From the SIG Manager's Desk

Usability Interface
From the SIG Manager's Desk

by Whitney Quesenbery
Reprinted from Usability Interface, Vol 6, No. 2, October 1999

Accessibility is often the last challenge taken up in designing the user interface. A color scheme is created and shown to the team for review. "But what about people who are color blind?, " someone will ask and a small groan goes around the table. Or the screen layout template for a web site is almost complete before anyone considers how it will work with a screen reader. The problem, of course, is that people with disabilities are not usually considered during the process of user segmentation. Their needs, which fall outside of the matrix, become an afterthought to the design.

One place to start in ensuring accessible design is with the first dictum of usability: "Know thy users for they are not you. " The techniques of usability – observation, contextual inquiry, and usability evaluation – are intended to help us see the world from another’s perspective. The limitations imposed by a disability are no different than any other environmental constraint or user preference.

In fact, the expanding number of options for accessing the Web makes the consideration of a variety of display devices essential. The differences between Windows and Macintosh or high and low resolution screens seem minimal when you consider a web site or application which might be accessed through a television screen, cell phone, PDA screen, or even a bank teller machine.

The work of the Web Accessibility Initiative and guidelines for accessible design on other platforms can be the basis for design that meets the needs of more users. The software development environment has tended to treat user preferences as mere window dressing. But to meet the needs of people with disabilities – even temporary disabilities – "user preferences" must assume a more central role in the design of usable software.