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Accessibility and Usability
Tightly related but very independent UI/UX/CX concepts. Definitely NOT interchangeable.
I saw a post on LinkedIn this week that said “you can’t have usability without accessibility.” However, it is my belief that the converse — “you can’t have accessibility without usability” is also true. Here are my thoughts on how the two topics are interrelated using a metaphor that everyone can get behind — frozen treats.
First, a couple of basic definitions:
Usability: Is a product/service effective and efficient? Do your customers dread using it? Is it “meh”? Or do your customers love it and recommend it to everyone. But most importantly, usability is about addressing general user needs, usability is NOT about the specific needs of people with disabilities.
Accessibility: Can people with disabilities equally perceive, operate, and understand your product / service ? Are there barriers to equal access?
Usability is the frozen treat
- Usability is largely subjective. What one user thinks is usable, another might think is complete garbage. Also someone’s opinion about usability can change over time — people tend to get more forgiving as their skills advance about annoying behavior that they have learned shortcuts around.
- Usability involves users’ expectations. Sort of like movies. Ever go to a movie that you thought was going to be terrible (3 out of 10) and you left pleasantly surprised because it was a 6? And then the following week go to a different movie that everyone said was awesome (8 out of 10) and you left mad because it was a 6? Both movies were 6s. The difference was the expectations you went into the theater with.
- Usability results differ based on user experience. Even objective measurements of usability such as speed to complete a form will change over time as the user gets more experienced. Frozen treats change over time too — they melt !
