Bookmark: "The inaccessible web: how we got into this mess"

2017-03-06

Bookmarked:

The inaccessible web: how we got into this mess uxdesign.cc

Mischa Andrews lists five reasons how the web, an accessible medium by default, ended up in an inaccessible mess:

We can (and do) learn to make websites without learning accessibility
We’re not held accountable for inaccessible products
Assumptions guide us astray
The legislation doesn’t tell us what to do
New trends push technology into untested territory

The article is a great analysis of often invisible biases affecting how websites are built today - and it leads straight to very concrete steps to improve the situation, among which the maybe most important:

[…] identify the perceptions you need to change: that accessibility is only for accessibility specialists, or that it’s not important, or that no one will notice, or that it’s too much effort, or that it doesn’t matter.

I'm Sebastian, Sociologist and Interaction Designer. This journal is mostly about bringing together social science and design for inclusive, privacy-focused, and sustainable "human-first" digital strategies. I also tend to a "digital garden" with carefully curated resources.

My occasionally sent email newsletter has all of the above, and there is of course also an RSS feed or my Mastodon/Fediverse profile.

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