Mobile App for Amateur Pilots 

Specifications:  Easy to use travel itinerary app that addresses diverse sensory and cognitive abilities for amateur pilots.  

Accessibility issues to address: Visual impairment, low light, and cognitive memory  

 Recommendations: Visual Impairment  

  • The font should be in an upright stance. 
  • Avoid typefaces that have letterform designs that are virtually identical for letters. 
  • Design typesetting so that the user can increase the text size. 
  • Expanded tracking for character spacing to make the text more legible and readable. 
  • Recommend leading space between 125 to 150% of the font size. 
  • A minimum of 50% more space between paragraphs than between lines. 

Recommendations: Cognitive Memory 

  • Shorter line lengths increase cognitive load. 
  • Avoid heteronyms (I.e. words that are spelled the same but have different meanings) 
  • Provide plain language of complex content. 
  • Grouping. Group pieces of content in a manner that is easy to understand. 
  • Chunking. Avoid large blocks of information by breaking up content into smaller sections with meaningful groupings or headings.  
  • Hierarchy. Differentiate the importance of each piece of content. Maintain a pyramidal hierarchical structure. 
  • Anchor. Use headings and anchors to allow the reader to easily find their place in the content. 
  • Consistency. Consistency decreases distracting and increases predictability.  
  • Avoid cross-referencing and avoid legends. 

Recommendations: Low Light 

  • Every element on a page should be marked-up to describe its function, purpose, role, etc. 
  • Develop a robust semantic structure. 
  • The design of the screen reader should be based on the semantic values of the characters. 
  • Non-text content should have a text alternative (alt-text) 
  • The alt-text should provide descriptive identification of the non-text content. 
  • Avoid elements that don’t convey useful information or provide visual formatting that does not affect the meaning of the content.
     

Some of the recommendations overlap with one another.  The key point is that the app should be accessible to the identified impairments.