ptg16476052622 LESSON 22: Designing for User Experience
Q&A
Q Feedback from visitors to my site varies a lot. Some want my pages to use less
multimedia, whereas others want more. Is there an easy way to satisfy both of
them?
A You’ve already learned that you can provide links to external multimedia files. This
is the best approach for visitors who want less multimedia because they won’t see
it unless they click the link. Often the objections to multimedia have less to do with
the videos being on the site than with how you implement them. For example, most
people find autoplaying videos and sound files to be annoying but don’t mind if
there’s just a box with a triangle in the middle of it. As you learned in Lesson 21,
setting up autoplay is bad for mobile usability, and it affects accessibility and user
experience for nonmobile customers.
Q I use a lot of external files on my website, and they can be downloaded from
several different pages. Wouldn’t it be more efficient to include a link to the
correct readers or viewers on the pages where the external files appear?
A Although it’s much easier for the visitor to download an external file and the appro-
priate reader or helper application from the same page, it might be more difficult
for you to maintain your pages when the URLs for the helper applications change.
A good compromise is to include a Download page on your website with links to
all the helper applications that the visitor will need. After the visitor downloads the
external file, she can then navigate to your Download page to get the helper appli-
cation she needs to view that file.
Q If I don’t make my site accessible, what percentage of my audience will I lose?
A Even if you weren’t wondering about this yourself, there’s a good chance your boss
probably wants to know. Unfortunately, there’s no hard-and-fast number. I’ve seen
it reported that 10% of the population has disabilities, but not all of those disabili-
ties affect one’s ability to access the Web. And you have to remember that a lot of
things you do to make your site accessible will help your nondisabled customers as
well. Older customers generally need larger font sizes and zooming, many people
are color blind, and lots of companies don’t allow sound cards on their company
computers. By making your site accessible to blind and deaf people, you help those
others as well.
Q Can I run into legal trouble if I don’t bother with making my site accessible?
A If you’re in the United States, the answer to this question is no, unless you’re work-
ing on a site for the federal government and are bound by Section 508. This may be
different in other countries, especially in Europe. Contact a legal advisor if you are
concerned.