Greetings, fintech enthusiasts and gurus, there’s something important we need to talk about.
Accessibility.
We see ramps for wheelchairs, Braille signs, and more and more people are learning ASL. That’s a great start, but unfortunately, there’s something we’re neglecting: digital accessibility.
Today, we’ll discuss ways to improve your UX. And, as a treat, we’ll take a look at a financial charting library that has covered many of the points we’ll talk about.
Why Is It Important?
The human race has long abandoned the only-the-strong-survive mentality. If the world can adapt to disabilities, so can your UX.
Of course, your main goal is to expand your audience and make people with disabilities feel welcome.
Those improvements, however, will also benefit traders, financial news providers, investment advisors, and more!
Here’s how to do it:
Keyboard Navigation
A good way to introduce your product to people with motor disabilities (cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, damaged limbs, etc.) would be to add keyboard-accessible actions.
Analysts also use a dozen of buttons: selecting trading instruments, changing timeframes and chart types, applying various indicators, the list is truly endless. So, this is actually useful for the bigger part of your userbase. Most people multitask and having shortcuts will certainly make life easier for them.
Your keyboard should enable you to:
– Change settings
– Zoom in and out
– Take screenshots
– Switch between instruments, chart types and layouts
– Navigate templates and edit them
– Place orders
– Change positions
– Customize studies
– Еxpand and collapse panels
So, do you want to see it in action?
Of course, you do. Recently, the DXcharts financial charting libraries got an update focused on accessibility and we’re going to look into that:
Here’s what we’re seeing:
– By hitting TAB, users move to the next element.
– To go back, they can use the LShift + TAB key combination.
– Arrow Up or Down moves the chart – you guessed it! – up or down.
Another good example:
It’s truly never been easier to manage an order!
Hit Space/Enter to enable the selection. Ctrl + E will allow you to edit a study with a scripting language. In case you need to remove periods, layouts, indicator templates, and your own studies, all you have to do is hit Delete.
Tapped on anything during analysis by accident? No worries, Ctrl + Z allows you to undo your action.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg – explore or find your own shortcuts by testing their tool.
Alt Text
While it is definitely true that visual content is widely preferred, it’s hardly inclusive. That’s where text alternatives come to the rescue.
Screen readers will be able to read out loud the description of your image or video to any visually impaired party interested in it.
Added bonus – it’s a great addition to your SEO strategy!
Simplified UX
There’s one thing that users hate: cluttered apps.
No matter what type of software you’re promoting, it should be intuitive. Beginners want to be able to navigate it quickly, and fintech pros don’t like their time wasted on pointless controls.
Here’s a good example, again from DXcharts:
The main information is at the centre of the screen, and all additional controls are available either in the side menu or above the chart.
Zero clutter. Just how everyone likes it.
In addition, you should avoid including animations or loud noises. Those can trigger seizures in sensitive people. Also, consider dyslexia-friendly fonts. This is a widely underestimated issue and if you want to expand your audience, you need to take as many people as possible into account.
To Sum Up
The core of every good relationship is to make the other person’s life easier.
It’s no different when it comes to your users, students, or partners. Whether disabled or just busy, we can all benefit from better accessibility.
The good news:
There’s already a solution for traders, brokers, and anyone entering the fintech scene which focuses on both that and quality. DXcharts offer financial charting libraries – ready-made scripts that will supercharge your app. Besides the keyboard shortcuts that we already discussed, the charts support screen readers. Few great steps in the right direction!
I invite you to check out the DXcharts demo – it’s highly unlikely that you’ll ever look back.
