Omni Core · UI and UX Optimization · Module
Accessibility
Whether the interface works for people using assistive technology, keyboards only, or with impaired vision or motor control.
The idea
How it works
Accessibility retrofitted is expensive and partial; built in it is nearly free. The difference is entirely a matter of when the requirement enters the process.
Automated tools catch perhaps a third of issues. The rest require someone using a keyboard only, or a screen reader, or looking at the contrast — none of which is difficult and none of which is automatic.
Working with it
In practice
- 01
Adopt a standard and state the level
A named conformance level makes the requirement checkable rather than aspirational.
- 02
Test with a keyboard first
Navigate the whole interface without a mouse. It takes ten minutes and finds a great deal.
- 03
Do not rely on automated checks alone
They catch a minority. Manual testing with assistive technology finds the rest.
- 04
Treat it as an obligation, not an enhancement
In most jurisdictions it is one, and it belongs in the compliance register with the others.
One level in
The components of accessibility
A component is something that exists afterwards which did not exist before — a deliverable or a mechanism, not an intention.
Navigate the whole interface with a keyboard only. It takes ten minutes and finds a great deal.
The other modules in ui and ux optimization
Understanding use
How people actually use the thing, established by watching rather than by inferring from analytics.
LearnDesign decisions
What is being changed and why, with the reasoning recorded so a later change does not undo it for reasons nobody remembers.
LearnTesting changes
Establishing whether a change improved anything, on a measure agreed beforehand, with enough volume to be readable.
Learn