Experience design

We all make mistakes

Users with disabilities may be more likely to make mistakes, so you should use a combination of techniques to prevent, detect and correct errors that have serious consequences. We need to put the user in control of their experience by:

Avoid mistakes with serious consequences

When it comes to errors and mistakes in the user experience, prevention is key. To avoid unrecoverable errors, you must provide all users the opportunity to detect mistakes before committing an action that cannot be reversed (this is particularly important for financial transactions, tests i.e. drivers licence, deleting important data, etc.).

Where possible, prevent mistakes from happening by using appropriate & effective messaging techniques like alert, validation and success.

Highlight mistakes and suggest corrections

When a user does encounter an error, facilitate and be of assistance. Error messaging in a form should use a combination of techniques to communicate the issue(s). It must be constructed with a combination of a specific text description and visual cues to ensure all users can easily identify where and what is the issue.

Where possible a suggestion of the right answer should be visible alongside the error message.

It should include a mechanism that allows users to jump to errors, and provide successful feedback when data is submitted successfully.

Always give feedback in a non-intrusive manner

We need to inform our users of their progression in their journey without disrupting their experience. The aim is to let them know how they are progressing and if they are successful, not to stop them in their journey. From a slow loading page to added content, the site should always and immediately make sure all users know what is happening as they enter an input or take an action in a non-disruptive way. We must ensure that status text, alt-text and all other copy in the code used by assistive technology can communicate those changes.

In the case of the system experiencing a slight delay, it should inform the user and communicate when its action is finished.

Reduce the noise and user anxiety

Depending on how we design them, our experiences can improve or worsen user anxiety or overload their senses. We need to be considerate with the mediums of communication we use in our designs and must:

Avoid autoplaying video and audio

Did you know video and audio files usually play on the top of the screen readers?

Avoid using autoplay for sound and images as it might become a nuisance for our users with disabilities. You should completely turn off all background sounds and give control of the volume to users. Let the user switch it on when they are ready, as sound from video and audio files usually play over the top of the screen readers.

Moving images also can distract users with low literacy, reading and intellectual difficulties, and those with attention deficit disorders. It’s best to stop the video after five seconds if autoplay is used.

Turn off time limits

First and foremost, everyone moves at their own pace, and users with disabilities will likely take longer to complete a task so time limits increase pressure and anxiety for those users.

Time limits include timed ‘windows of opportunity for user input, and animated, moving or scrolling content. These time limits could stop some users from reading or interacting with our content or completing their tasks.

We must avoid time limits altogether, but if a time limit is necessary on your journey, page or product, then you must provide options to:

There are some exceptions, including if the time limit is essential; a required part of a real-time event, such as an auction, or if the limit is longer than 20 hours.