Digital Christmas stress is not inevitable

On a quiet night, or at least late in the evening, I sit muttering to myself in front of the screen: ‘It’s not accessible.’ My family giggles and thinks I’m work-obsessed. But it can’t just be me who struggles with complicated and confusing websites in my spare time.

It has become a given for many that December is stressful. There is a lot to get done at work before the holiday haze sets in. And on top of that, there is everything that needs to be sorted and done: Christmas cleaning, Advent get-togethers, Christmas decorations and, not least, all the presents that need to be bought.

But how lucky we are nowadays that we can shop conveniently online and avoid standing in crowded shops. Or are we?

Tonight’s to-do list includes:

• Finding Christmas presents that are surprising but still exactly what the family wanted without them saying so outright.
• Order Christmas food that suits everyone’s tastes, lifestyles and allergies.
• Visit the digital pharmacy to stock up on plasters to be safe for the traditional dance around the Christmas tree.

What I encounter as I open the laptop is a digital obstacle course with endless pop-ups offering deals, cookie notices and various distractions that I have to close or ignore.

Above all, why does there have to be so much clutter on every page? Soon I can hardly remember my own name, let alone who should get what present, and who I have already bought a present for. I am close to breaking point when I enter the umpteenth e-commerce site that has its own checkout solution requiring me to create a new account with a new password.

In our ongoing project on cognitive accessibility funded by the Swedish Inheritance Fund, we have conducted a long series of interviews, workshops and surveys with users this year. The results are clear: websites and apps need to be simpler and more straightforward. Users want well-structured websites that say what they do and do what they say. No unnecessary frills, and no guessing game to figure out how they work.

This is not really anything new. Research shows that simple and clear design makes things easier for users, and there are plenty of studies, standards and guidelines in UX and accessibility that confirm this. Yet many websites and apps seem to be competing to find new ‘disruptive’ ways of presenting information, which only increases the cognitive burden on users.

Therefore, I would like to make a small wish for the coming year: that more organisations prioritise cognitive accessibility. After all, it is not rocket science to make websites more understandable and intuitive. However, it does require some work and thought. And, above all, it involves asking the users. The web can be made simpler, if only more people would take action.