A presentation at UX Writers Poland meetup by Wojtek Aleksander
A shortcut to conscious accessible writing Wojtek Aleksander UX Writers Poland March 2021
WCAG 2.1 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines © Wojtek Aleksander
That’s all Thank you! © Wojtek Aleksander
Situational Bartender Distracted driver Heavy accent New parent Ear infection Cataract Laryngitis Broken arm Deaf Blind Non-verbal One arm Temporary Permanent We all experience barriers Source: Microsoft Inclusive Design Toolkit © Wojtek Aleksander
Situational Temporary Permanent Anxious patient Medication Dyslexia Understanding Extension of Microsoft Inclusive Design Toolkit © Wojtek Aleksander
Access is bidirectional © Wojtek Aleksander
Empathy © Wojtek Aleksander
Listening © Wojtek Aleksander
Listening to understand © Wojtek Aleksander
Listening to stop one-dimensional thinking © Wojtek Aleksander
Find challenges Discover workarounds © Wojtek Aleksander
Dyslexia and attention challenges © Wojtek Aleksander
Slow reading (3⨉) Text looks like an optical illusion Text appears to jump around on the page Confusing letters and numbers Letters and words might look all bunched together Problems decoding large numbers Letters of some words might appear completely backwards (was - saw; 47-74) Spelling problems (typing in misspelled or unexpected text) © Wojtek Aleksander
Constant distraction Focus and memory problems Short attention span Coming back to read the same passage over and over again Time blindness or time perception in general Feeling sick or getting a headache when trying to read Confusion, disorientation, anxiety © Wojtek Aleksander
Content design to the rescue © Wojtek Aleksander
Write short sentences (use plain language) Check spelling Use consistent punctuation Use consistent terminology NEVER use all caps Use numerals in sentences (don’t spell out numbers) Make link text meaningful (out of context) Make validation messages helpful Offer examples in forms Say what’s coming next Offer a process summary © Wojtek Aleksander
Format numbers – group digits, use spaces Set language of foreign excerpts Provide hints to search (and make it error-tolerant) Avoid using alarming language Give up on putting emotional pressure on users Require confirmation of critical actions Make the confirmation state clearly what it’s about Show and tell Caption all icons © Wojtek Aleksander
Make the design clean, remove distractors Don’t depend on people’s memory (recognition than recall) Break processes into byte-size units Left-align text Use logical headings, paragraphs, lists Don’t be afraid of generous spacing between elements Use large font size Allow for comfortable zooming Make sure peeps can undo (or go back) © Wojtek Aleksander
Learn so that you enable people with something more than “minimum viable” solutions © Wojtek Aleksander
Inspiration 🤓 © Wojtek Aleksander
Design without empathy, Matt May https://accessibility.scot/design-without-empathy/ Inclusive design, Microsoft https://www.microsoft.com/design/inclusive/ Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/ Evaluating Cognitive Web Accessibility, WebAIM https://webaim.org/articles/evaluatingcognitive/ The end of average, Todd Rose http://www.toddrose.com/endofaverage © Wojtek Aleksander
Any questions? © Wojtek Aleksander
2 days of practice and theory plain language, accessibility, consistency, voice, tone, errors, hints, empty states, forms, buttons and CTAs, emotions and design, inter-human communication, tools, and many more. There’s more to find out UX writing fundamentals https://learndesign.pl/warsztaty/podstawy-ux-writing “Advanced UX writing” also available © Wojtek Aleksander
Let’s connect /in/waleksander @inherentq uContentowani waleksander.design learndesign.pl © Wojtek Aleksander
Hey, look, a squirrel! Thank you © Wojtek Aleksander
Cognitive barriers are hard to quantify. And they are hard to limit if you don’t know what happens to people experiencing access problems. Cognitive access problems can be permanent like dyslexia or ADHD. They can be temporary like when you’re under the influence of strong medicine. They can be situational like when you get anxious about a horrifying diagnosis at the doctor’s office. If you don’t know how cognitive barriers work or how people try to work around them, you will always struggle in your design work.
Video recording on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/102149821928090/videos/302339394566480
The following resources were mentioned during the presentation or are useful additional information.
A talk explaining how empathy is a problematic term in the world of design
Inclusive design principles from one of the few companies who have inclusive design department. An eye-opening approach showing permanent, temporary, and situational disabilities. Also a source of resources for you to work on inclusion with your team.
A book where you can find an explanation on one-directional thinking and multi-dimensional thinking. Also, a great resource that should free you from setting your design margins wrong. Invaluable resource for people trying to work on personalization in their products.
The comprehensive set of guidelines from W3.org.
2 day training - practice and theory for designers or writers. Main topics covered: plain language, accessibility, consistency, voice, tone, errors, hints, empty states, forms, buttons and CTAs, emotions and design, inter-human communication, tools, and many more.
Also available as a dedicated team training.
2-day training on all things that go beyond writing, for example: style guide anatomy, content audit in the UI, patterns in the design system, testing content, researching content, terminology, writing in the product code, or deep dive into tone and voice work for the products.
Also available as a dedicated team training.
for free. You
can too.