1.
Avoid turning users away
Making inclusive design and content decisions
Mark H. Anbinder
Cornell University
@mhaithaca

2.
Rethinking Gender
• Do your forms need to ask
about gender?
• How are we using gender info
that's collected?
• How are we using titles or
greetings like Mr., Mrs., Miss.,
Ms., Dr., and so on?

3.
Rethinking Gender
• There are use cases for
collecting gender and identity
for statistical purposes.
• Be clear about what you're
looking for and why.
• Be as complete as possible
and allow for self-description
Source: https://www.hrc.org/resources/collecting-transgender-inclusive-gender-data-in-workplace-and-other-surveys

4.
Rethinking Forms
• Long pop-up lists for picking a
state work fine if you're from
California. Go figure! Not so
much for New York or the
back half of the alphabet.
• Same goes for pop-up lists for
picking a birth year for those
older than 25. (At least most
such menus allow typing!)

5.
Rethinking Identity
• Who do we turn away when
we ask for just First Name and
Last Name on a web form?
• Many cultures have names of
three, four, five or more parts
• Who do we turn away when
field validation doesn't allow
punctuation, accents, etc.?
When we insist a name must
be at least three characters?
No more than twelve?
Source: https://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-personal-names.en

6.
Rethinking Identity
• Consider why we've been
asking for First Name & Last
Name and how we might do
without them
• Sorting
• Greetings
• Printed lists
• Try new ways of using old
fields, as HighEdWeb has

7.
Rethinking Language
• Gone are the days of “he or
she” in text. Or are they?
• Long gone are the days of the
presumptive "he"
• Using singular "they"
Source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/column-he-she-they-grammar-rule

8.
Rethinking Language
• When talking about our area's
history, are we respecting
cultures who came before us?
• Are we being respectful of all
cultures who share our
campus community?

9.
What about accessibility?
This is vital! But it's being
well covered elsewhere
this week.

10.
We have a long way to go
...but we're getting there!