Week 02 · lesson

Lesson 2: Make the Portfolio Easier to Use

Yesterday you tested whether a visitor could move around your portfolio. Today you improve how the portfolio reads, how files are organized, and how media is described.

Usability is not decoration. It is evidence that your work can be understood by someone other than you.

Accessibility starts with clarity

Accessibility includes screen readers, keyboard users, captions, color contrast, readable structure, and plain labels. But the first move is simple:

Can the page explain itself clearly?

A visitor should be able to identify:

the page title;
the main purpose of the page;
the important sections;
where the links go; and
what each image contributes.

If the page depends on private explanation from the author, the page is not doing enough work.

File names matter

A project folder with files like this is hard to maintain:

thing1.png
finalfinal2.png
pic.jpg
newpage.html

A project folder like this gives more evidence:

home.html
projects.html
media/photo-original.jpg
media/photo-edited-portfolio.jpg
slides/week-02-presentation-draft.pptx

The second version does not guarantee quality, but it makes the project easier to inspect and repair.

Review alt text

Alternative text should explain the meaning of an image in context.

Weak alt text:

picture

Better alt text:

Edited photo of a robotics workstation used as the portfolio project image.

The better version says what the image is doing on the page. It does not need to describe every pixel.

Lab 2: Repair one usability issue

Choose one page or section from your portfolio.

Check these five items:

Item	Question	Evidence
Page title	Does the title match the navigation label?	yes/no + fix
Link labels	Can a visitor predict where each link goes?	one weak or strong example
File names	Are important files named clearly?	one renamed or justified file
Image text	Does the image have useful alt text?	original and revised text
Source note	Can you identify where media came from?	source/provenance note

Repair at least one issue.

Keep the source record honest

For any image or media item, record:

File name:
Original source or supplied by:
Edited version name:
What changed:
Allowed use / classroom boundary:

If the media came from the teacher or a supplied classroom folder, say that. Do not invent a public source.

If the media is your own, do not include private location, student faces, contact information, or anything your school does not permit.

Accessibility is not extra credit

A portfolio without readable titles, clear links, and useful media labels is harder to assess. The teacher cannot fairly inspect your evidence if the evidence is buried inside a confusing interface.

So the accessibility work is part of the technical work.

Evidence checkpoint

Submit or save:

the five-item usability check;
one repaired issue;
before/after wording or file name evidence;
an alt-text or media-description decision; and
a short source/provenance note.

Your repair should make the portfolio easier for another person to inspect.