Celebration of World Usability Day
So in celebration of World Usability Day I thought I would highlight an interesting article titled, “The Benefit of Accessible Design for Able-Bodied Users of the World Wide Web.” Everyone has heard someone on a soap box talking about how important usability and accessibility are to users with disabilities. While this is very true, not as much energy has been used in promotion of the same techniques to help users without disabilities which is a much wider audience. In my opinion, usability is critical to the success of a website. Surprisingly, not all developers agree with me, I know this because I constantly come across websites that either have usability or accessibility problems.
Since many of you won’t bother to read this study I thought I would quote their conclusion so you can skip to the meat. Their conclusion is as follows:
“These results suggest that accessible design should not, in fact, be considered as an aspect of accommodation for individuals with disabilities, but as an implementation of universal design. Historically, accessible design has been justified because it allows individuals with disabilities to use the site and become customers. The more reticent justify accessible design as legally required, and something that must be done whether or not it makes sense. However, this study shows that accessible design, as with other implementations of universal design, also benefits able-bodied users of a web site when visiting via a sub-optimal browser. As an added benefit, accessible web design accommodates the needs of those with functional limitations, brought about by disability or by the processes of normal aging.
Usability studies commonly find success rates in completing web tasks, such as purchases, to be on the order of 50%. The overall success rate of users of the conventional site in our study, across all three browsers, was 49%, suggesting that our results closely match the real-world experience of web users. Users of the accessible site in this study, however, achieved an overall success rate of 80% across all three browsers. Accessible design produced a 30% improvement in usability for able-bodied users.
Since this increased usability comes at minimal cost, this study provides strong support for businesses creating accessible web sites As able-bodied users increase their access to the web through their cell phones, or through web-reader services, the importance of designing sites for these sub-optimal delivery channels increases, and accessible design provides guidelines for such methods of delivery of web content.”
Basically, they proved something many of us know. Websites that offer better usability and accessibility are more likely to see customer conversion. They are also more accessible to users with and without disabilities.
Read the study: http://atri.misericordia.edu/Papers/Web_Accessibility.php
On a side note, I recently heard about Target being ordered to pay $6 million to settle a complaint by the National Federation of the Blind that the poor accessibility to disabled users was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As a web developer this is something to consider, especially if you’re developing websites for larger organizations. It is imperative that U.S. company websites can be successfully accessed by all audiences or else you may find yourself in the same boat.
Read more about this case: http://tech.yahoo.com/news//zd/20080828/tc_zd/231442
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Following accessibility guidelines also improves SEO.