Ever since we started talking about accessibility in this class and in my DTC 206 class I’ve been paying more attention to the accessibility of websites I visit and content I view. In one of the readings for this week, Mischa Andrews says, “While it’s easy to get discouraged, it’s worth noting that making accessible websites isn’t hard and doesn’t take a huge amount of time.” This reminds me of a quote by Jesse Hausler: “[Accessibility] design constraints will give you new ideas to explore that will lead to better products for all of your users.” Accessibility should not be something that is seen as just another thing designers and developers should have to worry about.
As common as disabilities are, it’s not something most people think about in day to day life. Here at WSU, I’ve noticed that a lot of content posted on blackboard or used in class by my teachers are not very accessible. My history teacher posts a ton of PDFs of scans of books and articles that have tiny print and are unable to be used with text-to-speech technologies. For most videos that we watch in most classes, the teacher doesn’t turn on captions or turn the volume up enough so that everyone is able to understand. It’s never something I really noticed before, but now that I’m aware of these issues I see the problems more and more.
In the inaccessible web article I like the advice the author gives to clients and also developers and designers. People need to think about accessibility when they are designing or pitching projects. Clients need to realize that accessibility takes time and money but that it is really worth it. I agree that developers should encourage clients to consider accessibility because I feel like it’s something that people would be more inclined to do if they were more aware of these things.
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