Good Designers, Bad Websites: A Proposal for Better Accessibility

This article argues that web accessibility is the most critical aspect of website creation, asserting that poor design can have life-or-death consequences by causing users to miss significant personal events. The author posits that while designers are well-intentioned, many still create exclusionary interfaces because the cognitive load of remembering vast accessibility guidelines is too high. To address this, the piece proposes adapting Jakob Nielsen’s usability heuristic of 'Recognition rather than Recall.' Instead of expecting designers to memorize complex rules, the author suggests making accessibility requirements visible and easily retrievable during the design process. This shift aims to help designers recognize potential accessibility issues in real-time, thereby reducing exclusion for users with varying visual, auditory, cognitive, and motor abilities. The article references works by Aral Balkan, Sarah Horton, and Whitney Quesenberry to support the argument that systemic changes in design workflows are necessary to ensure inclusive digital experiences.