It is necessary to guarantee inclusion and accessibility for the whole society. Learn how Apple is innovating with digital accessibility features
Thus, companies start to bet on digital systems, to offer means for people with special needs, to have greater autonomy to carry out daily activities .
Want to know how these innovations improve the lives of many people? And how is Apple showing promise in this field? Read the full text and check it out!
The importance of accessibility features
The concept of accessibility is given by the action of including the person with a disability in the participation of everyday activities, such as the use of products, services or information. In the physical world, an example is access ramps for wheelchair users .
In the digital field, accessibility is mainly for the visually impaired. According to the 2010 IBGE census, 23.9% of the population declared themselves to have some type of disability. Of these, visual impairment is the most common , affecting 3.5% of the population.
Thus, digital accessibility is guided by the recommendations of the WCAG (World Content Accessibility Guide) of the W3C and in Brazil, it refers to the e-MAG (Accessibility Model in Electronic Government). The Brazilian model is in line with international recommendations, but sets standards adapted to our reality.
There are several criteria presented, among them, subtitling the videos, inserting alternative text for images, and the use of appropriate colors to make the content more readable .
In order for a web project to offer digital accessibility, WCAG has listed the 4 basic principles to achieve:
Perception.
The first item for the project to fit with digital accessibility is perception. Therefore, users must be able to perceive the content of the page without much effort. That is, the user should have no difficulty noticing the project information .
Operation
In developing the project for the web, it is necessary to understand how users will operate the site. Whether they will be able to navigate and operate the site’s interface components.
In other words, access should be an intuitive and simple activity for all users of the platform.
Understanding
Another aspect necessary for website accessibility is understanding. In this sense, the user necessarily needs to assimilate what is being passed on, in addition to being able to operate with the interface.
Robustness
Finally, the project has to be accessible to both old and new technologies. In order not to discriminate against those users who have outdated devices .
Visibility on Google
In addition to being a primary issue for society, accessibility features are also taken into account for Google SEO metrics . That is, it is also used to evaluate the efficiency of a website .
Google analyzes, for example, how the page content is organized. The system evaluates factors such as: accessibility tools, whether images and videos have alternative texts, among others.
In this way, having an accessible website represents greater relevance in Google searches, thus facilitating your website to be better ranked in searches on the platform .
Apple launches new accessibility features
Apple has been known for creating innovative solutions for the population for over 20 years. And in the advances of digital accessibility, the tech giant could not be left behind.
Last Wednesday, (19), Apple announced a series of resources aimed at improving the accessibility of its products.
The main innovations focus on people with visual, motor, cognitive and hearing impairments . In this sense, these changes will allow these users to gain more and more inclusion in the company’s ecosystem .
Accessibility features: Assistive Touch
The first change is Assistive Touch for watchOS, which is intended to make it easier to use the Apple Watch, without necessarily touching the watch physically . Thus, the motion sensors integrated with the optical heart rate sensor, and the machine learning engine will help the watch to perceive subtle movements, just with gestures.
Accessibility features: Eye tracking
Another novelty that should arrive is eye tracking for the iPad. Compatible devices will be able to track where the user is looking on the screen . Thus, a pointer will be able to follow in the indicated direction and the fixed gaze will mean the execution of an action, such as opening or closing an application, for example .
Accessibility features: Voiceover
This screen reader tool will now provide more details about what is being displayed. Including people, data, texts and even other objects.
The hope is that Voiceover will describe the position of things even more accurately . The feature will come in tandem with increased support for two-way hearing devices with audiogram recognition.
Accessibility features: Sounds
Some neurological disorders interfere with the ability to concentrate, stay calm, or relax. In order to assist these people, iOS and iPad will have background sounds like ocean rain and streams .
Voice sound can also be used as commands for display settings, such as text size, for example, and will replace physical buttons and switches on devices.
Despite Apple not mentioning that all these accessibility features will be in the new system, predictions point to the launch in conjunction with iOS 15 , in September of this year.
Definitely, accessibility features are extremely necessary tools for our society. So that in this way, we can include people more and more and thus guarantee a better society for all.