
Credit-: developer.android.com
When you create an android app, the professionals should focus on developing an app that is usable by everyone. People with limited vision or other physical impairments use android devices to complete their daily work. So, when you perform Android mobile app development with accessibility in your mind, ensure a better user experience, especially for the users who have impaired hearing or any physical impairments.
According to the research, over 1 billion people live with some disability. So, when you hire android app developer, ensure they create more accessible apps. So that your products can serve a variety of users and make the life of people with disabilities easier. With it, you are helping disabled people access the app. We will discuss the key elements to implementing accessibility on the android app.
What are the major Accessibility features available in android?
The demographic of users has exploded as mobile apps have become more prevalent in our daily lives. Around 5.19 billion people worldwide use mobiles phones. The market for mobile apps is more diverse than it has ever been. When it comes to providing a positive user experience, accessibility should be at the top of your priority list. Everyone can benefit from built-in accessible functions, which should be at the heart of your design philosophy.
We’ve included several mobile features and accessibility standards that Android app developers use in Android mobile app development.
- TalkBack
- Switch Access
- Voice Access
Users who are blind or visually challenged frequently use TalkBack. Users find material by moving their fingertips across the device screen when using TalkBack. The views that are under the finger are announced through TalkBack, and the user can interact with them using familiar movements.
A user connects two or more switches to a device via Switch Access. The user uses one switch to browse between the various controls on the screen, while the other switch interacts with those controls.
The user interacts with the screen exclusively through voice instructions when utilizing Voice Access. The notion that the user can really touch the screen is removed with Switch Access and Voice Access.
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Increase the visibility of text
The color contrast or difference in perceived brightness between the color of the text and the color of the background behind the text should be at a threshold for every text in the app. Also, the exact point is specified by the font size of the text and whether it is bold:
- The color contrast ratio should be at least 4.5:1 if the text is smaller than 18pt or bold and smaller than 14pt.
- The color contrast ratio for all other text should be at least 3.0:1.
Make use of large, straightforward controls.
If your app’s UI has controls that are easy to see and tap. Then it becomes easy to use. A focusable region, or touch target size, of at least 48dp x 48dp, is recommended for each interactive UI element. It’s much better if it’s bigger.
The following conditions must be true for a given UI element to have a large enough touch target size:
- The sum of android:padding-left, android:minWidth, and android: the padding-right value of 48dp or more.
- The sum of the android:paddingTop, android:minHeight, and android:padding-bottom is larger or equal to48dp.
Because of the padding values, an object’s visible size can be less than 48dp x 48dp while still having the required touch target size.
Describe each user interface element
Do you know that every UI element in the application includes a description that explains its features? However, the explanation is included in the content description attribute of the element. When you keep the following points in mind, you can easily add a description to your app’s UI elements:
- You should not mention the type of UI you use in the content description. In fact, they get automatically announced by the screen readers.
- When you use the button to perform a submit action in the app, the description of the button should be Submit instead of Submit button.
- Moreover, the description should be different from others. When screen reader users come across a repeated element description, they will correctly realize that the attention has shifted to an element.
- Each object in a view group like RecyclerView, for example, should have its own description. Also, you need to include in the description the content such as the name of a city in a list of places.
- When you use graphical elements in the UI for the decorative effect, set the descriptions to @null. Even if the app’s minSdkversion is 16 or higher, set the graphical elements android: important for accessibility attributes to no.
Final thoughts
When you follow the above steps, you can easily create an accessible app for the users. In fact, during Android mobile app development, you need to be very precise about the description, text size, and UI elements.