How does DITA accommodate the accessibility and usability requirements of data visualization for defense?

November 10, 2023
|By Bryan Tipper

DITA offers features and practices to accommodate the accessibility and usability requirements of data visualizations for defense, ensuring that defense personnel with diverse needs can access and understand the information. This is essential for effective communication and decision-making in defense scenarios. Here are key aspects of how DITA achieves this:

1. Accessible Structured Content: DITA’s structured content authoring allows content creators to provide alternative text and descriptions for visual elements. When creating data visualizations, authors can include descriptive text, alt attributes, and long descriptions for images, charts, and graphs. This ensures that individuals who rely on screen readers or other assistive technologies can access and understand the content.

2. Usability Best Practices: DITA encourages usability best practices for data visualization elements. For instance, data visualizations should be designed with clear and concise labels, colors, and patterns that are accessible to those with color vision deficiencies. DITA specialization may define style guidelines to ensure that visualizations are comprehensible and user-friendly, catering to a broad audience with varying abilities.

3. Responsive Design: DITA allows for responsive design principles to be applied to data visualizations. This means that visualizations can adapt to different screen sizes and devices. Whether viewed on a large monitor or a mobile device, the content remains accessible and maintains usability. By using responsive techniques, DITA ensures that defense visualizations are available to personnel in various contexts and environments.

Example:

Below is an example illustrating how DITA accommodates accessibility and usability requirements for data visualizations in a defense scenario:


<topic id="defense-readiness">
  <title>Defense Readiness Metrics</title>
  <body>
    <p>Real-time line chart displaying defense readiness metrics for different units.</p>
    <chart type="line" data-source="readiness-data-api">
      <mapping>
        <data-point label="Unit A" value="78" color="#4CAF50" description="Unit A Readiness: 78%" />
        <data-point label="Unit B" value="92" color="#2196F3" description="Unit B Readiness: 92%" />
        <data-point label="Unit C" value="86" color="#FFC107" description="Unit C Readiness: 86%" />
      </mapping>
    </chart>
  </body>

In this example, the line chart includes not only visual elements but also descriptions for each data point, ensuring that the readiness metrics are accessible and understandable. Color codes are chosen to accommodate color vision deficiencies, and responsive design principles are applied to ensure usability on different devices.