Interactive Description

A design approach for providing accessible descriptions of interactive digital content that updates in real time as users navigate and manipulate elements. Unlike static alternative text, interactive descriptions consist of two complementary structures: state descriptions that summarize the current state of all objects and can be browsed at any time, and responsive descriptions that are delivered automatically when users interact with elements, describing both the focused object and contextual changes elsewhere. This approach was developed primarily for making complex web-based simulations accessible to screen reader users, enabling full non-visual interaction with dynamic content.