2.21 Support Non-Graphic Ways To Interact With Content

Certain visitors such as those with visual disabilities or speech agents (like Amazon Alexa) may rely on an experience without the graphical part of an interface. As such, they potentially may use less data or may have a different carbon impact on the Web.

Criteria

Alternative Interactions: Support speech browsing and other non-graphical ways to interact with content that provide alternatives to a visual interface.

Impact

Low

Effort

Medium

Benefits

Environmental:
Aural (speech) browsers have no visual component, which reduces the environmental impact they suffer when browsing pages (as a screen is often one of the biggest drainers of a consumer’s battery). Being able to look up information through such mechanisms through your product or service thereby will help reduce your overall emissions greatly.
Accessibility:
People who have accessibility needs and browse the Web using specialist equipment, hardware, or software will benefit from the assistance aids you have built into your product or service.
Conversion:
Increasing compatibility by supporting a wider range of device types, outside the most popular or well-known sort of hardware and software, will encourage new audiences to visit and potentially become customers.

GRI

materials: Medium
energy: Low
water: Medium
emissions: Low

Example

Code:

code {
	background-color: #292a2b;
	color: #e6e6e6;
	font-family: monospace;
	speak: literal-punctuation; /* Reads all punctuation out loud in iOS VoiceOver */
}

Let’s Talk About Speech CSS.

Resources

View the Guideline