Finally, the “U” in the acronym “POUR” that details the W3C’s four guiding principles to designing web content stands for “Understandable” and is defined by the need for the information and operation of the user interface to be understandable. A few principles that fall under this category include that a site should be readable, predictable, and has input assistance. Patagonia’s website is written in a very simple way that allows text content to be readable and understandable to its users in terms of its language. Additionally, the site is laid out in a fairly predictable manner with consistent navigation. Finally, the website includes input assistance to help users avoid and correct mistakes if needed (spelling the name of a jacket wrong by a few letters still brings up the item that was likely being searched for).

As mentioned in the “Web Accessibility Principles” of this week’s Module, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) established their Gold Standard for how to design web content. As we learned, the four guiding principles to this make out the acronym “POUR”, with the “O” standing for “Operable” and details how user interface components and navigation must be operable. This category deals with a website being keyboard accessible, navigable, giving users enough time, being aware of seizures and physical reactions, and input modalities. We learned this week about how not every user can navigate through a website using a mouse, especially those individuals with a motor impairment, which affects features such as “hover interaction”. Patagonia follows the Operability guideline on its site by making all functionality available from a keyboard interface, while still being accessible via a mouse input as well. The “tab” and “enter” buttons, among others, allow users to scroll and browse through their website without the need of a mouse. After watching the video titled “accessiBe - Motor Impaired User Review & Web Accessibility Perspective”, where Joseph, a man with quadriplegia, talks about his experiences navigating websites without proper keyboard navigation, and how he often gets frustrated and mentally exhausted with poorly designed websites, it’s refreshing to see that see Patagonia created a site where this wouldn’t be the case for someone like Joseph.

An additional good practice of web accessibility the Patagonia website practices is easily distinguishing the foreground from the background by using clear contrast. In this second module, we learned that people who have limited vision may have difficulty telling the difference between the background of your webpage and the foreground content unless there is clear contrast. In the article found in the “Perceivable” section of this second module titled “Contrast” from the Office for Digital Accessibility at the University of Minnesota, they too emphasize the importance of ensuring that the foreground and background colors and other visual indicators contrast each other, and how this can help you to communicate more effectively. Patagonia did a great job of taking this into account when designing their website as they use text that strongly contrasts the background and have a more-than-acceptable ratio of brightness to darkness, coming in at 21:1 on the Web Accessibility Contrast Checker I used to compare. They use mostly Black and White backgrounds and text to contrast each other, making their content and text more easily distinguished and readable against their website’s background for their audience.

Another example that displays Patagonia’s commitment to maintaining and improving the accessibility of their website is their “Accessibility Statement”, that can be found under the “Need Help?” header of absolutely every single page on their website. This statement discusses their their dedication to providing digital accessibility for everyone, their compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) effective communication requirements and applicable regulations, as well as their partnership with Level Access, a digital accessibility platform built around ensuring inclusive and compliant accessible websites. They also mention how their digital products are constantly being evaluated in an accessibility program to ensure that they’re in accordance with best practices and monitored by a diverse team of accessibility professionals, including users of assistive technologies and talk about their devotion to going above and beyond minimum compliance requirements to provide a more accessible experience to their customers.

The first reason that Patagonia is doing well with their web accessibility is due to their use of image descriptions. As stated in TMU’s “Accessibility Maze” activity, all visual content must have a text alternative (alt-text) that describes the visual content, and Patagonia does a great job of ensuring that the visual content on their website has text description alternatives. This displays inclusivity on their end and is extremely important to ensure that people who are blind or visually impaired are able to receive equivalent information to those who can see the images. When watching the video on hearing differences titled, "Making Your Media Accessible - Deaf Awareness Month", Rogan explains the importance of image descriptors whenever you post or upload a photo, so that those who may have trouble seeing, or who may not be able to see the image at all, are still able to understand what is happening in the picture and its surroundings.

Another example that displays Patagonia’s commitment to maintaining and improving the accessibility of their website is their “Accessibility Statement”, that can be found under the “Need Help?” header of absolutely every single page on their website. This statement discusses their their dedication to providing digital accessibility for everyone, their compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) effective communication requirements and applicable regulations, as well as their partnership with Level Access, a digital accessibility platform built around ensuring inclusive and compliant accessible websites. They also mention how their digital products are constantly being evaluated in an accessibility program to ensure that they’re in accordance with best practices and monitored by a diverse team of accessibility professionals, including users of assistive technologies and talk about their devotion to going above and beyond minimum compliance requirements.

Patagonia does a great job of ensuring that the visual content on their website has a text description alternative (alt text). This is inclusive of them and extremely important to ensure that people who are blind or visually impaired are able to receive equivalent information to those who can see the images. When watching the video on hearing differences titled, "Making Your Media Accessible - Deaf Awareness Month", Rogan explains the importance of image descriptors whenever you post or upload a photo so that those who have trouble seeing, or may not be able to see the image at all, understand what is happening in the picture and its surroundings.