Book Image

UX for the Web

By : Marli Ritter, Cara Winterbottom
Book Image

UX for the Web

By: Marli Ritter, Cara Winterbottom

Overview of this book

If you want to create web apps that are not only beautiful to look at, but also easy to use and fully accessible to everyone, including people with special needs, this book will provide you with the basic building blocks to achieve just that. The book starts with the basics of UX, the relationship between Human-Centered Design (HCD), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and the User-Centered Design (UCD) Process; it gradually takes you through the best practices to create a web app that stands out from your competitors. You’ll also learn how to create an emotional connection with the user to increase user interaction and client retention by different means of communication channels. We’ll guide you through the steps in developing an effective UX strategy through user research and persona creation and how to bring that UX strategy to life with beautiful, yet functional designs that cater for complex features with micro interactions. Practical UX methodologies such as creating a solid Information Architecture (IA), wireframes, and prototypes will be discussed in detail. We’ll also show you how to test your designs with representative users, and ensure that they are usable on different devices, browsers and assistive technologies. Lastly, we’ll focus on making your web app fully accessible from a development and design perspective by taking you through the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Title Page
Credits
About the Authors
About the Authors
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface

Assistive technology and the role it plays in developing for accessibility


As we have seen, not all people with disabilities require assistive technology to access websites. In many cases, people use standard technology, such as keyboard and trackballs, and rely on websites being designed well. Some people with disabilities require assistive technology to access the web; this is especially the case with visual and mobility disabilities. We will discuss these next.

People with mobility disabilities use a range of assistive technologies, depending on the severity of the disability. Most of these work through the keyboard, so providing full keyboard access to a website is an important first step in accessibility. Technologies used by people with mobility problems include:

  • Trackball: This is not an assistive technology, but trackballs are easier to use than mice. They can be manipulated with pointing devices, such as mouth sticks, or with feet.
  • Mouth stick or head wand: These are simple sticks...