Sensory characteristics: accessibility for web writers, part 4

Comments Off Written on March 22nd, 2011 by
Categories: Accessibility
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Do you ever write instructions like these?

  • You must fill in the red form fields
  • Extra training materials are in the links on the right side of the page
  • The arrows pointing up take you back to the top of the page

Each relies on readers having certain sensory perceptions. ‘Red’ relies on colour perception. ‘Right’ relies on location perception. ‘Up’ relies on perception of orientation. Sometimes you might also write instructions that rely on shape (click the round button), size (copy the large headings) or sound (the beeping sound means…).

Don’t assume all users have all sensory perceptions

If you write like this, some people may struggle to use your content. For instance, colourblind users and blind users may not see ‘red’ form fields. Blind users may also be unable to identify the ‘right’ side of the page, arrows pointing ‘up’, ’round’ buttons or ‘large’ headings. And if you use sound for some instructions, people who are deaf or hard of hearing may miss out (along with anyone working in a loud environment or using a computer without speakers or a sound card).

On the other hand, users with reading difficulties or cognitive impairments may benefit from instructions that refer to sensory perceptions. The ‘large green’ button might be helpful.

Supplement instructions with text

You can refer to sensory characteristics of content, but you should supplement them with text labels or in some other way. For example:

  • You must fill in the ‘required’ form fields (they can still be red)
  • Extra training materials are linked under ‘Advanced training topics’ on the right
  • The up arrows labelled ‘top’ take you back to the top of the page (‘top’ or ‘start of page’ should also be the text alternative for the arrow image).

‘Above’ and ‘below’ are OK

In English, ‘above’ is commonly used to refer to the content before this point, and ‘below’ means the content following. These are not likely to cause problems for anyone with a disability as long as the reading order of your content is appropriate. ‘Reading order’ is the order that a screen reader reads through content. It is usually based on the order of the HTML code in your page.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines references

Earlier articles in this series

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