Accessibility - Physical or motor disabilities

Some general guidance on how to design services for users with physical or motor disabilities.

• Make large clickable actions

  Don't demand precision

  Buttons with a small hit area can be frustrating for motor disability users who may not be able to control a mouse or keyboard very well.

• Give form fields space

  Don't bunch interactions together

  Having lots of actions near each other increases the risk of a user taking the wrong action by mistake.

• Design for keyboard or speech only use

  Don't make dynamic content that requires a lot of mouse movement

  Some motor disability users may not use a mouse or may use an assistive technology that functions like the tab key on a keyboard. Make sure all your content is accessible by keyboard only.

• Design with mobile and touchscreen in mind

  Don't have short time out windows

  Using a computer can be tiring for motor disability users and they may need to take frequent breaks. A short time-out period means they will probably have to start again after taking a break.

• Provide shortcuts

  Don't tire users with lots of typing and scrolling

  It can be difficult for users who find controlling a computer hard to keep their place on long pages and form fields.