http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Universal-Usability A listing of the most recently indexed works about Universal Usability in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Universal-Usability http://tc.eserver.org/34868.html http://tc.eserver.org/34868.html Accessibility is not something to be left to specialists hired to clean up our mess at the end. It should be a priority of the entire development team from the beginning. Yes, companies should definitely have accessibility people on-board, but they should act as much as educators and coaches as designers. Everyone on the development team must be aware of and responsive to the full spectrum of identified users if your product is to sell to the widest possible audience. That’s the only way to achieve inclusive design. http://tc.eserver.org/34869.html http://tc.eserver.org/34869.html Have you ever thought about what it would be like to be disabled? Well, you better start thinking about it! As my collegue Gregg Vanderheiden is fond of pointing out, 'We all will have disabilities eventually, unless we die first.' http://tc.eserver.org/32485.html http://tc.eserver.org/32485.html Begins by showing us the core functionality of screen readers and how they interact with the desktop. In the second part it demonstrates how a blind user may use them to explore and understand web sites, how sites are “linearized”, and how using semantic markup to build sites supports accessible navigation and usability. http://tc.eserver.org/32486.html http://tc.eserver.org/32486.html Karo Caran and Victor Tsaran show how the screen magnifier ZoomText is used to make the computer desktop and web sites readable to people with reduced vision. http://tc.eserver.org/31836.html http://tc.eserver.org/31836.html Universal Design can be thought of as a contemporary philosophical movement that addresses trends in the growth of the aging population and diversification of user abilities around the world. Stakeholders rely on designers, planners and managers as decision makers leading the drive to create non-segregated environments that help users and eliminate the stigma of disability. However, it seems necessary that everyone involved in the design process becomes aware and willing to bring about change. Therefore, the preparation of design students as well as users to understand the scope of Universal Design must be based on strategies that counteract the continuation of the stigma of disability in the mindset of designers and others who can bring about the changes required to create a more inclusive world. http://tc.eserver.org/31835.html http://tc.eserver.org/31835.html By now most readers of Design for All India have a healthy grasp of Universal Design. Many, perhaps most, have become highly competent in its application as is evident from the articles appearing in past volumes and today. Beyond technical mastery of the Seven Principles, knowledge of best-of-breed solutions, and familiarity with allied concepts such as Visitability, Adaptive Technology, or anthropometrics there is a cultural component to this design approach that is unquantifiably – but undeniably – transforming Universal Design. By systematically and thoroughly examining this cultural component in the coming decade we will discover the true nature of Universal Design to be social sustainability. http://tc.eserver.org/31837.html http://tc.eserver.org/31837.html The time for universal design is now because, as the Designing for the 21st Century III Conference website states “This is an extraordinary moment. We are more diverse now in ability and age than ever before. It is time for design to catch up. There is an urgent need to exchange ideas about the design of places, things, information, policies and programs that demonstrate the power of design to shape a 21st century world that works for all of us.” http://tc.eserver.org/31766.html http://tc.eserver.org/31766.html Ron Mace, Ruth Lusher和我在1998年一起写作的一篇关于通用设计的文章我相信是这方面第一篇发表的参考文献。我们的目的是推广一个设计概念积极的方面，这个概念以前被与为有限的人群（残疾人士）消除拙劣的设计相联系。我们要强调的是这个概念为所有的人士设计这一积极的方面。 1992年，当第一期通用设计新闻邮件出版的时候，我们在网络上进行了一次对于可能存在的侵权的搜索，没有发现任何关于通用设计这一名词的参考文献。今天，当我写作这篇文章的时候，我的 Google搜索发现了“大约13，200，000”条参考文献。毫无疑问，通用设计这一概念取得了广泛的使用。然而，这个名词到底是什么意思？ http://tc.eserver.org/31633.html http://tc.eserver.org/31633.html Today, as I write this article, my Google search found “about 13,200,000” references. There is no denying that the concept of Universal Design has gained widespread use. But what does it really mean? http://tc.eserver.org/31571.html http://tc.eserver.org/31571.html The idea that environments can support human function is not new to designers. But, the perception that design can enable one’s abilities and participation in society is something relatively new from a consumer perspective. http://tc.eserver.org/31572.html http://tc.eserver.org/31572.html 对设计者来说，使环境能够符合人体的机能是老生常谈的事。但是从消费者的观点来看，设计能够增加个体的能力和其在社区参与的程度则是一个相对来说比较新的想法。在以技术驱动的全球经济中，生活的节奏使得可用性更加重要。低生产力，不便和错误的设计带来的损失往往是巨大的。全球人口老化是另外一个重要的驱动力，尤其是在消费产品的主要市场——发达国家。 