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Presentation on how usability and accessibility problems are related. Including people with disabilities in usability testing can reveal deeper insights into the kinds of problems users might encounter
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Where usability meets accessibilityWhitney Quesenbery, Center for Civic DesignJayne Schurick, Knowbility
2
Hi!
WhitneyUser research, plain language, usability
Found accessibility through work on civic design and elections.
JayneUsability
Found accessibility through Phillip Morris.
3Our starting point: user experience and the user-centered design process
1. Understand people and context
of use2. Identify requirements
3. Explore design solutions
4. Evaluate with users
Source: ISO 9241-210 (formerly ISO-13407)
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Accessibility and usability go hand in hand
Usability
The effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which a specified set of users can achieve a specified set of tasks in a particular environment.
– ISO 9241-11
Accessibility
The usability of a product, service, environment or facility by people with the widest range of capabilities
– ISO 9241-20
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Accessibility error priorities
1. CriticalAn absolute barrier to access
2. SeriousA barrier that could cause frustration to most and be a barrier to some, causing a need for work-arounds
3. ModerateA frustration that would not prevent someone from using the site
4. MinorA WCAG error that is unlikely to cause problems
- Glenda Sims, Deque
Source: 2103 Accessibility Summit: http://environmentsforhumans.com
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Usability problem priorities
1. CriticalA problem that will prevent some users from completing a common task
2. SeriousA problem that will slow down some users and force them to find work-arounds
3. Medium A problem that will cause frustration but will not affect task completion
4. Low A quality or cosmetic problem, such as a spelling error, that can damage the credibility of a site.
- David Travis, User Focus
Source: http://www.userfocus.co.uk/articles/prioritise.html
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Both evaluate priorities by impact on the user
How likely is it that this problem will stop someone from being able to use the site?
Priority Label What it covers
Critical Barriers that stop someone from using a site or feature successfully
Serious Problems that cause frustration, slow someone down, or require work-arounds
Annoying(moderate)
Things that are frustrating, but won't stop someone from using the site
Noisy(minor)
Minor issues that might not cause someone a problem, but which damage credibility
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Examples of how usability and accessibility problems interact
These examples are drawn from our experiences doing usability testing. Although we show partial screens from real site, these are simply typical problems, and not unique to those sites.
In most cases, these companies are actively working on both usability and accessibility, and some of the issues described in this presentation have already been fixed.
9Coding errors turn a serious usability problem into a critical accessibility problem
Usability problems (serious)• Too many links (281 of them)]• And 45 lists• 98 Poor headings• Overly complex information
Accessibility barriers (critical)• Missing semantic coding:
• Headings• In page navigation
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Noisy – easy to find - problems masked a critical one
Accessibility (noisy)• Missing alt text• Inconsistent heading coding• Confusing labeling of
sections
But the real problem was
Accessibility (critical)• No way to jump past the
infinite ribbon at the top of the page
11All information and links are “accessible” but rely on visual layout for meaning
Accessibility (serious)• The overall site is
accessible
but • The insert task links
rely on visual position to tell you where the task will be inserted.
Insert Task
Insert Task
12Long pages make information hard to find (even with headers, without a table of contents
Really really long page
Usability & Accessiblity(Annoying to Serious)• On a long page with a lot of
detail, users had trouble finding specific information
Adding a well-designed "on this page" menu helped everyone decide whether this was the right page
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The interface is harder than the test
Usability (serious) Kids have to know how use the tabs
Accessibility (critical)Same problem, but worse because the test question is hidden
No heading
Follows long text
14Participants with disabilities add perspectives to a usability problem
Usability & accessibility(serious)
The general interface is both usable and accessible, but the language and terminology in the content created serious and critical problems for people who did not know university terminology.
15Repeated and inconsistent page titles make the IA incomprehensible
Usability (annoying) Page titles repeat at different levels
Links and titles don't always match
Accessibility (serious)Same problems have more impact for screen reader or zoom text users
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Look at real behavior, not just coding requirements.
People with different interaction styles add depth to usability.
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"The future is already here...it's just not evenly distributed."
– William Gibson
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Whitney Quesenberywhitneyq@centerforcividesign.orgcenterforcivicdesign.org@whitneyq
Jayne [email protected]
A Web for Everyoneprint, MOBI, ePUB, printable PDF, DAISYrosenfeldmedia.com/books/a-web-for-everyone/