Abletop - Episode 3 - Visual Board Game Accessibility

Ctrl, Alt, Access

00:00 - Intro 01:08 - Text Clarity 11:01 - Iconography 20:06 - Large Print & QR Codes 28:19 - Braille & Tactile Components 36:52 - Contrast 42:31 - Colourblindness & Dual Coding 48:48 - Visual Overwhelm 52:21 - Outro Quick Points 🔤 Use a clear sans serif font and avoid all caps, underlines and italics. 📝 Use good text formatting, like left-aligned paragraphs, good spacing, and line breaks. 🅰️ Highlight keywords using bold and/or a different high contrast colour. ⬆️ Indicate orientation for numbers and text, considering table layout and where people will be trying to read from. 🔍 Check symbols for readability and similarity at all angles, especially on dice. 🗑️ Favour skeuomorphic icons to boost comprehension and understanding. ⭐ Consider using iconography in place of text to reduce reading, make components more language-agnostic and reduce localisation. 🌍 Check regional meanings for your icons and colours to ensure they translate accurately across locations. ↕️ Print text and icons at the largest size possible, even consider using a bigger font for components with less text. 📕 Move flavour text to the rules or another booklet to save space on components. 🍎 Function over flavour always! If something helps someone to play the game more easily it should take priority over flavour text. 📱 Use QR codes on components to link to an app/webpage to work towards assisted tabletop gaming. 📄 Provide larger print versions of your game or components, for free or as upgrades / editions. ♟️Make components of different types, different shapes and sizes so they can be distinguished through touch. 🦯 Consider additional tactile elements like bumps, pips, embossing/debossing. 🔄️ Make good use of the reverse side of components where art would be duplicated or left blank. 👁️‍🗨️ If your game has an open state of play, consider how it could be played through just descriptions and how you can facilitate that. 🖨️ Make and provide 3D print files for tactile components. 🏁 Use a contract checker, but keep in mind digital versus printed contrast is different! Print is usually always darker. Use pantones and prototypes to check. 🧙‍♂️ Provide clear differentiation for miniatures, like coloured rings or 3D flat icons on the bases which can be easily painted for quick recognition. 🎨 Don’t use colour alone to differentiate pieces or information (use pattern, icon, text, numbers, clearly distinct art/borders) or make components colour-agnostic. 👁️ Make sure any dual-coding is large and clear. 🎲 Consider different transparencies or pip shapes for dice of different types