Best Accessible Multimodal Documentation in a Developer Portal

How does the documentation combine different modes in various strategic arrangements throughout the text?

This category celebrates effective use of multimodal information delivery on a developer portal for the purpose of better accessibility, including cognitive access. Before 2024, this was the award for Best Accessible DevPortal.

Fulfilling accessibility standards is a superb start. However, to offer an outstanding and frictionless user experience for all, the portal needs to go beyond sheer compliance. One of the best practices of accessibility is multimodality. If the user has temporary or permanent limitations in media format, they obviously need alternatives offered. However, some level of cognitive access limitation is always present between the communicators. When information and content is presented in more than one media, this contributes to the understanding of a composition. We create and convey meaning better through the combination of more than one mode: a simple example is to combine written language, still images and spatial design. Albeit multimodality is as old as humanity, it is a rapidly evolving practice in the intersection of digital media and API documentation.

In this category, we are looking to celebrate documentation portals that show an example in integrating the multiple modes in various configurations to coherently convey the meaning required, while striving to be accessible to all users, with consideration for disability types and severity of impairment. 

Award Criteria

Questions to ask:

• Is your devportal accessible to all possible users with consideration for disability type and severity of impairment? Do commonly used accessibility audits result in a clean bill of health?
  
   
• Is the developer portal designed with an eye to how people with special needs can benefit? Is there an alternative access that you offer people when something doesn’t work well for them on the devportal?
  
   
• How do you tie accessibility with an overall inclusivity in design structure, consistency, terminology, language, gender, communications, and so on?
  
   
• The successful multimodal composition includes consideration of purpose, audience and text type. Meaning is conveyed through dynamic combinations of various modes across written (and spoken) language, still and moving visual, audio, and spatial semiotic resources. 
  
   
• How does the documentation combine different modes in various strategic arrangements throughout the text?

To give the jury a deeper insight into your intentions, elaborate on how your developer portal is better accessible through multimodality in the nomination questionnaire.