Accessible Design priorities - Part II

Different types of disabilities have different needs from the web designer/developer. The canny designer will include the target disability audience in their analysis of the design goals. For example, an investment firm may be very interested in accessibility for Seniors– the aging baby boomers is an strategically critical target market. Aside from obvious design issues as fonts that can be resized, seniors have more subtle design needs, such as clear links and navigation on a page.

The gaming sites my children frequent obviously have not considered the needs of low reading levels in their site design. I spend a lot of time answering, “Mom can you help me with the computer?” The problem is usually game instructions that are not organized for low reading ability and short attention span. Sometimes it is a navigation problem with the site, as they click on the picture of the game they want (not a link) while ignoring the obvious underlined link that says “click here”.

Accessibility and Web Standards and Usability fields start to merge here. Fortunately, I am interested in all three, can you tell? More in my next post.

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