Who are we designing software for?
20 May 2026
From one of my early 99-second talks at Manchester, I asked a series of questions. At Nordic Testing Days (NTD) in Estonia, the same thing happened. After asking four simple questions, I was left with one person standing. The questions were:
- Do you wear glasses or contact lenses? (I could have included had any kind of eye surgery to improve eyesight)
- Have you ever zoomed in on a phone, tablet, or desktop to read or see something more clearly?
- Do you use any kind of non-traditional keyboard or mouse?
- Have you ever had to use a phone with one hand in any circumstances?
If the question applied to you, I asked them to sit down. 1 person left on both occasions. I've done this a few times, and the most I've had was 3. Those people standing are who software is designed for, if accessibility is not considered. I recently rediscovered the NTD talk, so the link is below if you want to see the questions or the whole talk.
https://www.ministryoftesting.com/satellites/accessibility-assumptions-and-arguments-talk
Ady Stokes
Freelance Consultant
He / Him
STEC and SQEC Certified. MoT Ambassador, writer, speaker, accessibility advocate. Consulting, Leeds Chapter Lead. MoT Certs curator. Testing wisdom, friendly, songs and poems. Great minds think differently
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