Designing accessible services
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description
Printable posters (PDF format):
- Designing for users on the autistic spectrum
- Design principles for users with cognitive disabilities
- Designing for users who are deaf or hard of hearing
- Designing for users with low vision
- Designing for users with physical or motor disabilities
- Designing for users of screen readers
Designing for users on the autistic spectrum
Do:
- Use simple colours
- Write in plain English
- Use simple sentences and bullets
- Make buttons descriptive
- Build simple and consistent layouts
Don't:
- Use bright contrasting colours
- Use figures of speech and idioms
- Create a wall of text
- Make buttons vague and unpredictable
- Build complex and cluttered layouts
Designing for users with cognitive disabilities
Do:
- Let users have control of the contrast and colours on the screen
- Align text to the left, keep a consistent layout and use a sans-serif font at a min 12pt
- Keep content short, clear and simple
- Use images and diagrams to support text and complex ideas
- Use simple colours and coloured paper like yellow or pink
- Use multi-modal materials like audio and video
Don't:
- Overload the user with too much info at once
- Write large walls of complex text
- Use complicated words or figures of speech
- Increase cognitive load by requiring users to recall into
- Use bright and contrasting colours stimulation overload
- Rush users or set short time limits to complete tasks
Designing for users who are deaf or hard of hearing
Do:
- Write in plain language
- Use subtitles or provide transcripts for videos
- Use a linear, logical layout
- Break up content with sub-headings, images and videos
- Let users ask for their preferred communication support when booking appointments
Don't:
- Use complicated words or figures of speech
- Put content in audio or video only
- Make complex layouts and menus
- Make users read long blocks of content
- Make telephone the only means of contact for users
Designing for users with low vision
Do:
- Use good colour contrast and a readable font size
- Publish all information on web pages
- Use a combination of colour, shapes and text
- Follow a linear, logical layout
- Put buttons and notifications in context
Don't:
- Use low colour contrasts and small font sizes
- Bury information in downloads
- Only use colour to convey meaning
- Spread content all over a page
- Separate actions from their context
Designing for users with physical or motor disabilities
Do:
- Make large clickable actions
- Give form fields space
- Design for keyboard or speech only use
- Design with mobile and touchscreen in mind
- Provide shortcuts
Don't:
- Demand precision
- Bunch interactions together
- Make dynamic content that requires a lot of mouse movement
- Have short time out windows
- Tire users with lots of typing and scrolling
Designing for users of screen readers
Do:
- Describe images and provide transcripts for video
- Follow a linear logical layout
- Structure content using HTML5
- Build for keyboard use only
- Write descriptive links and headings
Don't:
- Only show information in an image or video
- Spread content all over a page
- Rely on text size and placement for structure
- Force mouse or screen use
- Write uninformative links and headings
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