Description
Assignment 1: Accessibility
Due Week 3 and worth 80 points
Building a user interface that meets the needs of a diverse population can be incredibly difficult. Research the best practices for developing a universally usable interface, as well as some of the federal legislation that applies (i.e., section 508).
- Assess at least five (5) best practices for developing a universally usable interface.
- Evaluate how section 508 affects developing user interfaces and assess this compliancy standard’s impact on users.
- Give three (3) examples of available tools for verifying that your interfaces meet universal design guidelines and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
- Examine the practicality of building multiple interface options for diverse populations, rather than building one (1) interface that meets the needs of the majority of end users.
- Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar Websites do not qualify as quality resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
- Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
- Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
Explanation & Answer
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There are practices that have to be followed in order to develop a universally usable
interface. However, in order to achieve this, we have to use the best practices. To begin with,
there should be a presence of the search box when developing a universally usable interface. A
search that is not clearly visible may make a user assume that there is absence of the search
functionality. Moreover, eventually the user may find this search functionality after a long
tiresome search that may have led to frustration. To prevent this, it is advisable to make the
search box clearly visible by using a gray or white font color different from the rest rather than
dark backgrounds. (Potosnak, Kathleen 1990).
Another practice among the best is by clearly marking expandable content. Websites
benefit greatly from this expandable content and drop down drags since they result into tidy and
even less clustered layouts. However, hidden contents may impair the websites usability when
their presence is not concisely reflected. For instance, a user expects a new page to be opened
when they click on a bare link. (Perlman, Gary 2002) Yet again, when the user clicks the link
containing the hidden content, their expectation is that instant display of the hidden content and
even the instant reversal process of the latter. Therefore, websites should make separations
between the links that are normal and those that display hidden contents through the use of the
JavaScript
Websites should also have the AJAX loading indicator when they make improvements on
the user experiences by loading content via asynchronous requests and informing the user that
the processing of the AJAX request is ongoing. The user may lose hope waiting or even starting
to wonder why what they keyed is not being processed. This can be accomplished in various
ways including highlighting the term ‘loading’ or similar texts next to the ...