I had the honour of working with Ginny Redish on this article on readability formulas for the July 2019 edition of UXmatters. Ginny is a leading authority on writing, accessibility, and content design and usability. I’ve lost count of theContinue reading… Readability Formulas: seven reasons to avoid them and what to do instead
Tag: accessibility
An app that reads alt-text from pptx
We think that it’s really important to make PowerPoint presentations accessible. And that means: writing alt-text for all the images. The Accessible-Powerpoint app by Joe Lanman is a handy little tool that reads a file in .pptx format, extracts all the alt-text, andContinue reading… An app that reads alt-text from pptx
Making presentations accessible
“Could you make sure my older presentations are fully accessible?” Caroline’s request seemed an easy enough task: we’re both keen to ensure that we reach the widest possible audience. Armed with an early version of Whitney Quesenbery’s tips on accessibleContinue reading… Making presentations accessible
Lessons from Lisbon in accessible design
One reason I argue so strongly for designing in accessibility for people with special needs is that accessible design is also good design. Watching people explore a model of Lisbon’s Belem Tower – provided for people with visual impairments – wasContinue reading… Lessons from Lisbon in accessible design
Discussion: Design for Everyone – at the Service Design in Government conference
How do we make our services available to everyone who needs to use them? A group of us at the Service Design in Government 2014 conference came together in a Goldfish Bowl group to talk about our personal and design challenges.Continue reading… Discussion: Design for Everyone – at the Service Design in Government conference
Reading with Glaucoma
This article, by Cathy, was originally part of a collection of personal stories published on the Design to Read website. I suffer from glaucoma (Primary, Open-Angle Glaucoma) and have first-hand experience of visual field defects. Most damage has occurred inContinue reading… Reading with Glaucoma
Designing for people who do not read easily
Many people do not read easily for all sorts of reasons: social and cultural, because of impairments, or because of their context. Even in the area of impairments, design for people with learning disabilities might be very different from designContinue reading… Designing for people who do not read easily
Design to read – designing for people who do not read easily
Reading is a skill many of us take for granted. We learn at school, practice as adolescents and perfect (or so we hope) the ability as adults. It is something many of us do not even consider as a consciousContinue reading… Design to read – designing for people who do not read easily
Two-column forms are best avoided
A concerned designer wrote to me: ‘Our forms are laid out in a single vertical column. A new project manager is pushing to get the forms for a new product to ‘look different from other products’ by requesting a twoContinue reading… Two-column forms are best avoided
We need to include people with disabilities in our designs
Recently, I was having an online conversation about the challenges of finding participants for testing – specifically, the challenges of finding participants with disabilities. Someone put the view; “if we’re having trouble finding people with disabilities, then maybe we wouldContinue reading… We need to include people with disabilities in our designs