Accessibility Guidelines For A UX Designer Part 4- Touch Targets, External Links and Animations

Sshekhar Jha
September 18, 2022

In part 4 of our Accessibility Guidelines Series, we’ll dive into Touch Targets, External Links and Animations and how these help improve the accessibility levels of your design.

Touch Targets

While designing your touch targets, make sure that they are 9 mm high by 9mm wide at a minimum and are not dependent on your screen size, the device you use or the resolution in which you interact with the interface. 

It is important to Leave sufficient inactive space around controls, so they don’t overlap with the other touch targets. 

It helps users with mobility impairments like hand tremors or people with large fingers, users who use a mobile device in external environments, or those who access a device using only one hand. Users with low vision users may be better able to see the target.

Opening links in new windows

Having links that open on external tabs can be somewhat disorientating to users who rely on screen readers or users who have cognitive disabilities. 

In case you need to do it, make sure to include a warning for the user before they click on a link that it’ll open in a new window. Use cautionary text like “opens in a new window” or some kind of suggestive visual icon.

Animations

This one is important as you should avoid designing content in a way that is known to cause seizures.

Nothing on the page should flash more than thrice per second unless the content that flashes is adequately small and the flashes are low contrast and are devoid of too much red.

For instance, a movie with a scene involving luminous flashes of light has to be edited so the lightning only flashes three times in any one-second interval. 

This greatly benefits people prone to seizures, photosensitive epilepsy or any other photosensitive seizure disorders. It would enable them to enjoy the whole site experience without any cause for concern.

#accessibilityguidelines #design #accessibility

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