DOI: 10.4018/IJPOP.2017010101 International Journal of People-Oriented Programming Volume 6 • Issue 1 • January-June 2017 Copyright © 2017, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Inclusion of Users with Special Needs in the Human-Centered Design of a Web-Portal Renate Motschnig, University of Vienna, Austria Dominik Hagelkruys, University of Vienna, Austria ABSTRACT Human-Centered Design focuses on the analysis, specification and involvement of a product’s end users as driving elements in the design process. The primary research objective of the case-study presented in this paper is to illustrate that it is essential to include users with special needs into all major steps of designing a web-portal that provides services to these special users. But how can this be accomplished in the case of users with special cognitive and affective needs? Would the “classical” Human-Centered Design Process (HCD) be sufficient or would it need to be adapted and complemented with special procedures and tools? In this paper the design team shares the strategies they adopted and the experiences they gained by including users with dyslexia in the design of the LITERACY Web-Portal. Besides providing insight into the special effort and steps needed to adapt HCD for users with special needs, the paper encourages application designers to include end-users even though - or particularly because - they have needs that are special and critical for the adoption of the product. KeyWORDS Accessibility, Card Sorting, Dyslexia, Human-Centered-Design, IT for Inclusion, Personas, Screen Design, Social Inclusion, Usability, User Analysis INTRODUCTION This paper discusses the process of designing a web-portal-interface that suits the needs of a special needs user group. It describes the strategies applied and experiences gathered while designing a specialized interface for users with dyslexia by applying and adapting the Human Centered Design (HCD) process. That process served as a guideline throughout the entire development phase of the “LITERACY-web-portal”. In particular, the target group – dyslexic users – was included starting with the very early phases and continuing until project completion. This approach was chosen because the project team wanted to confirm their hypothesis that end-user inclusion is a critical success factor for any software, especially for a special needs user-group. In fact, the acceptance of any software-tool hinges on the degree to which it manages to meet the (special) needs of the primary target groups (Nielsen, 1993). Since the Human Centered Design process (ISO 9241-210:2010) emphasizes end- user inclusion, it provides an optimal resource and starting point for the goals the LITERACY-portal- design project aimed to achieve. 1