Web Accessibility

A much-needed reference to the latest thinking in universal design Universal Design: Creating Inclusive Environments offers a comprehensive survey of best practices and innovative solutions in universal design. Written by top thinkers at the Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access (IDeA), it demonstrates the difference between universal design and accessibility and identifies its relationship to sustainable design and active living. Hundreds of examples from all areas of design illustrate the practical application of this growing field. Complete, in-depth coverage includes: * The evolution of universal design, from its roots in the disability rights movement to present-day trends * How universal design can address the needs of an aging population without specialization or adaptation to reduce the need for expensive and hard-to-find specialized products and services * Design practices for human performance, health and wellness, and social participation * Strategies for urban and landscape design, housing, interior design, product design, and transportation Destined to become the standard professional reference on the subject, Universal Design: Creating Inclusive Environments is an invaluable resource for architects, interior designers, urban planners, landscape architects, product designers, and anyone with an interest in how we access, use, and enjoy the environment.

Designing User Interfaces for an Aging Population: Towards Universal Design presents age-friendly design guidelines that are well-established, agreed-upon, research-based, actionable, and applicable across a variety of modern technology platforms. The book offers guidance for product engineers, designers, or students who want to produce technological products and online services that can be easily and successfully used by older adults and other populations. It presents typical age-related characteristics, addressing vision and visual design, hand-eye coordination and ergonomics, hearing and sound, speech and comprehension, navigation, focus, cognition, attention, learning, memory, content and writing, attitude and affect, and general accessibility. The authors explore characteristics of aging via realistic personas which demonstrate the impact of design decisions on actual users over age 55.

As the baby boom generation ages, it is crucial that designers understand all they can about bringing this group, as well as all others, design that will offer function, aesthetics, and quality of life. Full of examples and illustrated with pictures of good design, Universal Design: Principles and Models details how the principles of universal design (UD) can be used to evaluate all products and places. Universal design is ubiquitous; therefore good examples are essential to understanding. This book includes more than 50 case studies that demonstrate successful applications of UD principles and helps professors develop curriculum and teaching strategies. More than 300 color photographs and drawings further illustrate the principles and best practices. The book includes topics ranging from the development of ergonomic chairs for home and office to the unique environmental concerns of those sensitive to electronic and chemical emissions. The examples illustrate a variety of user/groups in different situations and clearly demonstrate the design directives for meeting their needs. The author explores the many definitions of UD, enabling readers to identify those most meaningful to large portions of the population. Universal design (UD) facilitates the comfort and navigation of those with failing eyesight or restricted mobility, and the family members and professionals who care for them. Whether at home, work, or a public place, people appreciate the beautiful and the practical. This book takes a vital and meaningful approach, going beyond the basics and delving into details. It gets to the heart of UD and supplies an understanding of design from a greater perspective.

What is inclusive design? It is simple. It means that your product has been created with the intention of being accessible to as many different users as possible. For a long time, the concept of accessibility has been limited in terms of only defining physical spaces. However, change is afoot: personal technology now plays a part in the everyday lives of most of us, and thus it is a responsibility for designers of apps, web pages, and more public-facing tech products to make them accessible to all. Our digital era brings progressive ideas and paradigm shifts - but they are only truly progressive if everybody can participate. In Inclusive Design for a Digital World, multiple crucial aspects of technological accessibility are confronted, followed by step-by-step solutions from User Experience Design professor and author Regine Gilbert. Think about every potential user who could be using your product. Could they be visually impaired? Have limited motor skills? Be deaf or hard of hearing? This book addresses a plethora of web accessibility issues that people with disabilities face. Your app might be blocking out an entire sector of the population without you ever intending or realizing it. For example, is your instructional text full of animated words and Emoji icons? This makes it difficult for a user with vision impairment to use an assistive reading device, such as a speech synthesizer, along with your app correctly. In Inclusive Design for a Digital World, Gilbert covers the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 requirements, emerging technologies such as VR and AR, best practices for web development, and more. As a creator in the modern digital era, your aim should be to make products that are inclusive of all people. Technology has, overall, increased connection and information equality around the world. To continue its impact, access and usability of such technology must be made a priority, and there is no better place to get started than Inclusive Design for a Digital World. What You'll Learn The moral, ethical, and high level legal reasons for accessible design Tools and best practices for user research and web developers The different types of designs for disabilities on various platforms Familiarize yourself with web compliance guidelines Test products and usability best practices Understand past innovations and future opportunities for continued improvement Who This Book Is For Practitioners of product design, product development, content, and design can benefit from this book.

The web has to be inclusive. One in five people living in the UK have a disability. From Microsoft's "inclusive design" movement - creating adaptive controllers for users with a range of disabilities - to Beyoncé's site being sued for failure to be accessible, the importance of considering access needs is gaining mainstream attention. Recognizing and catering for a range of disabilities in our online platforms is key to achieving a truly inclusive web. You'll be guided through a broad range of access needs, the barriers users often face, and provided practical advice on how your sites can help rather than hinder. Going beyond advice tailored solely for developers, this book offers potential improvements for designers, developers, user experience professionals, QA and testers, so that everyone involved in building a website can engage with the concepts without the need to understand how to code. Learn about the very latest technology - such as natural language processing and smart home tech - and explore its application accessibly. This book comes complete with practical examples you can use in your own sites and, for the first time in any web accessibility book, access needs experienced by those with mental health disorders and cognitive impairments are comprehensively covered.  Applicable to both new projects and those maintaining existing sites and looking for achievable improvements on them, Practical Web Inclusion and Accessibility gives you all the information you need to ensure that your sites are truly accessible for the modern, inclusive web. What You Will Learn Understand the vast range of disabilities that have online access needs Apply the practical steps required to cater for those needs Use new technology to open up exciting avenues for the sites you create and maintain Approach accessibility from a full spectrum of online disciplines Start thinking about users with specific disabilities and how it impacts your work Who This Book Is For Anyone who wants to have a greater understanding of the inclusive web and considerations that should be made. You do not need to have coding knowledge.