How Usability and Accessibility Can Improve Your Product

What is usability?

Usability is a measure of the quality of a user’s experience interacting with a product or website. It captures users’ abilities to accomplish their goals in a manner that is satisfying and effective. It evolved from the psychology of human factors and its focus on users and “user-friendly” products.

Why is usability important?

Products with good usability provide users with satisfying experiences and increase their productivity. Users will often choose products with good usability over those with bad usability. Usability testing can save money by exposing design flaws before expensive models have been created, sparing designers and developers frustration caused by the need for rework.

What is accessibility?

Accessibility is the pursuit of providing users with disabilities the same amount of access to products and resources as users without disabilities.

Why is accessibility important?

To comply with legal requirements, companies should prioritize accessibility in the design of their products (See Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973). Implementing accessibility requirements increases the usability of products for ALL users, regardless of any physical or mental disabilities.