Considering any part of society as ‘special’ can never solve the accessibility problems of many interactive systems
-Pradipta Biswas
The simulator, developed by researchers at Cambridge’s Engineering Design Centre, allows designers and software engineers to see a site through the eyes of people with a wide range of abilities, and adapt their design accordingly. It can also be used to customise the way in which a site displays according to an individual’s specific needs and can be integrated into other electronic devices.
Web design has become more responsive to the requirements of its users, especially as the way we consume information online changes: for example, many websites will render differently whether a user is viewing it on a desktop, tablet or mobile. When done well, this type of responsive design results in sites which are uncluttered, easy to navigate and easy to read.
But for users with physical, motor or cognitive impairments, interacting with websites, even well-designed websites, is challenging. Simply clicking on a link, an action which most users can complete in a fraction of a second, can be difficult. For example, a user with Parkinson’s disease will often take much longer to land a cursor on the correct item in a drop-down menu, and if the links are quite close together, the wrong link altogether could be clicked. This makes for a frustrating experience, and can prevent many people from accessing information online.
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Image: Detail: hand & computer
Credit: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung via flickr
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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