Five UI Design Tips to Avoid User Blindness

At the time of designing any website, it is to be kept in mind that the website should be accessible to as many people as possible. There are a huge number of people in the world with some of the other kinds of disability. Thus, the designing of websites without paying attention to the accessibility requirements indicate blindness to these people. UI accessibility actually holds the key requirement for an effective design for the creation of websites for all.

This accessibility basically refers to website design so that it is usable by a various range of people. This is to make sure that people with disabilities are also able to use the website comfortably. UI accessibility, in particular, means the website for visually impaired so that they are able to use it without any kind of problem. So, here we have listed a few important UI design tips for the avoidance of user blindness.

Five Tips For UI Design

1) Allowances Should be Made for Enlarged Text

It is extremely important to always make room for enlarged text which necessarily makes the website for visually impaired suitable and at the same time much easier for them. Simply making the text larger is something the users are looking for. There are many visually impaired individuals who will zoon in on the text without the scale being changed of the total layout which might lead to other difficulties in scrolling as well as tracking the text over long lines. So, depending on the target market, it would be a very good idea to make the default font a few points larger.

2) Consider the Colour and Contrast

The colors play a vital role in highlighting the parts of the web page that we need to firmly communicate. Moreover, they also draw the attention of the visitors. But considering the color alone would make it quite difficult for individuals with a poor vision or the ones who are color blind. At the time of designing different elements with different colors in the background, make use of the patterns as well.
This would help to create a color-blind design which can be beneficial for the individuals who suffer from color blindness. Now, at the time of marking different elements with different colors, care should be taken for the purpose of using sufficient differences in intensity. In addition to this, the users who are suffering from color blindness or have poor vision can perceive all of the visual elements with a strong light and dark contrast. Thus, contrasting properly is the key to designing for color blindness.

3) Use Suitable Colours for Action Items

Colour should be given the utmost attention to the action items in particular. The use of such color combinations in case of the action items which might be difficult for the color blind users to differentiate should be necessarily avoided. It is to be kept in mind that the color-blind users are generally confused by the color sets, ‘red and green’, ‘blue and yellow’ etc. Thus, at the time of website designing for color blindness, these color combinations should necessarily be avoided particularly in the case of the action items.

4) Using Keyboard Shortcuts for Aiding Navigation

When you are planning to design the website for visually impaired, it is to be kept in mind to make it a point to use the shortcuts in a keyboard for the purpose of aiding the process of navigation. The users who are visually impaired can use a keyboard at the time of browsing. Therefore, it becomes extremely important for providing them with all the required functionality on the website that is available by the mouse as well as the keyboard.
The navigation of the keyboard keeps the focus on the elements active at the time of navigation. This, in turn, gives a total experience only at the time when the users always know the exact location on the web page. Thus, it is essential to keep the focus of the keyboard visible for all of the elements of the navigation page and make sure that the order of focus follows an exact sequence.

5) Making the Site Responsive

At the time of website designing for color blindness, it is essential to allow the desktop users to browse the mobile site. This can be effectively done by making the site responsive in nature. The layouts that are optimized for the mobile web are usually much more visually accessible as compared to their counterparts that are more grown-up.
The elements are generally simplified thereby making it easier to scale, the focus is more on the text and there is reduced visual clutter in all that tend to potentially confuse the users who are color blind or have confusion regarding contrast and color. Therefore, access to the mobile version of the website is certainly a quick way for the purpose of increasing UI accessibility and necessarily design for vision without the addition of too many costs of development.

Following the above mentioned five UI design tips would necessarily enhance the blind website accessibility at its best thereby making the website for all.