http://tc.eserver.org/30765.html http://tc.eserver.org/30765.html Visually impaired people suffer from no faults of their own. This is quite worthy of consideration that a little more efforts toward adoption of certain features in your web site can help them retrieve information in the desired manner. Their ease of accessibility to your web site will not go unrewarded; they can well augment your business interests by turning into your most valuable customers. http://tc.eserver.org/29680.html http://tc.eserver.org/29680.html The presenter describes a long series of technological assistive devices she has used to overcome a double disability--—blindness and deafness—--over the past 30 years in pursuing a highly successful career in technical communication. She also demonstrates the equipment and shows how it makes it possible for her to do her job. http://tc.eserver.org/28727.html http://tc.eserver.org/28727.html The changing physical, cognitive and social requirements of customers demand the changes of user interfaces. Universal design is a solution. Let's look at what Fidelity has done to incorporate accessibility into their system and in return how Fidelity benefits from it. Though there are no formulas and figures to calculate ROI in this article, the ROI of the universal design adoption is obvious. http://tc.eserver.org/28677.html http://tc.eserver.org/28677.html How do you keep usability, accessibility, and user experience requirements on track while developing standards? It is part of the very nature of standards to focus on details--and in the process, to sometimes lose sight of the real goals. This is especially true when a standards-making process goes on for a long time, a situation is highly political, or most people are focused on technology issues. http://tc.eserver.org/28246.html http://tc.eserver.org/28246.html An early definition of universal usability. http://tc.eserver.org/25238.html http://tc.eserver.org/25238.html For this study, we recruited low-vision users with a variety of vision problems who need software to magnify computer text. Although we did not systematically recruit for specific vision problems, the fact that our users had different needs gave us one of the most critical insights in this study: The needs of low-vision users are too diverse for simple solutions to Web accessibility and usability. We show a few ways in which today’s Web sites are missing the needs of all low-vision users and provide guidelines for fixing those problems. However, the diversity of vision needs and the resulting adaptations that low-vision users require mean that there are no simple solutions to making Web sites work for everyone. In this article, therefore, you will not find many simple guidelines. Instead, we raise a critical issue and suggest a 'vision of the future' solution. http://tc.eserver.org/23594.html http://tc.eserver.org/23594.html Accessibility has come a long way. Not only most public places but even many private areas now claim to be 'accessible'. However, this term usually implies that a person in a wheelchair is able to get to the inside of a venue. This is not enough. If I am using a wheelchair, I would like to be completely autonomous and move around freely. I don’t want to have to go along a long dark corridor to use a service lift in order to get to another floor. Although I always appreciate it, I don’t want to have to count on the generosity of passersby to help me open a door or push my wheelchair up a slope. My only wish is to blend in with other people, and enjoy life as much as anyone else. http://tc.eserver.org/22967.html http://tc.eserver.org/22967.html Graphics are not directly accessible to people who are blind, yet graphics can be beneficial (in some cases necessary) to individuals with cognitive disabilities. Are these two disability types at odds with each other? How can Web developers reconcile the needs of these two very different audiences? Read more about the apparent conflicting interests in our feature article. http://tc.eserver.org/22830.html http://tc.eserver.org/22830.html Universal Usability requires that user interfaces accommodate users with a wide variety of expertise and knowledge. Moreover, individual users' needs and preferences change as they use a software system. Systems that guide the user through an evolutionary learning process or adapt the user interface to the user provide a solution to this challenge. This paper introduces the techniques, highlights several examples of systems that implement them and provides guidelines for practitioners who wish to develop adaptive and adaptable interfaces. http://tc.eserver.org/21695.html http://tc.eserver.org/21695.html Universal design in education (UDE) means that physical, social, and learning environments are designed so that individuals with a wide range of abilities can have meaningful access and participation in general education. Universal design in education is built in and involves flexibility of materials, strategies, approaches, and technology. Universal design should guide developers, educators, users, and others in developing and implementing environments that support diverse users, regardless of their abilities. http://tc.eserver.org/21010.html