Making Websites Usable, Not Just Accessible (lecture session)

Handouts Media

Presented at 8:00am in Westminster II on Wednesday, November 14, 2018.

Speaker(s)

• Karen Hawkins, Senior Experience Designer, Publicis.Sapient

Session Details

• Length of Session: 1-hr
• Format: Lecture
• Expertise Level: Beginner
• Type of session: General Conference

Summary

Almost anyone today can make a website accessible. But that doesn't mean that people using assistive technologies can USE them! I aim to change that. As a user experience professional, I will walk the audience through more accessible AND usable implementations of common web components and flows.

Abstract

Almost anyone today can make a website accessible. But that doesn't mean that people using assistive technologies can USE them! Technically, the site can pass the WCAG 2.0 guidelines, but the user is still unable to accomplish their goals, or they are forced to do so in a cumbersome, unintuitive way that ALWAYS takes way too much time. It's quite the understatement to say that an individual using a screen reader does not experience the ease with which a sighted person using a mouse pointer enjoys. Well, I aim to change that. As a user experience professional, I've done extensive research on the most usable ways to design common user interface elements that will benefit user experience regardless of input mechanism. During this presentation, I will walk the audience through more accessible AND usable common web components and flows. Examples include: product cards, E-Commerce shopping carts, search results pages, toggling between the filter and the product grid on a PLP, and more.

Keypoints

1. You must continue to provide meaningful feedback to keep users oriented and on track to accomplish their goals
2. You must understand user flows and potential points where hidden or visible wayfinding cues will help most
3. You need to know all the resources the screen reader provides in order to capitalize on their functionality

Disability Areas

All Areas

Topic Areas

Uncategorized, Web/Media/App Access

Speaker Bio(s)

Karen Hawkins

Karen Hawkins is a Senior User Experience Designer in the P.S Toronto office. Having experience and training in web accessibility design and evaluation, she is hoping to be one of the first internationally certified professionals in web accessibility (through the IAAP). She is aiming to be P.S's first accessibility specialist in the creative domain.

Karen holds an honours Bachelor Degree in Industrial Engineering, having specialized in Human Factors. She sees the world as a tapestry of systems and processes, and has a knack for picking out gaps and outliers. She is passionate about intuitive discovery and navigation, especially when you apply an accessibility lens where discoverability and navigability are vital to the success of an inclusive design.

She's been working in the UX field for the past 7 years, applying concept-to-completion development of automotive, financial, telecom and e-commerce websites, among others.

Handout(s)

• Making Websites Usable, Not Just Accessible (zip)