how to improve ux by implementing accessibility
DESCRIPTION
Accessibility is often connected to the needs and demands of people with impairement. This presentation - by means of practical examples - shows that vast majority of users can benefit from accessibility.TRANSCRIPT
How to improve UX by implementing accessibility
Radek PAVLÍČEK, Blind Friendly Web
Hi. My name is Radek and I am member of Blind Friendly Web team.
I am also an author of blog Poslepu.cz and I work as accessibility consultant.
In this presentation I would like to go on with topic, which I presented at WebExpo
conference 2012.
What is accessibility good for?
Availability – user must be able to get
on the web.
Controlability – user must be able to
operate the web.
Understandability – user must understand
the web.
Orientation – user must be able to find the way
through the web.
Time – user must be able to fullfil his
or her task in reasonable time.
Accessibility is often perceived as a matter of handicapped people only.
One accessibility to rule them all?Can we fully fullfil needs of all of the
users?
Demands and needs of particular groups of people with impairement vary.
Removing barrier for one group could create barrier
for another.
Real life example. Orientation around this swimming pool was no problem for my
blind colleague.
Although this swimming pools looks very similar to the previous one, it was designed primarily for the needs of wheelchair users and there
were no natural guidelines for the blind. That is why the orientation for them was very complicated.
This lowering is very suitable for wheelchair users, but is not good for the blind, because they don´t know where is the
border between the sidewalk and the road.
Special kind of cobbles makes this lowering accessible also for the blind.
Some adaptations are useful only for users with special
needs
Sign language
Audio description of movies
Hidden headings
But the rest is useful for vast majority of users
Audio information Barrier-less
From accessibility adjustement of this tram profit also those, who travel with pram, or passengers, who use audio information about particular stops to be informed where they are and where they must get off.
Real life examples
Subtitles are useful not only for people with hearing impairement, but also for those, who do not
understand spoken language very well.
Missing text alternative
There is no button which I can click on.
Explicit association of controls with their labels
When you create explicit association, the clickable area is larger, because you can
click also on the label.
Keyboard shortcuts – you can operate the web in very effective way.
Proof, that accessibility is beneficial to all users, can be found in this report.
Scope of the investigation
1 000 home pages
39 000 pagesin total
50 users with variety of
impairements
User testing
Automated testing
Completed tasks
Although control group, that consists of non-disabled web users, was able to complete all the tasks, blind users on low accessibility websites completed only 67 %.
Duration
On low accessibility sites both groups were slower and they need more time to complete their tasks. In other words, on high accessibility sites they were able to complete their tasks faster and easier.
Remember
Accessible web is beneficial to all users, not only to users with
impairement.
More info about accessibility
Photo credits• www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-415742494 • www.flickr.com/photos/11407072@N03/2194359747/• www.flickr.com/photos/60207590@N00/2344734563• http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brno,_Mendlovo_n%C3%A1m%C
4%9Bst%C3%AD,_%C5%A0koda_13T_%C4%8D._1923.jpg
• www.flickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/4025536029/• www.flickr.com/photos/cornelluniversitylibrary/3678984206/• http://4.bp.blogspot.com/__1B7eTIn3jM/SoMylQ_RqWI/AAAAAAAAAAw/
F8u_jtyp3IA/s400/Learn-Hiragana.jpg• http://www.sons.cz/docs/bariery/sons_inet1_01_2010.pdf