http://tc.eserver.org/21010.html The key difference between user interfaces for sighted users and blind users is not that between graphics and text; it's the difference between 2-D and 1-D. Optimal usability for users with disabilities requires new approaches and new user interfaces. http://tc.eserver.org/21014.html http://tc.eserver.org/21014.html With current Web design practices, users without disabilities experience three times higher usability than users who are blind or have low vision. Usability guidelines can substantially improve the matter by making websites and intranets support task performance for users with disabilities. http://tc.eserver.org/19049.html http://tc.eserver.org/19049.html Text-only websites are not suited to all users with impairments. Although they are often ideal for users who are blind and use a screen reader, accessibility goes far beyond this user group. http://tc.eserver.org/18606.html http://tc.eserver.org/18606.html In trying to build accessible products, it is sometimes difficult to find key components. This is particularly true when building prototypes or coordinating small volume productions. This resource listing is provided to assist people in finding sources for key accessibility components such as accessible telephone handsets (for use on kiosks, etc.), voice technology products and other accessible components. It is maintained on an 'as we find it basis.' In other words, when we locate particular components or they are brought to our attention, we wll include them here. http://tc.eserver.org/18598.html http://tc.eserver.org/18598.html People who could benefit from more universal designs include many both with and without disabilities. In some cases, people may experience difficulty in using products purely as a result of the environment or an unusual circumstance. Beneficiaries of universal design include: * People in a noisy shopping mall who cannot hear a kiosk * People who are driving their car who must operate their radio or phone without looking at it * People who left their glasses in their room * People who are getting older * People with disabilities * Almost anyone In order to design for the general population, it is important to understand the diversity, problems, tools, and abilities of its members. http://tc.eserver.org/18612.html http://tc.eserver.org/18612.html The W3C WAI Page Authoring Guidelines (Vanderheiden, et al, 1998a) contains nineteen general concepts that Web page authors should follow to make their pages more accessible and usable, not only to people with disabilities, but for newer page viewing technologies (mobile and voice), for electronic agents such as indexing robots, and etc. In this paper/presentation, we will talk about and demonstrate how scripts and style sheets can be implemented today, and still work on systems that do not support scripts and style sheets ('Transform gracefully'). We also talk about and demonstrate how the data in a table can be presented and navigated both via scripting and by an accompanying application ('Context and navigation'). http://tc.eserver.org/18602.html http://tc.eserver.org/18602.html A directory of laws and regulations to support accessibility in new media. http://tc.eserver.org/18605.html http://tc.eserver.org/18605.html A major project of the Trace Center is the development of an on-line design and evaluation tool to assist product developers in creating better and more usable products. The design tool will lead designers through a process that encourages them to ask questions about their design and provides them with information about aspects or features of their product that might pose access barriers. A listing of possible strategies and ideas they might use to address the accessibility issues or to make their product more generally usable is provided. Specific examples, audio and video clips, copies of reference documents and studies, and resources they can contact or refer to will all be included over time. http://tc.eserver.org/18599.html http://tc.eserver.org/18599.html There are over thirty million people in the U.S. with disabilities or functional limitations (of which a major cause is aging), and this number is increasing. An examination of the role of human factors in addressing this population is presented which would include both special designs for disability/aging and the incorporation of disability/aging into mainstream human factors research and education. Statistics regarding the size and characteristics of this population are presented, including the costs of disability. Examples demonstrating the economic and commercial feasibility of incorporating disability/aging considerations in mass market designs are provided along with a discussion of the benefits to non-disabled users. http://tc.eserver.org/18608.html http://tc.eserver.org/18608.html A bibliography of writings about universal design. http://tc.eserver.org/18609.html http://tc.eserver.org/18609.html The following are lists of Web sites that Trace Center staff have found particularly useful. The resources listed in turn contain links to many other excellent