Synthesizing Tools For Auditing Accessibility

Introduction

As part of our 2023 roadmap goals at UpTogether, we aimed to enhance the platform's accessibility. Following initial efforts by our content designer and junior designer, I was assigned to take the lead in implementing this project. 

Independent research 

I opted to re-familiarize myself with accessibility best practices and web standards through independent research. I created a Figma document that provided an overview of various examples from the internet.

Consolidating past work 

In this project from the past the team compiled a list of best practices gathered through research on WCAG standards and insights from other authorities in the field of accessibility.

I was able to convert this work into a condensed checklist consisting of the most pertinent and applicable principles.

UX Debt: Keeping Scope Narrow

While there were numerous starting points and opportunities to apply this new thinking framework to our own features and products as well as other teams products, we chose to focus initially on our upcoming project. This decision was driven by the belief that it would be more prudent to first establish the effectiveness of this approach within our own project before considering its expansion to other teams, products, or features.

The Tool

I opted to customize a framework for conducting heuristic evaluations. I transformed each item on the checklist into a rule and developed criteria for each rule. Subsequently, I established a rigorous pass/fail scoring system for items processed through the tool. This approach was fitting given the paramount significance of accessibility in general and particularly for our organization.

Here is the checklist reimagined as "heuristics" for the "Evaluation," each accompanied by summaries for clarification:

Here are the set criteria for each heuristic

Wrapping Up

We have successfully developed a tool that can be utilized in our upcoming projects. This tool is applicable at all stages of UI design and can even be used beforehand to prioritize and guide design decisions with a strong focus on accessibility.