.The Activity
Directions
Consider the activity models and answer the questions provided. First reflect on these questions on your own briefly, before discussing and comparing your thoughts with your group. Appoint one member of your group to discuss your findings with the class, and the rest of the group should help that member prepare their response. Answer each question individually from the activity, and compare with your group to prepare for our whole-class discussion. After class, think about the questions in the reflective prompt and respond to those individually in your notebook. Report out on areas of disagreement or items for which you and your group identified alternative approaches. Write down and report out questions you encountered along the way for group discussion.Model 1: Complementary and High Contrast Colors
Questions
- What is the benefit of each color scheme?
Model 2: Design for Persons with Disabilities
Clearing a path for people with special needs clears the path for everyone! From @RightsOnWheels #universaldesign pic.twitter.com/JGisVS7Otd
— Gerard K. Cohen (@gerardkcohen) April 1, 2016
Questions
- What types of impairments would benefit from intentional design for accessibility?
- Name an example in which a universal design would obviate the need for special accessible structures.
Model 3: Accessibility
Navigate to the Web Accessibility Guidelines quick reference page from the w3 and evaluate a before and after page from this list.
Questions
- Name as many areas of improvement that you can for this page.
- How difficult would these items be to improve?
- Were any of the items you identified fixed in the "after page"?
Model 4: Accessibility
Navigate to the WAVE Accessibility Evaluation Tool and evaluate a before and after page from this list. You can use the WAVE Plugin to help you.
Questions
- Which of the deficiencies that you identified by hand were also identified by the tool? Did you find any that the tool did not? Did the tool find any additional ones?
Did You Know?
I used this tool on these course webpages, and found multiple areas of improvement that I’ve since developed. This has been a very useful tool for me, and this is why I wanted to take time to share it with you as well. Plan to use it everywhere you create web materials. These principles apply to many visual media, like presentations, as well!