Interactive Attainability

[Author: Bill Fischer]

Overview

These design principles go beyond simply following technical rules and drive creative solutions that maximize the universal attainability of the media we create for both current and yet unforeseen technology applications.


Two people view media on a smart phone together while riding a bus

Universal design aims to create media that the abled and disabled can experience together, no matter which senses each participant has at their disposal or which situational limitations are in play. These two people could be watching a video on a noisy bus, or one could be deaf. In both cases, captions provide access to the information where it would otherwise be inaccessible.



Mobile Devices

Media that loads and plays seamlessly on any electronic device, anywhere, on any network is the ultimate attainability goal. The smartphone is often a person's only available access to digital media. Over 50% of web page views worldwide occur on mobile devices. Websites, documents, and digital media, in general, must be compatible with smartphones and shared, slow 4g connections to be fully accessible. Situations, where mobile devices are the only option, include:


Internet Bandwidth Continues To Be A hurdle

The digital divide in the world today centers not only on hardware, but also on access to the internet, the 21st-century lifeblood of culture, knowledge, and society. It's clear by the PEW Research Center's data on broadband access (external link), as of the end of 2021, that minorities and low income persons are disproportionately negatively affected by internet access challenges.

U.S. Population without broadband access:

U.S. Smartphone-only internet access


Designing for low bandwidth access

Text is the fastest and most accessible way to share information across networks, including the internet.  Images add dramatically to wait times, but they can be optimized for speed by following the guidelines for optimizing images in the Imaging section of this site.

Multimedia, that integrates text, animation, audio, and interactivity, engages more parts of the brain and increases attention and retention. How do we deliver that over low bandwidth networks without the need for downloading and storing native apps? At present html5 applications are ruling the day.


Animated screen showing a picture of the Mackinaw bridge.

An Example of low-bandwidth design

The web app shown above was built using html5 by KCAD student Melissa Boverhof as part of The Epic Project. The images are flat, with minimum color, it includes audio, and the animation is generated using code (text). It requires 64k of data. Video animation with audio, instead of code generated animation, would inflate the file size to 440k.

A fairly slow mobile network transfer rate of .2mbps ( around 2 bars on a mobile hotspot shared by 3 students at home), will result in these wait times for a single page:


Though these differences seem small. A web app with 20 screens can realize substantial gains. The coded animation version would load in about 6.4 seconds versus the video animation version at 44 seconds (which would not likely be able to buffer and stream before that time elapses). 44 seconds is a long time to stare at a loading screen.

Breaking media that requires pre-loading into small chunks and delivering them on-demand 



Device Agnosticism

As the amount and variety of technology delivery systems continue to expand, a universal design plan will need to include every aspect of our digital lives. Most of this technology has the built-in capability of providing universal access to all of our available senses. That includes visual displays, speakers, and physical inputs. It's up to designers and developers to configure them for universal attainability.

Personal Consumer Media Technology

Shared Consumer Media Technology



Assistive Devices and Technology Examples

The web, being the most prevalent digital media in our lives is well positioned to make use of the assistive technology that is available. 

A standard keyboard


Text readers: 


Screen magnification software: 

Speech input software: 


Alternative input devices: 

For users unable to use a mouse or keyboard to work on a computer.