My first exploration of bringing together the ideas of harm reduction and web development. This is still a work in progress

1. HARM REDUCTION & THE WEB
A Values Based Approach to Making The Web

2. FIRST THINGS FIRST
Serious & Sensitive
Nothing Ironic or Sarcastic
Genuine, Authentic

3. WHAT IS HARM REDUCTION?
Principles and Values

4. UNDERSTANDING HARM
REDUCTION
Harm reduction is a pragmatic and humanistic approach to
diminishing the individual and social harms associated with
drug use.
The defining features are the focus on the prevention of
harm, rather than on the prevention of drug use itself, and
the focus on people who continue to use drugs.
Compassionate pragmatism instead of moralistic idealism

5. WHAT IS HARM REDUCTION?
Targets Risks & Harms
Evidence Based & Cost Effective
Incremental
Dignity & Compassion
Universality & Interdependence of Rights
Challenges policies and practices that maximize harm
Harm reduction is about people
Harm reduction is user centric

6. WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO
WITH THE WEB?
Obviously Bad Web Design isn’t Drug Addiction
What can we learn from Harm Reduction?
Can we achieve better outcomes by using the principles
of Harm Reduction?

7. THE PROBLEM
What Am I Trying To Solve?

8. THE PROBLEM
What am I trying to solve?
We’ve all had client frustrations…
We need to avoid us & them interactions
It is our professional responsibility to
achieve the best possible outcome

9. THE REAL PROBLEM
Sometimes clients make
bad decisions

11. theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell
Bit.ly/webhell

13. WHY ARE CLIENTS LIKE THAT?

14. WHEN CLIENTS ATTACK…
Often, clients don’t understand the Web.
This means clients sometimes make bizzare requests…

15. USING OUR POWERS FOR
AWESOME
Client think we can do magic.
That’s Awesome.

16. CLARKE’S 3RD LAW
Any sufficiently
advanced technology
is indistinguishable
from magic.

17. HARM REDUCTION FOR THE
WEB

18. HARM REDUCTION FOR THE WEB
Inclusive Design
AX: Accessibility Experience
Progressive Enhancement vs. Graceful Degradation
Compassionate Pragmatism vs. Moralistic Idealism

19. PREFERRED VS. BEST
Harm Reduction is about making a better choice
It isn’t about making the best choice
“Best Practices” can be a contentious term
“Preferred Practices” aligns with the idea of the
better choice

20. ACCESSIBILITY HARM
Misuse of headers
Make everything an image
Belief that a web site can be finished
Assumption that disabled people don’t
use the web

21. A VERY SMALL EXAMPLE
The Auto Redirect Page
Principle: Don’t take control of the User’s Experience
Preferred Practice: Don’t use an auto redirect
Client Decision: Use an auto redirect

22. WHAT’S THE HARM?
Webpage takes an action that is not user-initiated
Short time to notice the change
Low Vision/Cognitive Challenge
Screen reader users may not get focus in time

23. HOW CAN WE REDUCE THE
HARM?
Provide a clear advisory message of the autoredirect
Use the max acceptible time to redirect: 10 Seconds
Include a link so the user can go to the redirect page
Use a large font size and high contrast to increase
readability to mitigate the short time of the advisory
message
Prefix the page title with “You are being redirected to
our new address –”

24. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

25. WHAT DO YOU THINK?
• Is this a terrible idea?
• Do you like this idea?
• Does this help Make a Better Web?
• Is this a good fit for Accessibility?
• How does this not work?

26. HARM REDUCTION & THE WEB
seanyo.ca
@seanyo
me@seanyo.ca
Accesconf.ca
a11ycamp.org
A11ycamp Guelph
Guelph Web Makers Meetup
Hack Guelph
K-W Web Design Meetup
Ignite Waterloo