Category: ICT Guidelines for practice

How did you choose the colours for your last website update? Did you choose colours based on your brand logo and text or did you use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) algorithm? But can the WCAG algorithm guarantee good legible colour contrasts for websites? Research by The University of Cambridge says it doesn’t. So they have developed an alternative algorithm for good colour contrast for websites. 

The Accessible Perceptual Contrast Algorithm proposes that legibility of text on websites is better with perceived difference than a mathematical contrast ratio. White text on strong coloured backgrounds are preferred over black text in almost all cases in the study. 

In the examples above, the black text passes the WCAG contrast ratio but fails the white text. The Accessible Perceptual Contrast Algorithm passes the white text and fails the black text. 

Sam Waller explains this more fully in his article, Does the contrast ratio actually predict the legibility of website text? 

As a result of this work, an early working draft of WCAG 3 proposes using the new method for calculating contrast. 

This is important information for choosing brand logos and text so it isn’t just something web designers should know. Many website designs are guided by brand colours so choose carefully. This information is also important for product labelling especially for online shopping. 

Colour contrast enhances usability

Using eye tracking and similar software, researchers investigated the way users read and access information on websites. They chose a travel website and a banking website for the research. The study found that the positioning of information and increased contrast enhanced the ability to find key elements on the website.

The article takes a universal design approach to the study, and uses eye tracking technology. The study found that regardless of website context, universal design principles are key to creating effective and accessible interfaces.

The title of the article is Usability analysis of graphical interfaces of travel websites according to the universal design principles.

Colour perception can vary across cultures

Anyone interested in optimal colours for web and phone might be interested in a project that came out of a colour matching game app. The game is based on colour perception. Feedback data showed designers how people perceive colour. With the help of academics they began to analyse the data in meaningful ways.

Preliminary analysis indicates there is a variation across countries. For example, Norwegians were better at colour matching than Saudi Arabians. Singaporeans struggled to identify greens, and Scandinavians did best with red-purple hues. Research papers are to follow which could lead to more inclusive colour choices. The article concludes, 

“But the fruits of the project live on in open source. A generic version of Jose’s tools to query the Specimen dataset are hosted here on github. My greatest hope is other researchers find and make use of what was gathered, and that other designers and engineers consider leveraging play in unexpected ways”.

The title of the article on FastCompany website is, Our viral app made less than $1,000. We’d still do it again.

Picture courtesy FastCompany.

The first Digital Service Standard was created by the UK’s Government in the early 2010s. The aim was to improve the relationship between people and government with easier access to digital services. The original 26 criteria were reduced to 18 to make them more manageable and then to 14. The criteria were mandatory. If any service did not meet them, it would not be hosted on government websites.

Australia’s Digital Transformation Office (DTO) released its own criteria based on those of the UK in 2015. The DTO later became the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) and gradually it was ignored.

The DTA recently released a brand new DSS 2.0 which became mandatory in July 2024. It covers staff-facing services and citizen-facing services with 10 criteria. But the wording has turned a bit fuzzy for a standard.

Standards list things you must do such as, apply certain dimensions. Or things that must be true when tested, such as a bridge being capable of taking a certain weight. The bridge example leaves it open to the designers to be inventive and creative in meeting that criteria.

The new Standard DSS 2.0 has fuzzy criteria such as “understand” and “identify”. Understand, identify and act are not a testable criteria.

But what’s the real problem?

The DSS Standard has a lot of sensible ideas, albeit untestable, but the real problem is that there are several other digital standards that must be applied. The Digital Access Standard, the Digital Inclusion Standard, and the Digital Performance Standard. They each add another 5 criteria, many of which are untestable.

And why does it matter?

Designers might think they are meeting the criteria of “considering diverse user needs”. But how will they know they are? It’s easy to assume and guess diverse user needs.

“In disability, there’s nobody more dangerous than a person with good intentions and no know-how.” Standards have a lot of power so the outcomes must be measurable and achievable.

Standards give users a sense of security with specific and achievable outcomes. If a standard is vague, confusing, and untestable it loses its authority.

