Exclusion Points in the Deliverables

For my senior capstone project, I redesigned the Navy Day Regatta Website. When redesigning the site, I had to take the idea of “mismatched human interactions” from the Microsoft Inclusive Design Toolkit into account. Websites can have several exclusion points that are caused by mismatched human interactions, and there were certainly times during my project where I had to deal with these exclusion points and find a way to make the website and its content more accessible to all those who may use it. Spectators who visit the website to gather whatever information about the regatta will certainly be coming from a variety of different backgrounds and have many experiences that could cause a mismatched human interaction with the new design of the website. Images and text contrast were two exclusion points that I identified during my project, and I attempted to implement the best solution I knew how within the confines of the website’s purpose and likely niche traffic.

Accounting for Exclusion Points

When I took inclusive design into account with the exclusion points I previously identified, I found that putting alt text on the maps and photos used in the project was the best way to address the accessibility issues that come with having numerous images throughout the website. Text contrast was another exclusion point that I encountered towards the back end of my project. In a meeting with Dr. Wolff, we discussed how the color of grey that I was using for body text throughout the entire website presented a contrast problem for those who may be visually impaired. The grey was the default text color that came with the Squarespace template that I chose to use for the website. The natural solution was to test out different shades of grey until the contrast checker approved the color of the text. Accounting for these things aided me in making a website designed for a relatively niche audience as inclusive as I possibly could.

Distributing the Project

In terms of distributing the project, that will not be handled by me. My client (my coach) will post the link to the website on RegattaCentral.com once he lists the regatta on RegattaCentral, and those who have questions that cannot be answered by the regatta listing can click the link and find the information they need.  Another way in which the project could be distributed might be through email from my coach to other coaches, and those coaches to their athletes. I know that just about every college rowing coach sends out regatta information to their athletes to share with their parents, and it almost always includes a link to the respective regatta website. This will likely be the primary way in which the site is distributed to spectators. There is also a Navy Day Regatta Twitter account, but it has not been active since 2020.