| What are the two best website | | | | ask yourself this: have you tested the proposed |
| recommendations, what do they mean to me, | | | | architecture on a wide enough sample of people |
| and what are some tips to achieve these | | | | to be confident that the site reaches the |
| recommendations? The two best | | | | maximum population, without excluding certain |
| recommendations are: accessibility and usability. | | | | subsets of people? You need to. |
| Read on to discover what these two important | | | | Usability |
| terms mean for you and your website. | | | | - Definition: available or convenient for use, |
| 1. Accessibility | | | | capable of being used. |
| - Definition: easy to approach, reach, enter, speak | | | | - Why is this important? Remember the first time |
| with, or use. | | | | you tried to roller skate or ski or read |
| - Why is this important? Do you have a friend | | | | Shakespeare or went to a party where you didn't |
| who is in a wheelchair or who uses a cane? Do | | | | know that many people? When you do something |
| you know someone who is colorblind? Caring for | | | | for the first time, there can be a lot of fumbling |
| an elderly parent who can't "do" stairs so well? | | | | around, until you get to a level of comfort in the |
| What does any of this have to do with web | | | | task. Good usability minimizes the likelihood of |
| design?These are issues of accessibility in our | | | | your users fumbling around your website. It |
| physical world. Good web designers & | | | | means a lot of logical thinking has been given to |
| developers deal with accessibility in the virtual | | | | the user's experience with your website. If a user |
| world. Behind the scenes, in the code - is a world | | | | or visitor needs to fumble around, searching for |
| of computer programming choices that have been | | | | things he or she just can't find, then that is an |
| made, which all add up to very good accessibility - | | | | example of poor usability |
| or very bad accessibility, in the cases where the | | | | - Tip: Wondering if your site is usable? Test it out. |
| designers and developers do not optimize for | | | | Select 10 people who vary in age, professional |
| accessibility. If we do not decide to make | | | | background, and tastes and style. Sit them in |
| accessibility a priority in web design, then the | | | | front of your website and watch them navigate |
| website will ultimately suffer from loss of traffic. | | | | your website. Take notes. If they hesitate or ask |
| - Tip: Ask your developer to give examples of | | | | you a question on how to do something, then |
| code they've written where good accessibility | | | | that is valuable research. It tells you the specific |
| came to fruition. If he/she doesn't know what | | | | areas that need to be improved. If anyone asks |
| you're talking about or isn't able to explain it to | | | | you why something is the way it is, that is also |
| you in laymen's terms, run the other direction. | | | | very important information. Test, test, and test |
| - Tip: If you're the person designing the website, | | | | & test again. |