Webinars: Making the Web More Usable for Low Vision Audiences

Making the Web More Usable for Low Vision Audiences

Live Broadcast Held On: November 1, 2016
Length: 1.5 hours
Speaker: Aaron Leventhal, Director of Project Management, VFO Group; David Young, Director of Marketing, VFO Group
Target Audience: Accessibility professionals, developers, designers, testers, and anyone involved in the delivery of websites and web content to the general population
Skill Level: Intermediate

Register for Archived Webinar

Overview: Low vision audiences are rarely the focus of web accessibility efforts, yet the low vision population is massive. The World Health Organization estimates that 246M people worldwide have low vision, and this population is growing rapidly in developed countries due to demographic trends and rising computer use. This session will focus on the needs and challenges faced by low vision web users. We will delve into the diverse of low vision condition and enumerate common web design practices that can pose a specific challenge to this user group. We will provide practical guidance for developing "low vision friendly" websites and applications.

Objectives:

• Learn about the diversity of low vision conditions and the corresponding challenges faced by low vision web users
• Develop actionable techniques for empathizing with those with low vision
• Identify common web design practices that result in poor accessibility and usability for low vision web users
• Learn guidelines for web and application design that maximize usability for the widest variety of low vision users

Speaker Bios: Aaron Leventhal has been a low vision specialist, accessibility architect, and assistive technology pioneer for 25 years. Aaron's early professional accomplishments includes the design and development of MegaDots, a professional Braille publishing tool for teachers, Braille transcribers and people with visual impairments. Aaron also drove the initial implementations of the ARIA web application accessibility standard. Aarom has served in a variety of technical and product management roles forces on accessibility for IBM, Netscape,, Firefox and Ai Squared. Aaron is currently Director of Product Management at sitecues, where he is creating technology to make websites more usable for individuals with vision, learning, and language challenges.

David Young leads marketing for Sitecues, a solution that makes the web easier to use for people with diverse abilities. David is an Assistive Technology user and advocate. David is focused on accessibility metrics and helping all types of organizations justify investment in accessibility. David has over 15 years of experience in business strategy and marketing, working across a range of high tech sectors. David holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of California at San Diego and a BA from Williams College.