{"id":2823,"date":"2020-09-10T10:20:57","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T09:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/?p=2823"},"modified":"2020-09-10T10:20:57","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T09:20:57","slug":"designing-for-better-accessibility-in-open-access-scholarly-publishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.doaj.org\/de\/2020\/09\/10\/designing-for-better-accessibility-in-open-access-scholarly-publishing\/","title":{"rendered":"Designing for better accessibility in open access scholarly publishing"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a guest post by Sophy, our UX Designer.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accessibility has always been a top priority<\/a> in doaj.org\u2019s redesign project, along with improving:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. user experience, <\/li>
  2. navigation, and<\/li>
  3. responsiveness on various devices, browsers, and operating systems.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    We approached the project with the idea that accessibility, as opposed to branding and visual design, is foundational to all of these elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Why accessibility-first? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    DOAJ is a platform and organisation with a global reach and a highly diverse audience: it indexes 15,100+<\/strong> journals, from 134<\/strong> countries, covering 80<\/strong> languages. It is therefore essential that our design and user interface strives for inclusivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We mostly think of web accessibility (abbreviated to a11y<\/em><\/a>) as best practices that make a website usable for people with visual disabilities. This often omits the needs of those with speech, motor, and cognitive impairments. Accessibility not only includes users with lifelong disabilities but also users affected by environmental or otherwise temporary circumstances (e.g. using a device with a smaller screen on a slower network). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Good a11y<\/em> certainly shows consideration for disabled users. As an added benefit, its implementation has been shown to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n