A review of
A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences
by Sarah Horton and Whitney Quesenbery
Rosenfeld Media, 2014
What if everyone could use the web with equal ease? A student with reading challenges, a blind professional, a shopper using an iPad, a patient whose only device is a smartphone?
Two of the leading authorities on UX and accessibility have considered this topic and this book is the result of their collaboration. The insights and observations in this book give all of us hope, and for those of us in the business of creating websites, they provide specific guidelines and reasons for “doing the right thing.”
As all UX endeavors should, this book starts with people. Chapter 1 sets the stage, drawing our attention to the value of diversity. The authors then help us remember that every aspect of web design is important and needed. Even if it’s easy to use, if there isn’t anything that you would want to use, then the site will fail. If it’s beautiful but users cannot find the navigation, again, it will fail. If it’s “invisible” to some users, again, failure. As the authors point out, the responsibility for making the web work rests with all of us who design for the web:
no matter what your roles or skills are, it’s important that you—that all of us—own the term “design” because it comes with incumbent responsibilities which we need to own as well. Design has the capacity to improve lives. When we wield such a powerful tool, we need to appreciate its power so we are able to use it for good.
Chapter 2 defines the needy. Who are the people who need access to the web and can’t get it? The chapter introduces eight personas who appear elsewhere in the book. We meet a bright autistic teenager, a college student with cerebral palsy, a deaf graphic artist, a grandmother with macular degeneration, a Hispanic social worker with clients whose web access is often phone-based, as well as several others. They all have unique needs that can be met through flexibility in design and coding, and that don’t require the creation of separate “unequal” sites.
The following chapters in the book consider the challenge from different angles:
- Purpose and goals of the website
- Structure and use of standards
- Easy interaction
- Wayfinding
- Clean presentation
- Conversation with the reader
- Accessibility of media
- Creating delight for the users
Each chapter includes real-world examples of good design (such as OXO kitchen tools, a before/after image of a label on a pill bottle, a Medicare coverage summary, the layout for a Wikipedia article), profiles of industry leaders in all aspects of web design, and a summary that will be a useful as a refresher. I especially appreciated the use of personas describing a challenge in their own words. For example, the autistic teen explains that even though he enjoys figuring things out when he plays an online game, he needs better navigation cues when he is using the web. The social worker explains how websites with information her clients need to read will make the list or not based on use of plain English and readability on the phones they use to access the web.
A few final words from the book:
“Web standards are like curb cuts. They have value beyond their original purpose. Curb cuts were originally created for people who used wheelchairs, but helped people with carts, strollers, bicycles, and luggage. Similarly, both responsive design and accessibility rely on strong standards for the broad benefits they create.
“The commitment to accessibility can’t stop there, however. Don’t consider a site or app done until everyone can use it. It is unfortunate when a small, basic accessibility bug keeps some people from using a site, particularly when the problem could easily be prevented.”
Quesenbery and Horton finish with a chapter on their vision of a future in which everyone can access and use the web with equal ease and understanding, followed by a rich selection of resources as appendices and references for more reading. It’s all great, and we should all inhale it.
But even more than “just” the UX community, consider the rest of your team. Have you been in situations where some members of your web team didn’t get it? I have had coders tell me, “We don’t have to care about those people.” When this happens to you, ask them to order something from their favorite retailer on their tablet. Or to navigate on their phone to information about just about any subject they are interested in, then read it, print it, and share it with a friend. If they say, “It’s getting easier,” then just answer “Great!” Then ask them to go and do likewise. It might be helpful to leave this book open where they can see it.
A review of
A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences
by Sarah Horton and Whitney Quesenbery
Rosenfeld Media, 2014
如果每个人都能上网，世界会怎样？ 对于以建立网站为业的人士而言，本书围绕着如何正确行事提供了一些具体的准则和理由。 本书以人作为开端，这正是所有用户体验专业人员理所当然的做法。 本书一开始就探讨了多元化的价值，随后提出一个问题：“哪些人需要上网，但是却上不了网？” 采用用户体验专业人员熟悉的方法，作者塑造了 8 个人物角色，然后从不同角度考虑他们面临的挑战。
A review of
A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences
by Sarah Horton and Whitney Quesenbery
Rosenfeld Media, 2014
모든 사람이 웹을 사용할 수 있으면 어떻게 될까? 웹사이트를 제작하는 작업을 하는 우리 모두에게 이 책은 올바른 일을 하기 위한 구체적인 가이드라인과 이유를 제공합니다. 모든 사용자 경험 시도가 그래야 하듯이 이 책도 사람들로 시작됩니다. 이 책은 다양성의 가치로 시작하며 “누가 접근을 필요로 하며 접근하지 못하는가?”라는 질문을 던집니다. 저자들은 우리를 여덟 가지 페르소나로 안내하며 사용자 경험과 관련된 문제를 다른 각도에서 고찰합니다.
A review of
A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences
by Sarah Horton and Whitney Quesenbery
Rosenfeld Media, 2014
E se todos pudessem usar a Internet? Para aqueles que estão na área de criação de sites, este livro fornece algumas orientações e razões específicas para fazer a coisa certa. Como todos os empreendimentos voltados à experiência do usuário devem ser, este livro começa com as pessoas. A obra começa com o valor da diversidade, então pergunta “Quem precisa de acesso e não pode tê-lo?”. As autoras nos apresentam a oito personagens e, em seguida, consideram o desafio a partir de diferentes ângulos, familiares à experiência do usuário.
O artigo completo está disponível somente em inglês.
A review of
A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences
by Sarah Horton and Whitney Quesenbery
Rosenfeld Media, 2014
誰もがウェブを使用できるとしたらどうだろう？この本は、ウェブサイト作成の業務に携わる者にとって、この問題に的確に対処するための具体的なガイドラインとその理由を提供してくれる。すべてのUXの試みがそうすべきように、この本もまずユーザーついて取り上げており、多様性の価値をうたい、「アクセスを必要としているのに、それができないのは誰か？」と問いかけている。8人の人物の紹介を通し、それぞれ別のアングルからUXの分野で周知の課題を検討している。
A review of
A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences
by Sarah Horton and Whitney Quesenbery
Rosenfeld Media, 2014
¿Y si todos pudieran utilizar la web? Este libro proporciona algunas pautas específicas y razones para hacer lo correcto a las personas que trabajamos creando sitios web. Como deberían hacerlo todas las tareas orientadas a la experiencia de usuario, este libro comienza pensando en las personas. El libro comienza hablando del valor de la diversidad, luego pregunta “¿Quién necesita acceso y no puede obtenerlo?”. Los autores nos presentan ocho personajes y luego consideran el desafío desde ángulos diferentes de una manera familiar para la experiencia de usuario.
La versión completa de este artículo está sólo disponible en inglés
