The overall concept of Universal Design (as opposed to universal Web design, as I have used to describe my project) refers to a school of thought and practice in which products are designed to accomodate all users and fulfill their varying needs. Often in the field of accessibility, special considerations are made to enable someone with a disability to use a product. The unfortunate side effect is often an attitude in which the designer picks out and isolates a certain category of individuals and creates something especially for their needs; to some people, this is discrimination in another form. Someone who is blind or deaf may not want to use a big, bulky piece of equipment that suits his or her needs because it highlights and exaggerates the characteristic he or she is attempting to diminish. This often leads to someone using the "normal" product, even though it is much harder to use, because it does not draw attention to the disability. In the realm of the Internet, this trend is often seen in text-only versions of websites (and quite regularly these separate versions are not kept up-to-date).
Proponents of Universal Design advocate designing a single product that can be used and enjoyed by all people. As defined by the Center for Universal Design, "Universal design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design. (Ron Mace)"
The intent of universal design is to simplify life for everyone by making products, communications, and the built environment more usable by as many people as possible at little or no extra cost. Universal design benefits people of all ages and abilities.
Generally speaking, most of the focus of Universal Design has been on housing, public and commercial facilities, and related structural products. My project attempts to apply the princples of Unviersal Design to the Web.
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A group of authors, architects, product designers, engineers, and environment design researchers collaborated to develop the seven core principles of Universal Design. In this section I will list each principle as defined by the Center for Universal Design and then attempt to apply the principle to Web design in the bullets below each principle.
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Center for Universal Design: Based at NC State University, the Center for Universal Design is a national research, information, and technical assistance center that evaluates, develops, and promotes universal design in housing, public and commercial facilities, and related products. Their core principles offer excellent insight into universal Web design that goes beyond the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Trace Center: The Trace Research and Development Center is part of the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Its mission is To prevent the barriers and capitalize on the opportunities presented by current and emerging information and telecommunication technologies, in order to create a world that is as accessible and usable as possible for as many people as possible.
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