Fast fashion or bespoke tailoring?
Well, hello there. Step inside to O2 tailoring where we know that One Size Fits One. This is an extra post for the letter O in the A to Z Accessibility: Power Platform Edition.
This is a general post and applies to accessibility as a wider topic, rather than any specific technology.
It doesn’t work for me…
Anyone who has worked in a support role, or had children, will know that refrain. When it comes to accessibility though, this is a genuine issue.
What works for one person can conversely make things harder for another. Each disability and accessibility requirement is different. Now in the main part people have adapted and “made do”, but we want better than that. We want to deliver the most accessible solution we can. One that works in the best possible way, for the biggest group of people.
That’s where the challenge lies as there is no “One Size Fits All” solution. Accessibility really is about “One Size Fits One”. If we go into our designing and developing with that in mind, we can ensure that we work to be as accessible as possible.
One size doesn’t fit all, in only fits One
We as people like options and choices. We don’t want to go to a restaurant and all be served the same standard grey gloop. We want individual meals. We want to be able to say “hold the vegetables” (if you are me).
If we adopt that mindset to our solutions, we can look at how we can offer Options. In apps, we can see how we can implement colour scheme selectors. We can look at offering font size options, and even different typefaces. In our Power Pages sites we can look to offer accessible options that switch colours etc.
This may sound like a lot of extra work but if we spend a bit of time building some standard, reusable, frameworks and components then this becomes a drag-and-drop exercise. This then adds extra functionality, with minimal effort, and reaches a much bigger audience.
There are middle grounds to be found
Build yourself a network of accessibility users, and preferably developers as well. By doing so you can work with them and explore what the must-haves are, and what the compromises are. I’m not talking about cop-outs, but genuine areas where different users can work with a degree of adaptation.
For years and years, the disabled community has had to find ways of working in an inaccessible world. If we can work together to make things better, bit by bit, then we can start to ensure that we build a more inclusive world.
It may be that “One Size Fits One”, but sometimes you can add a belt or a scarf to make that outfit work for you with a few tweaks.
This has been One Size Fits One
Thank you for reading this second O post in the A to Z Accessibility: Power Platform Edition. Hopefully this has made you think a bit about how we offer solutions and consider design.
Please check out the rest of the series either by going to the table of contents on the launch post here or by heading to the category page in the top menu or by clicking here.
Content in this series is © Mike Hartley. I am happy for folks to quote or reuse snippets (with attribution) but please let’s not go all Clone Wars on this. This has taken a lot of work to compile so please do not copy whole sections or I may have to set Jar-Jar Binks on you. If there are any corrections or suggestions, then please use my social links to contact me. I am always happy to add additional content and remarks with full credit given. Likewise, these pages will evolve as my learning and understanding grows, so make sure to keep this bookmarked and check back every so often.