UX should consider all users
Accessibility, at its core, is quite simple but crucial to implement for digital products. It is an integral part of UX!
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines set out the minimum requirements for your digital products to be accessible. WCAG mentions these 4 principles:
- Perceivable - the user must be able to perceive your product and all the information contained in it
- Operable - the user should be able to use your product, with or without the use of assistive technologies
- Understandable - the user understands all the information on your product including how to deal with errors
- Robust - the product needs to have the greatest possible compatibility between current technologies and be updated if necessary
There is a range of tools and techniques to test the accessibility of your design:
- Contrast: Figma plugin for the Design phase
- W3C Validator: It is important to check all your code is validated and correct
- WAVE: Free online website accessibility tester
- Coolors Contrast Checker: if colour contrast doesn’t pass, it makes suggestions for colours that would be better
- Images ON/OFF: Chrome extension to check alt text of images
When we create and develop digital products with these principles and tools in mind, we are creating a good user experience for all our users.