sites. http://tc.eserver.org/18600.html http://tc.eserver.org/18600.html Essential to the ability of people to come up to universally designed products and know how to operate them is the existence of interface standards. Work is currently under way in a number of areas to ensure that people: 1. Know what to do to operate products they encounter; 2. Are able to connect any assistive technologies they may have with them to the products they encounter. http://tc.eserver.org/18601.html http://tc.eserver.org/18601.html The Universal Design Research Project is a three year study funded by the U.S. Dept. of Education National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. This project was designed to gain an understanding of why and how companies adopt universal design, and what factors are the most important in making this decision. In addition, factors which discourage or impede the adoption and successful practice of universal design are also being identified. A second objective is to determine what those outside of companies can do to support universal design within the companies. http://tc.eserver.org/18435.html http://tc.eserver.org/18435.html Universalusability.org provides the definition and foundation for the topic of universal usability in addition to introducing researchers and practitioners to five perspectives on universal usability. Universal usability involves understanding how users attempt to accomplish tasks using a variety of technologies in different organizational and social contexts. And researchers and practitioners have a wide range of approaches and methods available to apply to this range of user-system interactions. http://tc.eserver.org/18437.html http://tc.eserver.org/18437.html The goal of universal usability is to enable the widest range of users to benefit from web services. This website contains recommendations and information resources for web developers who wish to accommodate users with slow modems, small screens, text-only, and wireless devices. It deals with content design issues such as translation to other languages, plus access for novice, low educated and low motivated users, children and elders. The website also covers design guidance for blind, deaf, cognitively impaired, and physically disabled users. Each article has practical guidelines, web site examples, links to organizations, and a bibliography. http://tc.eserver.org/18436.html http://tc.eserver.org/18436.html The goal of universal access to information and communications services is compelling. Enthusiastic networking innovators, business leaders, and government policy makers see opportunities and benefits from widespread usage. But even if they succeed and the economies of scale bring low costs, computing researchers will still have much work to do. They will have to deal with the difficult question: How can information and communications services be made usable for every citizen? Designing for experienced frequent users is difficult enough, but designing for a broad audience of unskilled users is a far greater challenge. Scaling up from a listserv for 100 software engineers to 100,000 schoolteachers to 100,000,000 registered voters will take inspiration and perspiration. http://tc.eserver.org/14235.html http://tc.eserver.org/14235.html The goal of universal access to information and communications services is compelling. Enthusiastic networking innovators, business leaders, and government policy makers see opportunities and benefits from widespread usage. But even if they succeed and the economies of scale bring low costs, computing researchers will still have much work to do. They will have to deal with the difficult question: How can information and communications services be made usable for every citizen? Designing for experienced frequent users is difficult enough, but designing for a broad audience of unskilled users is a far greater challenge. Scaling up from a listserv for 100 software engineers to 100,000 schoolteachers to 100,000,000 registered voters will take inspiration and perspiration. http://tc.eserver.org/14236.html http://tc.eserver.org/14236.html Even if technology is made more affordable and accessible, it still must be usable by a wide variety of people – experts and novices, abled and disabled – using a wide variety of hardware and software – old and new, text-based and audio/video. Universal usability has thus become another related, but distinct area of research. This web site seeks to identify some of the major issues faced by hardware and software designers who wish to build with universal usability in mind. The Table of Contents to the left contains a list of papers on topics related to universal usability organized into two groups. The first group, User Communities, identifies some of the groups of people who require special considerations when designing hardware and software. The second group, Hardware and Software, looks at the problem from the other direction and identifies hardware and software solutions to usability issues that effect a number of groups. All of the papers were written as resources to provide guidelines for practitioners.