Zoe Rose’s article in The Mandarin is titled, New standards for government digital service are cause for concern. Or download the PDF of the article.

The Australian Government’s Digital Service Standard v2.0 is devised to support agencies to deliver simple and seamless digital services.

Enthusiasm for sport is often mentioned as a very “Australian thing”. Television news, social media and online newspapers rarely go a day without mentioning one sport or another. But is this information provided in ways that everyone can enjoy and understand? Sierra Morabito wants to see equal access to sport information – there are people who would like to read about it but can’t.

Equal access to sport information means people need easy to read information on:

• the rules to play sport
• where they can play and join up
• other ways to get involved
• when and where to watch a game
• stories about players
• news about the favourite team

The examples above show how easy it is to leave people out without realising. Information about sport is not just reading stories – low literacy prevents participation. If people need to use a website their literacy skills are challenged even further.

Morabito’s advice is to provide hard copy information in Easy English and leave them in places where people go. Shopping centres, council buildings, and community centres are just three ideas. A contact phone number is essential – so much easier than emails.

Understanding sport rules

People with low literacy will worry about learning the rules if they cannot read them. Write the key points in Easy English – everyone likes a straightforward version. There is more on this topic in Morabito’s article.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day

People who can’t use the internet or complex digital tools are being left behind. This issue is often mentioned in our increasingly digital world, but is anyone taking notice? Everyone has the right to equal access to information and resources. However, this means providing information in different formats. According to Cathy Basterfield, we are talking about nearly two thirds of all Australian adults.

Information needs to be provided in different formats to suit different skill levels. It means designing for users who can’t: 

• navigate two-factor authentication
• understand how to use a one-time access code
• read a letter or an email

And it also means making websites that work for all users – that is, those who can use it. More than 95% of high ranked websites don’t meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines – the global standard for people with disability. And that’s just their home page. 

A website is not accessible if a user has to click through six levels to find the information they need. Or if they have to navigate an intricate system, and deal with things that flash, blink or scroll. Add to that the people with low literacy skills and the number of excluded people starts to add up. 

See the article in Medium titled, Global Accessibility Awareness day. for more information on this topic.

Online shopping is here to stay and increasing rapidly. There’s lots of information about making a shopping site accessible. But people shop for more than goods – they shop for information too. So some of the ideas for shopping translate to information and service sites too. Here are some basic tips on creating an accessible online presence.

Anyone in charge of creating or maintaining a website should understand the basics of accessible design. It’s not just a tech person’s job.

A short article in SmartCompany magazine takes a business view of an inclusive shopping experience and lists seven things companies should do. Some of these points are well-known to many web designers and developers. When a website is difficult to navigate, people leave, they click away from the site as the video below shows.

Accessible online presence: key points

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG): Regularly update your website to comply with WCAG standards. This includes text-background contrast, enabling keyboard navigation, and providing alternative text for images.

Responsive design: Ensure your website automatically adjusts to various screen sizes and resolutions to suit all devices, including smartphones, tablets and different computer screen sizes. 

Site navigation: Organising your site with a clear structure, clear headings and logical sitemap will improve navigability. Utilise Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) landmarks to help screen reader users navigate your site more effectively. Clear and consistent navigation aids users, especially those with cognitive differences, to understand their location within your site.

Enable customisation and ensure content accessibility: Include options for users to customise visual elements, like font sizes and colours, and consider integrating text-to-speech functionality for people with vision impairments. If you have audio and video content, provide captions and transcripts to aid users with hearing impairments. Avoid content that could affect users with photosensitive epilepsy and clearly label any content that could pose a risk.

Optimise customer service channels: Some users have difficulty communicating via traditional channels such as phone or text. Offer email, phone, video calls with sign language support and real-time chat, to accommodate diverse communication needs.

Checkout processes: Simplify the checkout process with clear instructions and error messages to minimise confusion and to enhance the user experience.

Test with users and commit to ongoing improvement: Conduct site testing with a diverse group of users, including people with various disabilities. View accessibility as a continuous effort. Regularly audit and update your site to keep pace with changing technology and standards.

