Accessibility, diversity and inclusion – we’re already doing it!
Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2025 5:55 am
What is the problem?
Unfortunately, the pain points mentioned above usually go beyond "That's annoying" or "I can't use that." Using applications with the problems described above can unfortunately have more or less serious consequences depending on the visual impairment. For me, for example, using such applications over a long period of time leads to severe headaches, which can then develop into migraines. For this reason, I now try to make sure that such design decisions are avoided wherever possible when designing the front end in current projects.
What can help?
Fortunately, as technology continues to develop, there are some aids available for people with disabilities. Since this would otherwise go beyond the scope of this article, I will only discuss technical aids for people with visual impairments.
For example, Apple operating systems have a function that I think georgia consumer email list is very useful: zooming the entire system. This works continuously with the mouse wheel and feels very natural. The zoom is decoupled from application-specific zooms such as the browser zoom, which makes pixel-precise positioning of front-end components very convenient. Windows' own screen magnifier also offers a similar function. However, this can only be set in fixed steps and requires a key combination or a click to change the zoom level.
In addition, it has been possible for some time now to select different design themes to change the contrast, which can also help people with, for example, red-green color blindness.
standards and guidelines
As you probably know, there have been a number of standards and guidelines for the barrier-free design of web applications for some time now, some of which even apply at an international level.
Internationally, there are the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), at EU level there is the EU Directive 2102 and in Germany there is the Barrier-Free Information Technology Ordinance (BITV). These standards and guidelines describe, in varying degrees, requirements that an accessible website must meet. However, in Germany they currently only apply to government and official websites. However, these websites are a good example of how the topic of accessibility can be quite complex.
Government websites now function more or less sensibly in the context of accessibility, but then again suffer in terms of general design, as they seem rather forced and cannot be used logically - for example: the website of the residents' registration office in Dortmund.
Conclusion
The points I have outlined in this article only scratch the surface of the issue of accessibility. Of course, there are a whole range of different disabilities that can have very different effects on the use of PC or web applications.
This post is by no means intended to encourage people to overdo accessibility. It is simply intended to point out that there are things that are easily avoidable when designing a user interface and that can have a big impact.
In my opinion, however, it would be optimal if the common user interface frameworks were further developed in terms of accessibility, so that in the future accessibility becomes a fundamental part of frontend development and does not remain an additional effort that has to be made up for at the end of the development.
You can find more exciting topics from the adesso world in our previously published blog posts .
Accessibility on the Internet – is it necessary? What should we pay attention to in relation to inclusion on the Internet?
Unfortunately, the pain points mentioned above usually go beyond "That's annoying" or "I can't use that." Using applications with the problems described above can unfortunately have more or less serious consequences depending on the visual impairment. For me, for example, using such applications over a long period of time leads to severe headaches, which can then develop into migraines. For this reason, I now try to make sure that such design decisions are avoided wherever possible when designing the front end in current projects.
What can help?
Fortunately, as technology continues to develop, there are some aids available for people with disabilities. Since this would otherwise go beyond the scope of this article, I will only discuss technical aids for people with visual impairments.
For example, Apple operating systems have a function that I think georgia consumer email list is very useful: zooming the entire system. This works continuously with the mouse wheel and feels very natural. The zoom is decoupled from application-specific zooms such as the browser zoom, which makes pixel-precise positioning of front-end components very convenient. Windows' own screen magnifier also offers a similar function. However, this can only be set in fixed steps and requires a key combination or a click to change the zoom level.
In addition, it has been possible for some time now to select different design themes to change the contrast, which can also help people with, for example, red-green color blindness.
standards and guidelines
As you probably know, there have been a number of standards and guidelines for the barrier-free design of web applications for some time now, some of which even apply at an international level.
Internationally, there are the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), at EU level there is the EU Directive 2102 and in Germany there is the Barrier-Free Information Technology Ordinance (BITV). These standards and guidelines describe, in varying degrees, requirements that an accessible website must meet. However, in Germany they currently only apply to government and official websites. However, these websites are a good example of how the topic of accessibility can be quite complex.
Government websites now function more or less sensibly in the context of accessibility, but then again suffer in terms of general design, as they seem rather forced and cannot be used logically - for example: the website of the residents' registration office in Dortmund.
Conclusion
The points I have outlined in this article only scratch the surface of the issue of accessibility. Of course, there are a whole range of different disabilities that can have very different effects on the use of PC or web applications.
This post is by no means intended to encourage people to overdo accessibility. It is simply intended to point out that there are things that are easily avoidable when designing a user interface and that can have a big impact.
In my opinion, however, it would be optimal if the common user interface frameworks were further developed in terms of accessibility, so that in the future accessibility becomes a fundamental part of frontend development and does not remain an additional effort that has to be made up for at the end of the development.
You can find more exciting topics from the adesso world in our previously published blog posts .
Accessibility on the Internet – is it necessary? What should we pay attention to in relation to inclusion on the Internet?