3.3 Learning from Accessibility Design Failures

Question 1

Learning from Accessibility Design Failures

Answer 1

Failure to Design
Ineffective Designs
Incomplete Designs
Partial solutions may not solve the problem
at all
Incomplete designs in the physical world that fail completely
Bad Retrofitting
Inconvenient or Stigmatizing Designs
Accessibility Rot” Over Time

Question 2

Incomplete web accessibility designs that fail completely

Answer 2

An inaccessible trigger for an accessible widget

Applying aria-hidden=”true” to otherwise accessible objects

Adding tabindex to focusable elements to fix bad tab order

An inaccessible custom JavaScript widget

Question 2

Some common kinds of design failures in web design

Answer 2

No semantic markup
Custom widgets without ARIA markup
Poor color contrast
Form validation with visual cues only

Question 3

Failure by design

Answer 3

You have to first understand the goal
It takes a plan, and it takes a design to create a well-organized closet. The same is true of accessible web sites

It takes skilled planning to achieve the goal
A well-planned web site with good semantic markup, labels, organization, and structure is easy to navigate and it’s easy for users to find what they need.

Question 4

Ineffective Designs

Answer 4

Designs that fail to take best practices into account:
Bad example: Steep wheelchair ramps

Ineffective designs on the web:
*No semantic markup
*Custom widgets without ARIA markup
*Custom widgets without proper keyboard focus management
*Poor color contrast
*Form validation with visual cues only