Design Techniques for Digital UI UX Accessibility

The benefits of the digital content are not being fully accessed by a sizeable fraction of users. Accessibility is a key component for ensuring that everyone can participate, regardless of their ability, as digital technology becomes more integrated into every aspect of our lives.

What exactly is digital accessibility?

The UI/UX design of a digital application heavily influences whether it succeeds or fails. The link between users and digital products is a UI/UX design. It describes the first impression a user has when they visit a website and how satisfied they are with their complete experience.

Due to the wide range of needs among persons with disabilities, UI/UX design is even more important for delivering an inclusive and productive user experience. Designing for digital accessibility is essential in the modern era. It entails developing websites and applications that function for all users, irrespective of their ability.

Why should we treat accessibility with more respect?

In today’s digital environment, accessibility is a must-have. All users are assumed to have an equal capacity for content consumption and application use when designing websites and software.

This not only unfairly disadvantages those who have disabilities but also restricts a product’s potential market. A major percentage of the population is prevented from engaging with digital products on an equal basis by a UI/UX design that doesn’t take accessibility into account.

Here are several justifications for why accessibility should be given priority in UI/UX site design.

• Offering to their requirements and preferences is essential to delivering a superior user experience, regardless of whether they are tech-savvy children, seasoned professionals, or users who require extra help.
• In order to produce a truly inclusive design, businesses need give considerable consideration to the amazing population of users who have impairments.

How might the UI/UX of the website be made accessible to those who have disabilities?

Our UI UX design business recently received a request from a customer for a tailored learning Website. The client was very particular to demand that the Website be accessible to everyone, including those with impairments.

The client was pleased with the careful consideration our team devoted to the user experience and was astounded by the degree of accessibility incorporated into the website design.

Accessible

The website’s UI/UX design needs to make it easy for users to find the information they need. Unorganized website architecture, unclear buttons, and frustrating website features are a few obstacles that stand in the way of accessibility.

Understandable

The user’s perspective plays a significant role in understanding the website’s objective. Simple, easy-to-read language helps the text to be more comprehensible.

Perspective

Although they have no trouble browsing a website, those with intellectual disabilities have trouble reading and comprehending its information. By simply incorporating graphically processed information, such as tables, graphs, and information blocks, this problem is alleviated.

Color contrast

A website’s color scheme and design theme have a key role in accessibility. For certain users, some hue contrasts and combinations make them uneasy.

Scalability

Scalability allows UI/UX designers to change how much content is displayed in a loaded view. To make sure that the user understands what is said on the website, organize the material and visualize the information.

Alternative text

To make a picture understandable for those with visual impairments, alternative text is added to the image. For photos to be optimized and appear better in search engine result pages, alternative text is also crucial.

Two-channel principle

As a general rule, global web design adheres to the two-channel paradigm. The idea that users can obtain information in many ways is known as the multimodality principle.

Accessibility requirements for individuals with disabilities in UI/UX

There is a range of limitations that must be taken into account, not simply those that are physical but also those that include intellectual characteristics. The Accessibility Persona spectrum is a tool used by UI/UX designers to determine the many types of disabilities that users may have.

1. Permanent disability

It is the impairment that the user might regularly feel. It is determined that a user has a persistent handicap if:

• Loss of vision.
• Hard of hearing or deaf.
• An autism spectrum condition.
• Physical impairment.
• Learning impairment.

2. Temporary disability

It is the condition that users may have for a few hours or several months. One example of a temporary impairment is an adult with fractured limbs.

3. Situational disability

A user with a temporary handicap only feels it for a few hours. For instance, if someone is recuperating from surgery, they can immediately resume their regular activities.

Requirements related to vision impairment

Users who have complete blindness, partial vision loss, astigmatism, cataracts, or color blindness should be concerned about their vision.

Text enlargement tool

A text enlargement function on the website allows users with vision impairment to zoom in and out of the information.

Color blindness compliance

Red-green, blue-yellow, and total color blindness have been recognized as the three types of color blindness that occur most frequently. Because they are unable to distinguish between the fields marked in red, people who are color blind typically see this as a pain point.

By employing both colors and labels in areas where the user’s attention is needed, this form design is made visually accessible.

Dark mode

We frequently spend a lot of time on our cellphones and laptops. Here, dark mode offers you a positive user experience in the following ways:

• Improves the text’s ability to be read
• Conserves battery life
• Appears classy, trendy, and contemporary
• Reduces eye strain when using the device at night
• Reduces the glare on the screen

Bold Typography

The font size and boldness are increasing. Users are naturally drawn to bold typeface since it sticks out from the background and begs to be read. Bold font is becoming a crucial component of overall aesthetics on well-known websites like Dropbox, Drift, and Nike.

The needs of those who are deaf or hard of hearing

• For this reason, Google Chrome added a speaker icon to the webpage tab in the navigator to show the sound coming from a particular page.
• Making videos more universally accessible is simpler with subtitles. Since they may watch films in public places without earphones, it benefits not just the deaf but also those with regular hearing.
• For the purpose of providing effective customer assistance, a live chat or video chat is available for those who have hearing difficulties.

The demands of people with autism spectrum disorders

• Make sure the website’s pages are not overcrowded with design elements. Autism sufferers tend to be extremely sensitive, and packed websites can cause them to become disoriented. To avoid stuffing, prioritize white space.
• Since autistic people value consistency and dependability, design online pages with predictable navigation and structure.
• Eliminate all grammar and spelling errors, and keep the language clear and straightforward. Users can better concentrate on the material at hand thanks to this.
• A user’s ability to influence a site’s behavior must be unsurpassed.
• Both automated refreshes and time restrictions on the content should be avoided.
• When completing paperwork, provide clear directions and flag any mistakes.
• Be careful while communicating using photos and emojis.

Physical disability and it’s needs

• Users can aim at small goals by using large clickable buttons (such as CTA buttons, search bars, and tabs). Additionally, it’s critical to emphasize and magnify the most crucial encounters.
• To reduce the amount of time spent scrolling or swiping, prioritize the most critical content first. On some devices, users scroll using their feet or elbows.
• Use better alternatives to dropdowns when entering data on forms. Scrolling in subscription forms can be minimized by using step-by-step tunnels or procedures.

Learning disabilities and their needs

It can be challenging for users with learning disabilities to comprehend dense text. They need pictures, diagrams, video scripts, and other visual aids to help them comprehend the information.

• Avoid using a lot of dense text.
• To support the content, include illustrations and diagrams.
• Layout should be consistent, with text aligned to the left.
• Controls for automatic content, such as carousels and image sliders, should be provided
• Make audio and video versions of the content available.
• Give choices for changing the contrast