Dashboard Week - Accessibility

by Megan Coutts

Today our task was to create a dashboard that caters to as many individuals as possible, focusing on accessibility issues such as visual impairments (e.g., colour blindness), physical impairments, or lack of keyboard/ mouse ability. I decided to focus my dashboard largely on those individuals that required a screen reader to access the information, however, other accessibility issues were also considered as well. This is the link to my final dashboard:

https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/megan.coutts/viz/GlasgowRoadRepair/Dashboard1

Key Challenges:

  • Trying to make the dashboard fully screen readable (nearly impossible!).
  • Deciding the most important data to include on the dashboard (no tooltips as the screen reader can't read it).
  • Ordering the dashboard items adequately for the screen reader.
  • Using text and tables in place of charts (my choice).

Below are some key points from today:

  • If you would like to use a screen reader within your dashboard, then aim to use as much text as possible, whether this is actual text boxes, captions, descriptions, or detailed headers. Because the screen reader will not pick up on information within charts or tooltips, this will ultimately make the dashboard much more accessible for individuals with visual impairments.

  • If using a screen reader, it will read the dashboard from left to right, and top to bottom, therefore it is important to consider the order of your dashboard items as you don't want the information being read out at the wrong points.

  • Naturally we want the dashboard to be as inclusive as possible, therefore visual impairments such as colour blindness must be considered. This is easily remedied by searching online for suitable colour palettes, or using online tools such as Adobe Color to check for any conflicts within an already chosen palette (see https://color.adobe.com/create/color-accessibility). It is also important to consider the contrast between the colours you use within a dashboard, as this may affect some people's ability to perceive the information. To make sure the contrast is adequate, you can use online tools such as the previously mentioned Adobe Color.

  • Both font size and font type are important when considering accessibility within a dashboard. Make sure that the text is large enough, so at least 12/14pt for the smallest font size, and also make sure to use sans serif font types where possible, as they are much easier for users to comprehend than serif font types (more info on font types - https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/design/discover/serif-vs-sans-serif.html)

Thu 30 Jun 2022

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