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Re: Should a web site look and read the same

for

From: Tim Harshbarger
Date: May 7, 2013 6:34AM

Greg,

Here is another way to think of this issue.

Typically, sites don't include a label for a search field. However, when the site is designed, there are visual cues used to indicate that the text field is a search field. No one just adds a text field to the design and hopes that people visually will be able to figure it out. Since someone who is blind can't utilize those visual cues, you may add off screen text to help make it obvious to the blind user that the text field is a search field. That is the kind of "same" we often mean when we talk about accessible design.

If I rightly understand what you wrote, then I agree with you. Someone who is sighted and someone who is blind will not have the same sensorial experience. However, they can have the same user experience in that they both can complete the same tasks for which the user interface was designed. Experience. That is they both can complete the same tasks.

If you want to read more on the topic, I would suggest reading about the 4 principles of WCAG 2.0: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust. When you read about them, I think it will explain better than I can how things are the same and how they differ.

Thanks,
Tim