What should be considered in terms of accessibility standards when designing mobile apps?

First, try and keep things simple. Don’t go nuts with a lot of the interactive elements that touch devices enable. Use structured hierarchies that are obvious and short, and follow the base design conventions of the platform you are designing for – again, simple. More on this later.

Second, consider your target audience. Is the app targeted towards a huge potential user-base then you need to focus more on accessibility, as the number of users who will need accessible version will be markedly greater if your app is successful.

Third, look at technology and the target platform. The development tools, approach and the app platform will be a huge factor in the amount of accessibility you can provide. Apple, for example, has a fantastic built-in set of accessibility features in the iPhone OS, and any app can leverage that to provide a usable experience to anyone who needs/uses assistive technology (though in my experience I found it works best if you don’t stray from the conventions of the iOs design conventions – my first point, above).

If you are doing a mobile web app/site, then you can (and should) have your development team code using at least W3C Level II (in my opinion) – here’s a good reference with lots of links: http://www.w3.org/WAI/mobile/

See question on Quora

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