Let's take a very common example from Lotus Notes applications. Almost everyone can find at least one app in their environment that has views that utilize colored icons to denote some kind of status. Maybe it is a project tracking program and the adherence to the project schedule is represented by a red, green or yellow icon. Pretty standard, right, and easy to understand? Yep, most certainly...unless you are color blind. In this case, those icons might all look the same and without some other type of indicator, that user cannot determine which projects are in trouble and which are doing well.
How might we rectify this situation for our color blind user while maintaining our simple paradigm of using icons to denote status (which allows us to effectively use our screen real estate to show other important info)? One idea would be a slight redesign to use different shape icons in addition to different colors. Thus, our initial design becomes:
With this very simple tweak, we can still make effective use of icons to relay document information, still use color (which in this case is a powerful metaphor) and enhance the accessibility of our application for our visually challenged friend. Not a bad day's work for a small investment in time.
Accessibility is, as you would expect, a very broad topic and I've just scratched the surface with a simple example. What I hope to accomplish with this post is to get you thinking about the topic so it can be in the back of your mind the next time your start working on a design. Anytime you can overcome these small hurdles, your application is on its way to better usability. Good for you!
The screenshot here was respectfully taken from Automation Centre's excellent Tracker suite. Check 'em out.
