Week 1B: Universal Usability

On Monday September 1,2014 Mr Osborne went unto the topic of "Universal Usability."

What is Universal Usability?

Universal Usability is enabling all citizens to succeed using communication and information technology in their tasks. Designers who practice universal usability strive for designs that gracefully accommodate a diversity of user needs and circumstances. 

Basis for Universal Usability

1. Accessibility - Web accessibility is a critical element of universal usability. The guidelines produced by WAI and other accessibility initiatives provide us with techniques and specifications for how to create universally usable designs. They ensure that designers have the tools and technologies needed to create designs that work in different contexts.
2. Usability and User-Centered Design - A process focused on the design of information/tools that cater to the end user for the purposes of the most effective and efficient way of maximizing usage.
3. Universal Design- Universal design incorporates access requirements into a design, rather than providing alternate designs to meet specific needs, such as large print or Braille editions for vision-impaired readers.

Universal Usability Guidelines

There are two (2) guidelines to Universal Usability:

1. Moving beyond the “typical” user
2. Supporting adaptation

Universal Usability in the Design Process

There are two (2) steps in the design process:

1. User Research, which has surveys, interview, focus groups, web analytics and field studies, in which to carry out the beginning process.
2. Design and Evaluation, which has personas, goal analysis, scenarios, prototypes and wireframes and user testings to finish it off.

Universal Design Principles

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