Re: New O'Reilly book on Context

Hey Steve,

 I am not aware of any research on these guidelines - but there are
specific sections for accessibility in there, with themes consistent
with a lot of things we have been discussing:

http://www.google.co.uk/design/spec/usability/accessibility.html#accessibility-navigation

"Are you sure that your user and their focus never get lost when
navigating between dropdowns, alerts and various screens? Think about
how users will return to a screen after closing a dropdown window.
Make sure that their focus will return to where it was before the
dropdown opened."

This is what rang a bell with me re: context, memory etc - we have
discussed the difficulty of retaining memory of where you are, what
you are doing when switching screens, dialogs. I remembered something
relevant in the material design spec. There are also good
recommendations for contrast, apps working well with bigger fonts,
visual alternatives/additions to vibration/sound alerts, alt texts for
video and images, labelled controls/buttons etc.

While I'm not aware of any research on these specific guidelines they
are pushing for a lot of commonly accepted good practise bits and
bobs. As someone in industry for a while now I was concerned - I've
seen a shift away from Windows, a platform proliferation. Windows for
all its faults does/facilitates/supports accessibility pretty well by
now. It's good to see some focus here from Google.

Thanks, Tony



On 18 January 2015 at 20:00, Steve Lee <steve@opendirective.com> wrote:
> Anthony,
>
> Thanks for the info on material design as I've been meaning to explore it
> for some time now , especially as Polymer brings it to the wider web. I had
> thought it a pretty basic "themeing" however it seems like many newer
> designs using a flat look it throws away afordances that make possible
> interaction clear to the user when looking at a screen object. Instead, they
> replace it with animations that give feedback, but only once you figure out
> you can interact,
>
> Is there any research on this style of UI for coga11y? Either in general or
> for specific preferences?
>
> PS I do like the material design as used in the new Google Android calendar.
> It's clean a fresh looking and easy enough to use.
>
>
> Steve Lee
> OpenDirective http://opendirective.com
>
> On 8 January 2015 at 16:04, Anthony Doran <t.doran@texthelp.com> wrote:
>>
>> This is oddly relevant to some things we are looking at as an
>> organisation, across our
>> apps/programs/software/tools/WhateverWeAreCallingItToday. The rise of the
>> prevalence of material design, the desire to unify the UX across platforms
>> to provide a consistent experience, remove ambiguity and improve the
>> intuitiveness of products. It is all good stuff. People need to take design
>> seriously from get go. So much software with great potential is hobbled by
>> badly designed, bolted on UI leading to a horrible UX.
>>
>> This is interesting reading too:
>>
>> http://www.google.co.uk/design/spec/material-design/introduction.html
>>
>> On 8 January 2015 at 15:39, Richard Schwerdtfeger <schwer@us.ibm.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Thank you Steve. I will order it.
>>>
>>>
>>> Rich Schwerdtfeger
>>>
>>> Steve Lee ---01/08/2015 04:41:37 AM--->From the TOC this would appear to
>>> have much of relevance to coga11y http://shop.oreilly.com/product
>>>
>>> From: Steve Lee <steve@opendirective.com>
>>> To: public-cognitive-a11y-tf <public-cognitive-a11y-tf@w3.org>
>>> Date: 01/08/2015 04:41 AM
>>> Subject: New O'Reilly book on Context
>>>
>>> ________________________________
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> >From the TOC this would appear to have much of relevance to coga11y
>>>
>>>
>>> http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920024651.do?imm_mid=0ca469&cmp=em-web-na-na-newsltr_20150107
>>>
>>> To make sense of the world, we’re always trying to place things in
>>> context, whether our environment is physical, cultural, or something
>>> else altogether. Now that we live among digital, always-networked
>>> products, apps, and places, context is more complicated than
>>> ever—starting with "where" and "who" we are.
>>>
>>> This practical, insightful book provides a powerful toolset to help
>>> information architects, UX professionals, and web and app designers
>>> understand and solve the many challenges of contextual ambiguity in
>>> the products and services they create. You’ll discover not only how to
>>> design for a given context, but also how design participates in making
>>> context.
>>>
>>> * Learn how people perceive context when touching and navigating
>>> digital environments
>>> * See how labels, relationships, and rules work as building blocks for
>>> context
>>> * Find out how to make better sense of cross-channel, multi-device
>>> products or services
>>> * Discover how language creates infrastructure in organizations,
>>> software, and the Internet of Things
>>> * Learn models for figuring out the contextual angles of any user
>>> experience
>>>
>>> Steve Lee
>>>
>>>
>>> Steve Lee
>>> OpenDirective http://opendirective.com
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Anthony (Tony) Doran
>> BrowseAloud Product Manager
>> Texthelp Ltd.
>> Lucas Exchange,
>> 1 Orchard Way
>> Greystone Road
>> Antrim
>> BT41 2RU
>>
>> --
>> Texthelp Ltd is a limited company registered in Belfast, N. Ireland with
>> registration number NI31186 having its registered office and principal place
>> of business at Lucas Exchange, 1 Orchard Way, Antrim, N. Ireland, BT41 2RU.
>
>



-- 
Anthony (Tony) Doran
BrowseAloud Product Manager
Texthelp Ltd.
Lucas Exchange,
1 Orchard Way
Greystone Road
Antrim
BT41 2RU

-- 
-- 
Texthelp Ltd is a limited company registered in Belfast, N. Ireland with 
registration number NI31186 having its registered office and principal 
place of business at Lucas Exchange, 1 Orchard Way, Antrim, N. Ireland, 
BT41 2RU.

Received on Monday, 19 January 2015 10:22:07 UTC