There Is NO UX without Accessibility

I gave this talk with Usertime initiative partner—Jakub Dębski, . We presented this concept at UX Poland 2014 conference. http://uxpoland.pl/

## Presentation summary

Who’s your user? That is the question! The answer determines UX strategy groundwork. Whoever is the user, he’s often disabled, senior, beginner, tired, less-educated, stressed, has oldish software or hardware. For those users, accessibility seems to be the solution. Alas, most of the time accessibility is not included or at most applied too late. It’s often interpreted as binary checklist, formal requirement or ISO standard. The result is bad UX... and accessibility. The solution is to include accessibility into UX project cycle, on every stage—documentation, research, conception, wireframing, prototyping, designing, implementation. If it’s omitted or separated, UX will be disabled. Users will not achieve their goals or with no satisfaction. The only way is accessibility as part of UX.

Transcript

1. There is no UX without accessibility Jakub Dębski & Dominik Paszkiewicz UX POLAND 2014 Cześć! Hello!
2. zdjęcie Who are we? Web accessibility professionals by Kuba's daughter.
3. WEB ACCESSIBILITY What are we doing? Auditing websites and applications. Boring and ineffective. Converting companies to web accessibility practitioners. <button>Like</button> Making enemies among web developers or designers. On the beginning. Coaching, teaching, convincing, promoting. And harassing to death.
4. The story of the true web accessibility. Why are we here? The problem: Why the classic web accessibility approach does not produce truly accessible products?
5. Accessible: 1.Usable with pleasure and ease by all users. 2.Applicable to any digital project. 3.Compatible with standards and new tech. 4.Consistent with modern design. So, what is web accessibility, again? Fact: Accessibility doesn't restrict the graphic design.
6. BAD rhymes with SAD Web accessibility status quo (worldwide)? Fact: Most of the products are not accessible enough or at all. We know the reason. They'll get it today.
7. The Checklist approach 1. WCAG 2.0 is a kinda checklist. 2. It's the great checklist but incomplete. 3. But most of checklists are incomplete and wrong. * The most common approach to web accessibility is a negligence. Let's forget about this aberration. Classic and common* approach to accessibility.
8. Checklist is applied once and too late. Cheklist approach — most popular scenario. The problem: Product is partly accessible — cannot be saved. Especially in the world of application-like websites.
9. In some of the projects checklist is applied much earlier. Checklist approach — acceptable scenario. We really like those rare projects. In this case product can be very good, but often is not truly accessible.
10. It's time for a big change in accessibility. Let's turn the page.
11. Accessibility as Part Of User Experience Process. Our proposition.
12. You need clients. Clients need users. Users need accessibility. Make accessibility happen. Why should you design accessible products?
13. There is no good UX without accessibility. And good accessibility without UX.
14. SCIENCE Only 50% of accessibility problems covered by WCAG. THE BOOK Sarah Horton & Whitney Quesenberry — „A Web For Everyone”. PETER MORVILLE User experience honeycomb.
15. It's super easy. Take your UX process and incorporate the web accessibility into it. How to incorporate web accessibility into UX process?
16. Competitor analysis (user testing with disabled people) Stakeholder interview (do they have disabled users) Surveys (questions about disability & assistive technologies) Content audit (content accessibility inventory — media too) Diary Study (work with disabled users) Participant observation (learn how people with screen reader use the web) Phone interviews (ask users what they want) Think aloud user testing (check how people with disability use your product) User interviews (few disabled users) Usability testing (the most important part; not in lab please) Heuristic review (with accessibility expert review elements) Personas (personas with disability) Wireframes (expert review — development hints) Paper prototype (web accessibility expert advice, notes and hints) Beta launch / testing (user testing, expert reviews) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Where can you incorporate web accessibility? Any UX technique (+ accessibility pinch)
17. User research UX toolkit with web accessibility. When conducting user research, on any stage of UX project, involve couple of disabled users.
18. Personas UX toolkit with web accessibility. Personas with disability can have much influence on your work. Create them. Recycle and adapt them to other projects.
19. Design stages UX toolkit with web accessibility. Paper prototypes, wireframes, low or high fidelity prototypes are the great opportunity to check accessibility risks.
20. Do not stop on our suggestions. You know your tools, you change it. UX toolkit with web accessibility.
21. Any digital product should comply with WCAG 2.0. It's easy, mandatory and it helps accessibility. Revise your toolkit. Include a pinch of accessibility into it. Incorporate web accessibility into your every UX strategy. There is no other way to make anything truly accessible. Make someone responsible. Call him/she web accessibility leader. He/she will like it. Always think about web accessibility from the beginning. It's the cheapest and most reliable approach. Conclusion. How to make accessible product?
22. Who is responsible for accessibility? One more thing you need to know.
23. YOU not us Who is responsible for accessibility of digital product? No matter what's your position in the project. Remember to choose accessibility leader for the project.
24. Thank you. We wish you everything accessible! (Sounds better in polish: Wszystkiego dostępnego!) www.usertime.pl kuba@usertime.pl / +48 506 025 205 dominik@usertime.pl / +48 608 059 999