The title of the article is, How to create an inclusive online shopping experience.

Other resources

This website has a section on ICT guidelines for practice. Here are just three items for quick reference.

Microsoft’s inclusive design toolkit.

Google spells out accessible, inclusive and usable.

Which font to use? All of them?

The Engineering Design Centre at the University of Cambridge has done a lot of work on product images and labelling. They claim that their design guidelines help increase sales by 29%.

Social media posts rely on hashtags and images so it’s important to present them in a way that everyone can access. Access Central has two useful posts about digital accessibility: one about using CamelCase and the other is image descriptions. Of course, making online social media content accessible makes it easier for everyone to use.

CamelCase hashtags

A hashtag is a way to reach more audiences on social media, and most people use all lower case letters in their identifier. When the hashtag is multiple words strung together, it makes it difficult to read and interpret. For example, #universaldesignaustralia”. If this is written in CamelCase, it becomes #UniversalDesignAustralia”.

CamelCase is named after the way its capital letters protrude like a camel’s humps.

Camel Case helps people with vision impairment and people with dyslexia.

Using Camel Case shows consideration for readers especially people who use screen readers, and people who are neurodiverse. It makes technology more accessible for everyone.

Image descriptions

Images are an important part of social media posts, so it’s important that everyone has the chance to benefit from them. That means, people who are blind or have low vision need a text description of images. This is referred to as alt-text, or alternative text. Screen readers access the alt-text descriptions and read them out to the user.

The description of the image will depend on the purpose and context of where an image appears. For example, a photo on a dating app has a different context and purpose than that same photo on a book cover.

Some social media platforms prompt you to apply a description of your image when you upload it, which is a useful reminder.

Applying alt-text

Using examples, AxessLab has a useful guide on writing meaningful descriptions. The key is to keep it relevant and concise. A sighted person will glance a photo and it is that glance that you should try to convey.

Screenshots of text are also images and therefore all the text should be repeated in the alt text description. Avoid beginning the alt-text with “image of…” or “photo of”. The screen reader will say “image image of…” And remember to put a full stop at the end so the screen reader knows to complete the sentence. It makes for a more pleasant reading experience.

Descriptions of images are also picked up by search engines, so it is worth taking an extra minute to write a description. The AxessLab guide to alt-text is full of good tips.

For anyone in a role that takes in diversity, equity and inclusion it helps to know if your company or organisation’s website is meeting accessibility standards. The long-awaited update to the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) has finally arrived. But as with all standards they focus on minimum requirements.

Novices to web accessibility might like to have a look at WCAG for people who haven’t read them. Mobile devices and touchscreens are also covered.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) released the WCAG 2.2 with updates for web designers and web developers. An article on the CANAXESS website gives a good overview. There are 7 new criteria for designers and 3 for developers. If you are responsible for finding a web developer or designer, it is useful to know if they are up to date with the latest even though it is not yet a requirement,

It’s important for designers and developers to start thinking about WCAG 2.2. Internal accessibility policy in organisations and governments tends to lag behind the WCAG version changes. Adopting the new 2.2 criterial will future proof digital content when policy changes catch up.

“Web accessibility (inclusive or universal design) is the degree to which a website is available to as many people as possible. Accessibility is most often used to describe how people with disabilities can access the web.” Laura Kalbag.

CANAXESS lists the new criteria in their article and goes into some detail. There is increased support for cognitive impairments and conditions and alternative input interactions.

Websites need to be accessible from the ground up. Otherwise it defeats the object of creating accessible content in the form of documents, blog posts and videos.

CANAXESS offer a course to help designers and developers.

DIY – IT Accessibility

University of Maryland has a neat one page with the six essential steps for accessible online content. None of it is rocket science or geeky. This ready reference just has reminders to be a bit more thoughtful about how you go about it.

The aim of the six steps is to give everyone equal access to information and services. It’s simple things such as colour contrast, alt-text for pictures, and appropriately placed links to other pages – not “click here”, for example. It’s a handy reference to print out and pin up at your desk. Good for designing online-learning and adding content to an organisation’s website.

There is more on the University IT Division website on the six steps.