Glossary

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Ability-Mediating Design

A design framework introduced by Radu-Daniel Vatavu that focuses on how interactive systems mediate and reshape users' abilities rather than adapting to fixed abilities. Its core principles are mediation (systems empower users with enhanced skills), world coverage (systems…

Ability-based design(also: ABD)

An accessibility framework that shifts the design focus from disability (what users cannot do) to ability (what users can do), arguing that interactive systems should adapt to users' actual capabilities rather than requiring users to conform to standard interfaces. Proposed by…

Access hack(also: Accessibility workaround, Adaptive strategy, Crip hack)

A creative workaround, adaptation, or improvised solution that a disabled person develops to navigate an inaccessible tool, environment, or system. Access hacks range from physical modifications (adapting a kitchen tool for one-handed use) to digital strategies (using keyboard…

Accessible Making(also: Accessible Fabrication, Inclusive Making)

The practice and research area focused on ensuring that maker activities—including digital fabrication, crafting, and DIY projects—are accessible to people with disabilities. This encompasses three related concepts: making assistive technologies accessible (ensuring disabled…

Accessible Web Design(also: Accessible Web Authoring, Nonvisual Web Design)

Accessible web design refers both to the practice of designing webpages that meet accessibility standards (such as WCAG) and — in a second, increasingly important sense — to the practice of enabling people with disabilities to act as web designers themselves, not just as testers…

Adaptable system

A system that can be configured using prior knowledge before use, as opposed to an adaptive system which changes dynamically during use. In accessibility, adaptable systems allow users or administrators to set preferences in advance — for example, selecting a high contrast…

Adaptive content(also: Content adaptation, Adaptive hypermedia)

Content that automatically adjusts its presentation, structure, or level of detail based on the needs, preferences, or capabilities of the user or their device. In accessibility, adaptive content goes beyond responsive design (which adjusts layout) to potentially restructure…

Adaptive content complexity(also: Layered descriptions, Tiered content)

A design strategy that provides the same information at multiple levels of detail or complexity, allowing users to access content appropriate to their cognitive processing capacity, prior knowledge, or current needs. For example, a system might offer simple, medium, and detailed…

Affordance(also: Perceived affordance)

A property of an object or environment that suggests how it can be used, originally defined by psychologist James J. Gibson in 1977 as the actionable possibilities between an actor and their environment. In design, Donald Norman popularised the concept to describe how visual and…

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