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Re: text in addition to arrows for flashcard navigation?

for

From: Steve Green
Date: Sep 1, 2022 9:43AM

You cannot assume that text gives all users a similar experience. Some people, especially those with cognitive impairments, benefit greatly from the provision of supporting images.

In user testing sessions I have seen people with dyslexia completely fail tasks even though they text they needed to complete the task was right in front of them. In one case it was a 24pt bold red error message, but although they saw it, it just didn't register. In that case the participant reckoned that it would have registered if the text was supported by an icon or had a thick border.

The lesson for me was that it's really difficult to understand what some people perceive when presented with text. It's not just about the words - it's about the position, spacing, background colour, supporting imagery and other factors. There is no such thing as "universal design"!

Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd


-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of Murray Inman
Sent: 01 September 2022 16:29
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] text in addition to arrows for flashcard navigation?

I would suggest considering the removal of the icon and keeping the text.
Generally, only screen readers benefit from alt text images and using an icon assumes the user has similar cultural iconography experience or has the cognitive ability to understand the implied meaning. Whereas, keeping the text will give all users, sighted or unsighted, a similar experience.
It also has the benefit of being available to other technologies like page translators and browser extensions that can define words that the user doesn't understand.


Murray Inman

Manager, Instructional Media and Accessibility

VP, Ability Maricopa Employees with Disability Advocacy Group

480-517-8561 | <EMAIL REMOVED>

RIO SALADO COLLEGE | https://riosalado.edu

2323 West 14th Street, Tempe, AZ 85281

Definition of "Accessible" <http://learnatrio.com/accessibilityDefined>; by the Office for Civil Rights


On Tue, Aug 30, 2022 at 1:00 PM Mike Warner < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> we have a flashcard feature that works great and passed the
> accessibility audit from a very well-known organization. As it
> currently is, there are three columns of divs. The first column is
> the navigation for the previous card and contains an arrow icon link
> (with appropriate alt
> text) and a corresponding text link that says "Previous Card." The
> middle column is the card, and the right column is the navigation for
> the next slide, with the icon and text as previously described. Since
> the arrow icons have alt text, do we need the text in addition to the
> icons? It seems like the text is not needed, but I wanted to run it
> by this list before making a change to accommodate a learner.
>
> Thanks,
> Mike
>
> Mike Warner
> Director of IT Services
> MindEdge Learning
> > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> >