AI: Turning the Afterthought of Web Accessibility into a Priority
The internet is a vast, ubiquitous entity, but its design has often been skewed towards a 'standard user' - a term that is as elusive as it is exclusionary. For years, web accessibility has been treated as more of an afterthought than an inherent requirement. Faced with a digital environment that wasn't designed for their use, people with various physical, visual, auditory, or cognitive disabilities often find themselves contending with a virtual landscape that is challenging to navigate and interact with.
Enter Wix's latest innovation: the AI Site Generator. Wix has been a long-standing player in the realm of website-building, known for its easy-to-use templates. Now, they're ready to redefine the game by turning their gaze toward web accessibility.
Wix introduced a new AI chatbot that can create custom websites from scratch based on a user’s prompt. Source: ZDNET
This upcoming feature promises to craft an entire website, complete with design, text, and images, just from a user-provided description and a set of answers to intuitive questions. It accomplishes this through a dynamic combination of AI models - ChatGPT and DALL-E from OpenAI, supplemented with Wix's unique AI tools.
Although the immediate appeal of this feature is the streamlined creation of professional-looking websites, its potential impact is far more significant. The introduction of AI into the website generation process could, at long last, push web accessibility from the backburner to the forefront.
Consider the implications of AI-generated websites on web accessibility. AI could take on the role of a vigilant custodian, generating alternative text for images that can be interpreted by screen readers, or carefully selecting colour palettes that don't impede the user experience for those with colour blindness. For users with hearing impairments, automatic transcription of audio content or sign language translations could open up new avenues of communication.
Moreover, the potential of AI to enrich the web experience extends to those with cognitive disabilities. Through intelligently designed layouts, comprehensible language, and visual aids, the digital world becomes a lot less daunting. Moreover, the prospect of a personalized user interface, thanks to AI's capability to learn and adapt, paints a picture of a more inclusive and intuitive web experience.
However, amidst this optimism, we must not overlook the challenges that lie ahead. AI, for all its computational prowess, can miss out on the subtleties that human intuition grasps effortlessly. This highlights the critical role of human oversight in ensuring accuracy and quality in AI-generated content.
Further, with the increasing use of AI comes the need for greater transparency and control over data privacy. As AI relies heavily on user data to refine its outputs, businesses need to tread the thin line between personalized experiences and data ethics.
Now, let's look beyond the horizon and distill these ideas into five key predictions for what's next:
AI will elevate web accessibility from an afterthought to a priority, ensuring a more inclusive digital landscape.
Human oversight will continue to be a critical factor, maintaining quality control and adding the human touch that AI lacks.
As AI grows more ubiquitous, it's essential for businesses to prioritize transparency and user control in data practices.
AI's potential to deliver bespoke web experiences can reshape the field of UX design.
Despite the challenges, the advent of AI in web design heralds the beginning of a more accessible and inclusive internet era.
Wix's AI Site Generator isn't just another advancement—it's a step towards transforming the fabric of the internet itself, promising a future where web accessibility is no longer an afterthought, but a standard. Here's to the dawn of a universally accessible web.
Make sure you don't miss each week's Undercurrents: Wednesday's Unseen Trends by following the Unconscious Consumer on LinkedIn or check out The Unconscious Consumer site for more articles on UX, consumer psychology, behavioural economics, and more!
