A shortcut to conscious accessible writing

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

Focus in general 1. Focus to unscramble the text 2. Focus on the message 3. Focus on going further © 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

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

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