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Re: Organizational Charts

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From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: May 6, 2015 1:42PM

I agree that using a combo of headings and lists makes an organization chart accessible. Well, to those with vision disabilities.

However, that method impairs comprehension for sighted users whether they are disabled or not. From studying human behavior, comprehension, and design for umpteen decades, we know that a sighted reader comprehends the "big picture" of any graphic in .8 seconds...that's less than a second. No combo of headings and lists can give that amount of comprehension in a split second because it has to be read word-by-word, line-by-line. There's a lot of truth to the adage, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Are there solutions that accommodate all users without impairing others? Some ideas:

Have a LongDesc on the organization chart graphic that takes users to the Headings/Lists version.
Provide a link to a text version of the org chart.
Have both the graphic org chart as well as the Headings/List version on the page, side-by-side.

Would love to hear other ideas

--Bevi Chagnon

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Moore,Michael (DARS)
Sent: Wednesday, May 6, 2015 2:37 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: [WebAIM] Organizational Charts

I recently recommended using either a nested list structure or a combination of properly nested headings and lists as an accessible alternative to an org chart. A search for "accessible org charts" on the web revealed that this is the standard approach and given that properly nested headings and list provide a very good method for conveying organizational structure I do not see another method that would provide an overview of the structure and relationships within.

Would use of lists and/or headings and lists still be considered a best practice for conveying the content of an org chart or is there something using more dynamic methods that would provide benefits that I am not considering.

Mike Moore
Accessibility Coordinator,
Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services
(512) 424-4159 (Office)
(512) 574-0091 (Cell)